Category: Breakfast

Starting your day off right

Overnight Banana Oatmeal

One of the best things about being in a relationship is learning from each other. And I love how Lance taught me what a slow cooker is! 😉 Slow cookers are far from common in Denmark and I had therefore never heard about it before Lance introduced me to it – as one of many American things than I have since then fallen in love with. Now, I could never live without my Crockpot. (For non-Americans a Crockpot is simply a slow cooker brand. And the best bran in my opinion). In fall and winter in particular, hardly one day goes by where I don´t use it.

One of my favorite ways to use the slow cooker is for overnight oats. How great is it that you get to wake up to a wonderfully smelling home, not having to spend time on preparing breakfast? I love how this allows me to go to the gym and come home and have a quick breakfast before going to work. It is such a timesaver! We don’t have kids yet but I can only imagine how convenient this must be for families with young kids as well. When you´re busy trying to get everyone up and dressed, how great is it that you don´t need to worry about finding time to prepare breakfast as well? At least if you want to serve your family a nutritious meal and not just grab for the sugary cereal box…

The key to making overnight oatmeal in the slow cooker is to use steel cut oats. This is because they require longer cooking time. Rolled oats cook way too quickly and are therefore not great for the slow cooker. Another benefit of using steel cut oats is that they take longer to digest because they are less processed. This in turn helps keep you full longer. Win!

If you have tried other overnight oatmeal recipes, you will notice that my recipe calls for more liquid than most others. I find that the oats absorb the liquid really well, and extra liquid means extra quantity. I don’t know about you, but I like getting a bigger portion without getting extra calories 😉 Of course, everyone likes their oatmeal texture a bit differently so feel free to add a bit less water if you prefer your oatmeal extra thick. (I find this version to be plenty thick though. It is far from runny.)

Overnight banana oatmeal

SERVES 2  

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup steel cut oats
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 banana – mashed
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Your choice of toppings (I used blueberries, cashew butter and hemp seeds)

METHOD

  1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker
  2. Cook on low for 9 hours
  3. Serve with your choice of toppings

NOTES

  1. This recipe is so versatile. Feel free to add or exchange any fruits that you like. The possibilities are endless!
  2. If you are worried about the oatmeal burning, here´s one of the best slow cooker tips I´ve ever learned: pour a bit of water in the slow cooker. You then put the oatmeal ingredients in an oven safe bowl and place the bowl in the slow cooker. The water should go about half way up the side of the bowl. You then cook the oatmeal for 9 hours like normally. Perfect. Every time.

What´s your favorite oatmeal flavors? I´m curious to know! I tend to stick to the same variations over and over again so I would love some new inspiration 🙂

StephLeave a comment

Pumpkin Apple Pancakes

Before I started dating Lance 10 years ago, I had never in my life had American pancakes before. Can you believe that!? In Denmark, pancakes normally refer to crêpes, which is usually a dessert and not a breakfast. Although of course I had to create a breakfast crêpe version as well. You can find my recipe for banana oat crêpes right here: https://www.sweetpotatoesandsunshine.com/2017/08/06/easy-peasy-banana-oat-crepes/

Anyways, 10 years later, I wonder how it was even possible to live 20 years of my life without this number one weekend breakfast treat! We have pancakes at least every other weekend. Weekends are for hygge (Danish word for coziness) and that means that breakfast should be a step-up from the rushed breakfasts that we have on weekdays. The answer: Pancakes.

Of course there are about a million different pancake recipes out there – and you will certainly also be able to find more variations on this blog in the future – but I have to say that this pumpkin apple version ranks at the top of my favorites. Pumpkin and apple is the perfect fall combination and it makes for a very flavorful pancake! They taste so good that I will often eat them by themselves without bothering with toppings. No joke.

