QUINOA with BANANA & COCONUT MILK

Yesterday I had to have some kind of new breakfast. I had cooked quinoa and coconut milk, so quickly I had that great idea ;)

QUINOA with BANANA & COCONUT MILK / 1 portion


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 banana
• 1 TBS clarified butter
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 TBS maple syrup

METHOD:

Melt clarified butter on frying pan and fry sliced banana on medium heat for 2 minutes on each side. 

Pour coconut milk with cardamon and quinoa into medium pan and cook till warm on a medium heat. When ready, transfer to a bowl, add cooked banana, sprinkle with cinnamon and add maple syrup. 

* Quinoa can be substitute with any other grain

CHICORY with THYME

Finally I found nice recipe and I have tried chicory :) 

CHICORY with THYME
// Recipe adapted from here //

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 chicory
• 2 tsp clarified butter
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• pink salt
• pinch of brown sugar
• 2 TBS breadcrumbs
• 1 TBS nutritional yeast (or 50 g Gruyere or Parmesan cheese)
• 1/2 TBS ground flaxseeds
• thyme

METHOD:

Heat the oven to 190C.

Wash and cut chicory in half. Melt butter with olive oil on a frying pan. Add sugar and salt. Then place all halves on the pan cut side down. Fry them until golden brown (about 5 minutes). Transfer to ovenproof dish or deep baking tray, sprinkle with thyme and put into the oven for about 10-12 minutes.

In the meantime, mix breadcrumbs with nutritional yeast (or cheese) in a small bowl. Take out chicory and sprinkle with that mixture. Put again into the oven and bake for another 7 minutes. Chicory should be soft - knife should go easily inside. 

Serve immediately!

CLARIFIED BUTTER

Clarified butter is pure butter fat. It is healthy and very well absorbed. It is also well tolerated by people with lactose intolerance and milk allergy (such butter does not contain milk solids). It is very good for sauteing as it has higher smoke point than normal butter. Also, it has much longer shelf life - about a month at room temperature, couple months in the fridge or you can freeze it for six months or more.

It is quite easy to make your own clarified butter at home.

I would like to mention one more important thing before going any further. So far commonly used method of clarifying butter is not working any more. For those who are not familiar with the subject, i.e. melting tube of butter in a saucepan and pouring clear butter out - without white froths. The reason is that nowadays there are advanced methods of production used for making all kinds of spreads.

Below you can find a recipe. 

CLARIFIED BUTTER


INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 tubs of unsalted butter (min. 82% fat)
• 1 & 1/2 l water

/ These two photos show freshly made clarified butter, in liquid form /

METHOD:

Place butter with water in a large saucepan. Cook on medium heat for about half an hour stirring occasionally. Put on the side and leave it to cool and then refrigerate. The mixture will be separated into 3 layers:
- on the top - solid clear butter fat;
- in the middle - vegetable oil;
- on the bottom - water with some white solids.

Remove the first layer (butter) to 2-3 glass one litre jars. Pour boiling water into them, set aside to cool and refrigerate again. When ready, take out from the fridge, make a small hole in the first layer and slowly pour out water with some white milk solids from the bottom. Put clear butter in clean pan again and melt. Then add for example cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (6 TBS per 3 tubes of butter), pour to glass jars or glass containers. 

* This method was invented by dr Grażyna Pająk.

/ This photo shows clarified butter solidifying at room temperature /

BANANA SPELT MUFFINS with WALNUTS & PECANS

I have to admit that I love muffins. If you use mini muffin molds, there are so many of small treats coming out from not big amount of mixture.

Today it is a turn for:

BANANA SPELT MUFFINS with WALNUTS & PECANS /Makes about 22 mini muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 & 1/4 cups wholegrain spelt flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts & pecans, plus some for garnish
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (or brown)
• pinch of salt
• 130 g clarified butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 bananas

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180 - 190 C. Melt butter and leave to cool. 

Mix all dry ingredients with chopped nuts in a big bowl. 

In another bowl whisk eggs with almond milk and then add butter when ready. Pour wet ingredients to dry and mix well. 

At the end add mashed bananas and mix. 

Use spoon to pour mixture into muffin molds. Garnish with nuts. 

Bake for about 20 minutes. 

·······························································

in Polish

Muszę przyznać, że uwielbiam muffiny. Jeżeli użyć mini foremek, wychodzi tak wiele malutkich pyszności z niedużej ilości ciasta.

