Category: Oats

Pear and Cardamom Oat Loaf

One of my favourite combinations is pear and cardamom, I love the sweet spicy hit that comes from the cardamom, there isn’t a flavour quite like it. This month I’ve been trying to find some low fat brekkies that fill me up. This usually means oats will be featuring somewhere.

I’ve talked before about my frustration with pears – either they are too hard or over ripe, so I tend to cook them rather than wait for them to overripen again. I often dice and lightly fry pears to add to yoghurt or porridge, which helps to soften them up. Cooking them in this loaf works a treat too.

Pear and Cardamom Oat Loaf

  • I large pear – diced with skin on. Choose ripe or unripe.
  • 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 200g oats
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 3 ripe bananas – mashed

Put everything into a bowl and mix well together. Line a small loaf tin with baking paper. Push the mixture into the tin. Cook for 20 minutes at 200c/Gas 6

That’s it – very simple. Leave it in the tin to cool and then it’s ready to slice and eat. It’s lovely with some peanut butter, extra fruit or some yoghurt.

Orange Rhubarb overnight oats

This week saw my first pickings of rhubarb at the allotment and a definite sign of spring. I’ve got 4 big plants on my plot so the challenge begins again of finding different ways of eating it. This one came about because I had a rather manky looking orange to use up, and however manky oranges look, you can always squeeze out some juice.

Orange Rhubarb overnight oats (serves 1)

  • Juice and zest of one orange
  • 1 stick of rhubarb – thinly sliced
  • 50g oats
  • 1 medjool date – chopped
  • 50-100ml plant milk (soya/oat or other milk of choice)
  • Date syrup (or maple syrup or other sweetener)
  • Sesame seeds to decorate

Method

Put the orange juice, rhubarb and the medjool date into a pan and simmer until the rhubarb has stewed – about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and mix in the oats. Add the milk (you may want to adjust depending how thick you like your overnight oats to be – you can always add more before you eat it if it’s too thick)

Put the oat mixture into a bowl and leave overnight. Drizzle the syrup, orange zest and sesame seeds over the top.

Gooseberry delights

Two ways with gooseberries, one fairly easy and the other super simple. The glut of gooseberries continues, the early hot sunshine this year has ripened them a month earlier than usual and I can’t eat them quickly enough. I have a few portions of gooseberry crumble in the freezer and couldn’t face any more, so instead I’ve made flapjacks. Easy and freezable – so a bonus. I also have a glut of tahini as I went into mad lockdown panic in April and stock piled tahini! – so I’m using it with everything and it works brilliantly with gooseberries. 

Then, as I really couldn’t eat any more, I tossed the the remaining gooseberries in a freezer bag, added some sugar to coat them and froze them. I have discovered they are delicious eaten straight from the freezer like sweets. 

 I’ll keep experimenting as I still have a lot to pick and eat.

Gooseberry and Sesame flapjacks

  • 250g gooseberries – topped and tailed
  • 100g castor sugar
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 200g oats
  • 50ml sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 100g vegan spread melted (or butter)

Toss the gooseberries in the sugar and then add the sesame seeds and oats. In a bowl, whisk together the oil, tahini and spread. Then add this to the gooseberry mixture and mix well. Use a baking dish to spread and flatten the mixture – you want to keep it looking quite chunky, so about an inch high.

Cook for 30 minutes at 200c, 400f or Gas 6. It should look browned on the top but will still be a little soft. Leave in the dish until cool and then divide into slices. Mine always crumble a bit, so don’t expect perfect slices! The crumbly bits are nice mixed in yoghurt or just eaten immediately.

Gooseberry sweets

Top and tail your gooseberries.  Put in a freezer bag, toss with some sugar. Freeze.  Eat frozen.  As an additional option, also toss in some desiccated coconut with the sugar before freezing and/or some cinnamon.  You now have a bag of healthy sweets to dip into every time you go into the kitchen!