They come together quite quickly and with their high vitamin content and no refined sugars, they are an excellent way to start the day. Guilt free. Kids, adults and dogs have tasted these in our home and it seems to be a winner with all. 😉

PUMPKIN APPLE Pancakes

SERVES 2 (Makes 8 pancakes) 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin pure (fresh or canned)
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt (or skyr or quark)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 apple (I prefer using a tart variation)
  • Coconut oil for baking
  • Toppings of your choice (I like this version with greek yogurt, blueberries, apples and maple syrup)

METHOD

  1. Grind the oats into a fine flour in a food processor
  2. Add all other ingredients, except for the apple, and process until well combined
  3. Shred the apple and fold it into the batter
  4. Grease a pan lightly with coconut oil and and bake pancakes at medium low heat
  5. Serve immediately with your preferred toppings

NOTES

  1. Resist the temptation to bake the pancakes at a higher temperature. The batter is rather wet, so the pancakes need to be cooked at a fairly low temperature to ensure they get done all the way through.
  2. I often make a double batch and freeze half for lazy weekends where I don´t have time or energy to be early in the kitchen.

Let me know how you like them! If you are vegan please note that I will be working on creating a vegan version of these babies as well. Stay tuned for it.

StephLeave a comment

Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal with Ginger and Turmeric

We´re now almost halfway through October and I have to admit that the weather isn´t very fall-like here in Switzerland. 20C degrees and lots of sun means I´ve barely had to wear a jacket yet! It also means that the weather isn´t exactly screaming warming comfort food but nevertheless oatmeal remains my favorite breakfast. And when it includes both pumpkin and apple even more so! I just love that combination (as you´ll be able to tell from the next blog posts I have lined up as well).

Oatmeal just has it all – it´s healthy, it´s delicious, it´s filling and it´s quick to prepare. I also love how there are endless possible variations. When I´m in the kitchen I (almost) always keep in mind what´s good for my body. Which means trying to make my meals as nutrient dense as possible. This particular variation of oatmeal definitely fits that bill. For example, did you know that half a cup of pumpkin (as used in this recipe) contains over 300% of your daily vitamin A requirements? And almost 25% of your vitamin K requirements? Not to mention the ton of vitamin C you´ll get from the apple in there and the gingerol from the ginger which is packed with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. I could go on for quite a while about the health benefits of this hearty and soul warming breakfast but to keep this blog post relatively short, let´s just leave it at it´s really really good for you! 😉

Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal with ginger and turmeric

 

SERVES 1

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh finely grated ginger
  • Toppings as desired (I used almonds, hemp seeds, goji berries and a drizzle of honey)

METHOD

  1. Combine oats, almond milk, water and salt in a medium size pot and cook over medium heat until the oatmeal has a consistency only a bit thinner than you like – about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the pumpkin puree and continue cooking a couple of minutes more until the oatmeal has your desired consistency and is heated all the way through
  3. Take off stove and stir in cinnamon, turmeric and ginger
  4. Serve immediately with your choice of toppings

NOTES

  1. Feel free to add more/less turmeric and ginger to suit your taste
  2. You can also use fresh turmeric instead of ground (use 1/2 teaspoon fresh) and/or ground ginger instead of fresh (use 1/4 teaspoon ground). Normally I prefer to use fresh ingredients but I didn’t have any fresh turmeric on hand today.

I hope you guys enjoy this breakfast as much as I did. Thanks for being patient with me as I´m learning how to blog. I promise I´ll develop as I keep practicing 😉 Any tips and advice is well received!

StephLeave a comment

Vegan Banana Bread

I am currently reading Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell (also the author of The China Study). Mr. Campbell advocates for a plant based diet, and reading his highly researched and fact based argumentations, it is hard not to want to go fully vegan / plant based in an instant. Although I am not vegan, or even close to being it, I do aspire to work myself towards a more plant-based diet as I fully believe this to be the healthiest. On top of that, it also means being good to animals and the environment so really, what is the excuse?