Dziś kolej na:

BANANOWE MUFFINY Z ORZECHAMI WŁOSKIMI I PEKAN /około 22 mini muffin

SKŁADNIKI:

• 1 i 1/4 szklanki mąki orkiszowej
• 1/2 szklanki grubo posiekanych orzechów włoskich i pekan, plus kilka na ozdobę
• 1 łyżeczka proszku do pieczenia
• 1/2 szklanki cukru palmowego (lub brązowego)
• szczypta soli
• 130 g masła
• 1/2 szklanki mleka migdałowego
• 2 jajka
• 2 banany

WYKONANIE:

Piekarnik nagrzać do 180-190 st. C. Masło rozpuścić w rondelku i zostawić do ostudzenia. W dużej misce wymieszać wszystkie suche składniki z posiekanymi orzechami. W drugiej, roztrzepać jajka, dodać mleko a na końcu ostudzone masło. Następnie wlać mokre składniki do suchych i dobrze wymieszać. Dodać rozgniecione banany i wymieszać. Przekładać do foremek za pomocą łyżki. Przyozdobić orzechami. Piec około 20 minut.

VANILLA ALMOND SPELT MUFFINS with BLUEBERRIES

Today is a special day so that is the reason to make my favourite muffins.

VANILLA ALMOND SPELT MUFFINS with BLUEBERRIES /Makes about 20 mini muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 & 1/4 cups wholegrain spelt flour
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds (or ground)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (or brown)
• pinch of salt
• 130 g clarified butter
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 eggs
• vanilla extract (as much as you like)
• 1 cup blueberries

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180 - 190 C. Melt butter and leave to cool. Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. In another bowl whisk eggs, almond milk, vanilla extract and add butter when ready. Then pour wet ingredients to dry and mix well. At the end add blueberries and mix. Use spoon to pour mixture in muffin moulds. Bake for about 20 minutes. 

·······························································

in Polish

Dziś mam powód do zrobienia moich ulubionych muffinek.

WANILIOWO MIGDAŁOWE MUFFINY Z JAGODAMI /około 20 mini muffin

SKŁADNIKI:

• 1 i 1/4 szklanki mąki orkiszowej
• 1/2 szklanki migdałów w płatkach (albo mielonych)
• 1 łyżeczka proszku do pieczenia
• 1/2 szklanki cukru palmowego (lub brązowego)
• szczypta soli
• 130 g masła
• 1/2 szklanki mleka migdałowego
• 2 jajka
• ekstrakt z wanilii (ile lubisz)
• 1 szklanka jagód

WYKONANIE:

Piekarnik nagrzać do 180-190 st. C. Masło rozpuścić w rondelku i zostawić do ostudzenia. W dużej misce wymieszać wszystkie suche składniki. W drugiej, roztrzepać jajka, dodać mleko, ekstrakt z wanilii a na końcu ostudzone masło. Następnie wlać mokre składniki do suchych i dobrze wymieszać. Dodać jagody i wymieszać. Przekładać do foremek za pomocą łyżki. Piec około 20 minut.

MILLET WITH DATES, NUTS & SPICES

I love sweet, warm and nutritious breakfast!

INGREDIENTS:

• cooked millet
• clarified butter
• cinnamon
• cardamon
• pecan nuts
• dates

METHOD:

Melt clarified butter on a frying pan, add cooked earlier millet and stir fry for few minutes. Then add nuts, dates and spices and mix everything together. Serve warm! 

* I do not measure ingredients when preparing that dish. Add anything you like and as much as you want!

·······························································

in Polish

KASZA JAGLANA Z DAKTYLAMI I PRZYPRAWAMI KORZENNYMI NA CIEPŁO

Uwielbiam ciepłe, słodkie i pożywne śniadanie!

SKŁADNIKI:

• ugotowana wcześniej porcja kaszy jaglanej
• masło klarowane
• cynamon
• kardamon
• orzechy pekan
• suszone daktyle

WYKONANIE:

Masło rozpuścić na rozgrzanej patelni, dodać porcję kaszy jaglanej i mieszać przez kilka minut. Następnie dodać orzechy, daktyle oraz przyprawy i wszystko razem wymieszać. Podawać na ciepło!

* Przygotowując ten posiłek nigdy nie używam miarek. Dodaj tyle przypraw i dodatków na ile masz ochotę!