Goosberry sweets

 

Rhubarb & Tahini overnight Oats

The rhubarb keeps coming and so does the Tahini.  Tahini is one of my favourite foods, I have it with almost everything.  During the first few weeks of lockdown I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I went for almost a month without any- until my lovely bestie delivered a jar and left it outside my door.  That didn’t last long!  but fortunately my stocks are now replenished and I am eating it liberally again.

The combination with rhubarb really works, although be warned rhubarb and tahini blended does look a bit beige – so the decorations on top of this dish are worth it!  You do need some sweetener with this – I don’t add much sugar to my stewed rhubarb so usually need to add a bit extra into whatever I’m using it with.

Enjoyed eating this today after an early dog walkies in the sunshine.

Rhubarb & Tahini overnight oats

  • 2 tablespoons stewed rhubarb (plus extra for the topping)
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or other sweetener of choice)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 200ml Milk (almond, soya or coconut work well)
  • 35g oats
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Blend the rhubarb, tahini, maple syrup, milk and ginger in a blender.  Pour into a bowl and add the oats.  Leave overnight.

To serve – sprinkle over the sesame seeds and add the extra rhubarb on top.

Almost instant brekkie crumble

When in lockdown, eat heartily – is the current mantra in my household!   I went out for my usual lockdown morning dog walkies, got soaked through and came home feeling cold, wet, fed up and in need of something warm, sweet and quick.

I did have crumble on my mind as i had made a lovely rhubarb crumble for my mum a few days earlier, which took ages what with having to wait 30 minutes whilst it cooked in the oven.  The leftovers were great for brekkie, until i discovered the last portion had been eaten by my husband…

So – this was my urgent recreation with whatever i had in the house – and it’s pretty close to the real thing too.  Probably took around 5 minutes to make and certainly hit the spot.

Almost instant brekkie crumble

(serves one hungry person – but could do two)

The fruit layer

Some fruit that will go juicy and mushy in the microwave – I used a punnet of blueberries and zapped them for a minute.  Rhubarb or apple is great too as that only takes a few minutes to stew.

The crumble

  • 1 piece bread (stale is good too) – blitzed into breadcrumbs
  • 2 tablespoons oats
  • sprinkle of cinnamon, ground cloves or nutmeg or any warm spices you like
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons sugar – less or more depending how sweet you like your crumble (i go for v sweet!
  • Knob of non dairy spread or butter – coconut oil or other oil works too.

Method

  • Melt the spread in a frying pan.  Mix the breadcrumbs, spice, oats and sugar together and add to the pan.  Fry for 2-4 minutes until the mix has some bite to it like crumble (i.e not too soft)
  • Whilst the crumble is frying – zap your fruit in the microwave – it won’t need long, maybe 30 seconds or so.
  • Add the crumble to the fruit and there’s your crumble.  Lovely with some extra fruit on top and some yogurt and maple syrup.  Or cream or ice cream – after all we’re in lock-down.

I also added a sliced banana on top of the hot blueberries before i added the crumble on top.  Play around and add in anything you have handy – peanut butter, nuts, seeds…

 

Coconut yogi overnight oats

I love the new coconut yoghurts but find some of the brands too thick to eat very much of in one go! (Oh and the calories count is quite high).  So for this recipe I thinned out the yoghurt with some plant based milk to make some overnight oats.  This makes a lovely creamy and surprisingly filling (as it’s a small portion) brekkie.

Coconut Yogi overnight oats

  • 2 tablespoons thick coconut yoghurt (i.e. Coyo)
  • 4 tablespoons plant based milk (oat, almond, soya…)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 3 tablespoons oats
  • 1 teaspoon peanut butter (a nice runny one such as Pip and Nut is good)

Mix everything together and put in the fridge overnight.  I leave the peanut butter out at this stage and add it in just before eating.  This keeps the peanut butter on the runny side as it hasn’t been absorbed, so it adds a bit of extra moisture and softness.