Well, in any case… On my path to transitioning to a more plant based diet, I recently came up with this delicious banana bread. I was actually just playing around in the kitchen, thinking that I needed to use the brown bananas I had had sitting on my countertop for almost a week. I didn’t expect anything extraordinary to come out of it, but oh my was I pleasantly surprised! Let me tell you all: this banana bread is a winner! Said in all modesty, the consistency of this bread is perfect: super moist but without being the least bit underdone or soggy. On top of that, it´s healthy and fairly low calorie. No refined sugars, no oil, no gluten and only 124 calories per slice. And oh yes, let´s not forget the fact that it tastes exactly as banana bread should. Full of banana flavor and just the right level of sweetness. I really can´t think of any reasons why you should not go make this bread right this instant! 

Be ready to have your house smelling heavenly! Here goes:

Vegan Banana Bread

Serves 12

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed flour
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup green banana flour (or substitute 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/3 cup mashed bananas (about 3 large bananas)
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

METHOD

    1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celcius and grease a loaf pan
    2. Combined the flaxseed flour and almond milk and set aside
    3. In a small sized bowl, combine all dry ingredients (banana flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon)
    4. In a medium sized bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (mashed bananas, coconut sugar, apple sauce and vanilla extract)
    5. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, being careful not to overstir
    6. Fold in chopped walnuts, if using
    7. Bake on the middle oven rack for about 40 minutes

NOTES

    1. Everyone likes their banana bread a little differently so feel free to adapt the recipe to your own liking by adding different nuts, raisins or chocolate chips!
    2. My loaf was done perfectly at exactly 40 minutes, but check on it after 35 minutes as each oven is a bit different
    3. It is best served warm so I recommend reheating leftovers – that is if there are any! 😉

Go ahead and try to stick to just having one piece. I dare you! 🙂

StephLeave a comment

Crispy Wholewheat Waffles

You know what I really love? When you get in the kitchen with the hopes of just creating something edible and then it turns out to be absolutely amazing! These waffles are an example of that.

On Sunday mornings I generally take my time to prepare something extra good. Firstly, because I for once have the time for it, secondly because weekends should always be celebrated! However, this morning I just really wasn’t motivated and thought I would take the easy route and get the cooking over with as quickly as possible. I opened my recipe book to see what I could come up with and stumbled upon this old recipe for wholewheat waffles that I hadn’t´used in years. As it turns out, it was a hidden treasure.

These waffles are so crispy that you know they are going to be amazing from the moment you bite into them. They sugar content is almost non-existing and they are (of course) completely free of refined sugar. The wholewheat makes the waffles very filling, but without feeling too heavy.

The waffles can be served with your toppings of choice, but I really recommend Greek yogurt and berries for a complete nutrition profile, ensuring that you get carbs, fat and protein combined with several vitamins and minerals in this one meal.

I have to admit that this recipe is so old that I do not remember if I created it myself or if I may have gotten it elsewhere. My apologies is credit is not given where it belongs, but at least I see it as a positive to spread this amazing recipe with  as many people as possible 😉

So here it goes…

Crispy Wholewheat Waffles 
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS 

  • 2 cups wholewheat flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups homemade buttermilk (add 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar to 2 cups of almond milk and let set for 5 minutes)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp date syrup (or substitute with your choice of liquid sweetener)
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extra
  • Toppings of choice

METHOD

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately in 2 mixing bowls. Add together and stir until the batter is smooth and completely free of any lumps. Heat up your waffle iron and add a minimum amount of either butter or oil to the iron to ensure that the waffles do not stick. Bake the waffles.

Serve immediately with your choice of toppings.

Happy Sunday everyone! Let me know if you enjoyed these as much as I did…

StephLeave a comment

Easy Peasy Banana Oat Crepes

As a child, crepes were my favorite food and my favorite thing to make in the kitchen. I remember coming home from school to get out the crepe pan and the heavily stained recipe book to prepare myself and everyone else in the house a sweet afternoon snack. The issue was that the recipe I used was loaded with refined sugar. And on top of that I would use even more sugar as a topping!

