Tag: breakfast

Recipes

Chia Pudding with Cardamom and Honey

by AudreyLeave a Comment on Chia Pudding with Cardamom and Honey

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Effortless, delicious and healthy. This chia pudding recipe is a lighter take on a favorite dessert of mine. Kheer, which is an Indian-style rice pudding, is made by cooking rice in ample amounts of milk, sugar and cardamom until it softens and creates a thin pudding. It’s then chilled and served icy cold. (I especially like making it during the sweltering Texan summer.)

Now, I want to explore a different version of this dessert. Chia seeds are a popular super food and swell up when soaked in liquid, creating an almost custard-like texture. This makes them a great alternative to rice for this recipe. The key to making them is soaking them long enough. Patience is definitely key here or you will end up with a crunchy pudding.

In terms of flavor, cardamom is the highlight of this recipe. For those who aren’t familiar with it, cardamom is a very sweet, slightly citrusy spice. It’s one of my favorite and most-used ingredients. Great mixed in with ground coffee before brewing, stirred into yogurt with honey, or folded into orange pound cake batter; this spice is easy to integrate into your kitchen once you give it that first try. To maximize it’s flavor, it’s best to cook the cardamom in milk first. However this recipe keeps things simple and raw, resulting in a more subtle flavor. You are welcome to heat the milk, honey and cardamom first before adding the chia seeds if you want the flavor to be stronger.

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Outside of the health factor of chia pudding, I have to say that I love making it because of it’s simplicity. This overnight food comes together in minutes. Prep it the night before and wake up to the pudding ready to eat. Also, chia pudding stores very well, so it’s is a great thing to make ahead for meal prep.

Lastly, I like to add a lot of toppings for added texture. Tart strawberries add brightness and work well with the honey and cardamom. They also bulk up the portion size to make a single serving quite filling.  I’ve also used nuts for some crunchiness and added protein. Feel free to play with toppings here and make this recipe your own.

Now, let’s get started!

 

Chia Pudding with Cardamom and Honey

Makes 2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients

  • 6 tbs chia seeds
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 3 tsp honey (feel free to add more to taste, I like mine slightly sweet)
  • Toppings of choice, strawberries or sliced almonds work beautifully

Step 1: Mix the cardamom, honey and chia seeds together in a large bowl until you get a thick paste.

Step 2: Slowly stir in the milk until fully combined.

Step 3: Cover bowl with cling wrap. Let mixture rest 15 minutes, and then mix again. Repeat this step 3 times until the pudding is thickened.

Step 4: Let pudding rest overnight or until the seeds are soft. There should be no crunchy texture left. Top with your choice of toppings, strawberries pictured, and serve.

 

 

Recipes

Sesame oatmeal with soft-cooked egg and ginger

by Audrey2 Comments on Sesame oatmeal with soft-cooked egg and ginger

sesame oatmeal with egg

Despite sorting this in the breakfast section of my recipe page, I feel like this recipe is pretty universal regardless of when you eat it. Substitute the oatmeal for rice porridge and you would have an awesome alternative. You could even do this to plain white rice.

However when I woke up a couple mornings ago, I wanted something salty for breakfast, so I went this route.

Growing up, my mom would always add Maggi, a seasoning sauce similar to soy sauce, to her oatmeal. The sauce added a great umami flavor to a relatively bland breakfast staple. Unfortunately, I did not have any of this on hand. What I did have was dark soy sauce and sesame oil – so I thought, “Why don’t I give these a shot?”

Instead of finishing everything with a dash or two of soy sauce, I continued and went all the way, adding a fried egg and some vegetables. When I finished plating this, the recipe kind of reminded me of bi bim bap, a korean mixed rice dish.

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet of instant oatmeal (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1/4 cup water (for a twist, use leftover green or roasted barley tea instead)
  • 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 egg, fried with a runny yolk
  • julienned carrots, sautéed
  • chopped green onion
  • pepper to taste

Step 1: Cook the oatmeal with your water or tea. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove-top. However cook until the oatmeal is thick, you cannot have runny oatmeal as you will cut it with more liquid. Mix in 1 teaspoon of soy sauce.

Step 2: Pour oatmeal into a bowl. (Or keep in your cooking dish if you cooked in the microwave.) Top with the egg and carrots.

Step 3: Drizzle with remaining oil and sauce. Sprinkle with green onion and pepper.

sesame oatmeal with egg

 

Recipes

Clean and simple breakfasts

by Audrey3 Comments on Clean and simple breakfasts

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There is nothing I love more than a simple egg. Tender, supple egg whites paired with a creamy yolk. Now that is my version of heaven.

When I stumbled across this post from Cannelle et Vanille, one of my favorite food blogs and my foodie role model, I knew I had to make it. Only this time I gave it a spiced twist.

Soft baked eggs, with a sprinkling of cream to give it a luscious texture, paired with refreshing herbs and vegetables. At the last minute, a pinch of cumin speckles the top with a hint of smokiness.

These are perfect for a last-minute brunch. All you have to do is drizzle, crack and bake.

 

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 4 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
  • 4-6 cherry tomatoes, add more or less depending on what ratio of egg to vegetable you want
  • A sprig of cilantro
  • A pinch cumin per egg

 

cream

Roughly chop the cilantro and quarter the tomatoes. Divide the cilantro and tomatoes equally into 4 oven-safe cups. Pour on top a teaspoon of cream into each cup, one for each egg.

 

egg

Crack the egg on top. Sprinkle the cumin on top.

 

yolk

Bake the eggs on a baking sheet at 350 ˚F for 15-20 minutes until the egg sets, but the yolk is still runny. The egg should barely be opaque. If you want your eggs to be full cooked, bake until the eggs don’t jiggle.

I toasted some bread in butter and accompanied my eggs with a light kale salad. The narrow slices of bread really help dig into that egg yolk.

Sometimes simplicity is the best of flavors. I always took it for granted, thinking that I had to depend on many ingredients to make something good. Additionally, the egg its self is often ignored in terms of flavor. People associate them with how they transform flour into cakes, brownies and cookies, but never as a simple item with a delicate taste. However this recipe does what little else can- focus on the flavor of an egg. All while accompanying it with light, if not subtle seasonings. You don’t even need to add salt or pepper.