Lovely with bananas or berries and some extra cinnamon sprinkled on top to make it look pretty.

coconut yogi overnight oats

Fruit & Nut Case Overnight Oats

This is definitely a homage to the favourite chocolate bars of my youth. I especially loved the ‘whole hazelnut’ bars and hazelnut whirls (my mums favourite), and who doesn’t like a chocolate raisin?! I’ve added some coconut because Bounties were another favourite of mine (and my dads).  Really I was just looking for an excuse to throw in all my favourite things and pretend it’s healthy – but these overnight oats are at least heathier than eating all of the above.

Fruit & Nut case overnight oats

  • 50g Oats
  • 1 tablespoon whole hazelnuts
  • 1 tablespoon raisins
  • 1 tablespoon shredded coconut
  • 1 teaspoon raw cacao (or coco)
  • 2 squares of dark chocolate chopped into bits (I will admit I used more than 2)
  • 200ml Hazelnut milk

Layer up a jar with all of the dry ingredients, add the milk last and pop it in the fridge.  Mix it all together in the morning.

fruit and nut case 2

 

Blueberry Choc Chioaty

I like using both chia seeds and oats in my overnight soakings, a mix of protein and carbs.  I find the consistency can become a little more solid, much like the old Irish tradition of porridge slabs kept in drawers!  It’s like eating a soft flapjack and I love this consistency especially with some maple syrup and yoghurt spooned on top before eating.  This is another healthy way to have chocolate for breakfast.

Blueberry Choc Chioaty

blueberry chioaty

  • 100g Blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 2 tablespoons oats
  • juice of one orange
  • 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder (if you want a stronger cacao hit then add a bit more)
  • 1 tablespoon cacao nibs

Mix together and put in the fridge overnight.  Top with yoghurt and maple syrup or some chocolate sprinkles!

Coco beet overnight oats

As the weather turns autumnal this is the perfect earthy overnight oats breakfast.  Beetroot is in season and I am currently harvesting a big bunch each week on the allotment.  I’ve tried a few different breakfast dishes with beetroot and I love it.  This has become a favourite because it’s so quick and looks such a lovely shade of red!

I find it’s best if you process the beetroot in a food processor – peel and chop and then process until it looks like couscous (a few seconds).  You can also finely grate it for this dish if you don’t have a food processor.

Coco beet overnight oats (serves one)

Beet coco oats

  • 50g raw beetroot – either processed in a food processor or finely grated
  • 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
  • 40g oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 20g sultanas
  • 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
  • 50g flaked coconut
  • 150ml coconut milk

Layer up the beetroot, coconut, oats, cardamom, sultanas and seeds.  Then add the coconut milk and leave overnight in the fridge.

You can play around with your seeds and dried fruit – personally I love the taste of sultanas with this dish, but dried cranberries, raisins or goji berries would work well.  The hemp seeds give a nice subtle crunch, or you can use pumpkin or sunflower seeds.  Pistachio nuts also go very well with beetroot.  Just layer up as you fancy.  The key ingredients are the beetroot and coconut – the mix of earthiness and sweetness is perfect.

 

 

Ginger, Mango & Coconut Overnight Oats

Fresh, summery with a bit of zing – the perfect spring into summer overnight oats.  I love mixing mango with ginger and coconut – the GMC combo, one of the perfect combos for summer. Try and save some mango for the decoration – just because it makes the whole dish look pretty and vibrant.  A great breakfast to refuel after a morning run or walkies (my dog loves coconut flakes, so some of my extra flakes ‘accidently’ fall on the floor during preparation.)

GMC Overnight Oats

mango ginger coconut overnight oats

  • 150ml coconut milk
  • 40g porridge oats
  • 1/2 mango diced (plus a bit extra sliced to serve)
  • 1 tablespoon coconut flakes
  • 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
  • A generous grating of ginger (a good 1cm piece or more if you’re a ginger fan)

Mix it all together and put in the fridge.  Lovely with some sliced mango and an extra sprinkle of coconut on top