I still love crepes and make them quite often, but by now I know better than to fill my body with empty and harmful calories. That is where this recipe comes in. Why not get the best of both worlds? Sweet, delicious crepes that not only taste heavenly, but are also good for you. In my book that´s a win-win!

These crepes are extremely easy to make, require very few ingredients, and come together in less than 15 minutes. Perfect for a Saturday breakfast when you want to treat yourself and your family to something extra but without spending your entire morning in the kitchen.

 

banana Oat Crepes

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 2 very ripe bananas
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
  • Toppings of your choice (I used greek yogurt and fresh berries)

METHOD

Blend oats in a food processor or blender until it becomes a fine flour. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Heat a small pan over medium heat and add a little bit of coconut oil. Add a thin layer of the batter and cook for a few minutes on both sides until slightly golden.

Serve immediately with your toppings of choice.

NOTES

I recommend making a double portion and freezing half. That way you always have a yummy healthy breakfast option at hand.

StephLeave a comment

Slow Cooker Granola-Stuffed Baked Apples

Make ahead, warm, hearty, fall breakfast yumminess? Yes please!

As a European, I had never heard of a slow cooker before my American fiancé a couple of years ago mentioned that we should get one. So we did, and I have to say that it is now my favorite kitchen appliance! It is so easy to use, and I love how you can prepare meals in advance. That being waking up to ready-to-go breakfasts like this recipe, or coming home after a long day and dinner being on the table already. Not to mention the smell of delicious food that fills the whole apartment as the slow cooker is working its magic. Mmmm.

A lot of mornings we start our day early with a workout outside, regardless of the weather. Especially this time a year, coming back inside to a warm already prepared breakfast makes everything easier and better! It also allows me to take an extra long warm shower because I don’t have to worry about hurrying to make breakfast before Lance has to leave for work. It’s time saving, easy to use and makes delicious flavorful meals. Really, what is not to love??? Come to think about it, a slow cooker would make a great Christmas gift for my Danish family…

But enough about slow cookers and more about granola stuffed apples! When I made this I was a bit afraid that it would not be filling enough. We like a healthy filling breakfast to ensure high energy levels throughout the day, and that means that we often have a lot of grains in the morning. It turned out though that this breakfast was plenty filling – even for my fiancé Lance who has been known to have the appetite of a horse! 😉 I put everything together in the evening and set the timer for 5 hours. The slow cooker then kept the apples warm until we were ready to eat.

You can use any granola that you like, but the below granola recipe is one of my favorites. Unlike the ones that you buy in grocery stores it is actually purely based on healthy whole ingredients and is free from refined sugars. No more sugar spikes that leave you tired before lunchtime already!

Let me know how you like it.

Love,

Steph

 

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Slow Cooker Granola-Stuffed Baked Apples

INGREDIENTS (2 portions)

  • 4 large apples
  • Granola (see recipe below)
  • Yogurt of choice – for example coconut yogurt or Greek yoghurt
  • Honey

METHOD

Wash and core apples, leaving enough of the core at the base of the apple to contain the filling. Add the granola to the cored apples and place them in the slow cooker. Add about half an inch of water to the slow cooker and cover with lid. Cook on low for 5 hours. Serve with yogurt of your choice and a drizzle of honey for extra sweetness.

Super-fast Goji Berry Granola

INGREDIENTS (2 portions)

  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1 cup almonds
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbs honey
  • 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup goji berries

METHOD

Put almonds in a food processor and blend slightly. I like to keep the pieces big and chunky! Heat pan over medium high heat and add almonds and rolled oats. Roast for about 2 minutes and add all other ingredients except for the goji berries. Roast for about 5 more minutes, stirring often not to burn. Take the granola off the heat and add the goji berries.

NOTES

I like to overstuff the apples for a more even balance between the apples and the granola.

StephLeave a comment