Wishing for summer already!

Hello!

Do you remember that ages ago I made cashew butter icing for my friends birthday cupcakes?? Well being quite a thrifty person there was no way I was going to spend £4 on a jar of cashew nut butter (no matter how delicious it looked) so I decided to make my own. It was delicious! It probably wasn’t as thrifty as I thought, seeing as cashews are expensive full stop and making nut butter is a pain in the bum even with a good food processor (anyone got any tips??) but who cares when it makes you feel like Nigella Lawson. I promise this is going somewhere…

I had strawberries leftover from making the same cupcakes, the sun was still shining brightly (unlike the crap weather we’re having now!) and I thought what better to make into a vegan pudding porridge then strawberries and cream? I know soy cream would make this really easy but a) I rarely have it in the flat and b) it’s more fun making your own cashew butter than attempting soy cream!

Making your own cashew nut butter is as simple as getting a cup of cashew nuts, putting them in a food processor and blending until they form a paste. I guess it might be easier if you soak them for an hour or two before hand. I must admit that I ended up adding a dribble of sunflower oil to mine because it was so thick, it helped a little.

Strawberries & Cream Porridge
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (don’t omit)
1 tbsp cashew butter
1 cup strawberries**
2-3 tsp sugar

Put the porridge oats, soy milk and water into a small pan. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat. For example, my cooker goes up to 9, I have the porridge on 3. Cook for about  50 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. This will make very creamy porridge, but if you’re not as fussy about your porridge consistency as me (or like it a different way) cook to your preferred timings. You might need to adjust the amount of liquid.

Dice the strawberries in preparation. When the porridge has almost reached you desired consistency stir in your cashew butter and vanilla extract. If yours is anywhere near as solid as mine you may need to mash it a little bit with a fork to ensure it mixes well. Add your sugar and strawberries and allow to cook for 3-5minutes until your strawberries are turning the porridge a light pink colour.

Enjoy!

Elise x

**I know these are now out of season but you can still find British ones for sale (or at least I can in Kent) it’s best to use ones which you wouldn’t want to eat raw like this, otherwise it’s probably a bit of a waste! Or you can save the idea until next summer, only 8months to go!

Rhubarb & Marzipan Porridge

Hello!!

How have you been? I was in Nottinghill over the (past) weekend, hanging around for the carnival and general fun having up in London town (read seeing my nephew!). Then we got a new computer so blog posts haven’t been possible for a while! There’ll be a post all about Nottinghill Carnival when I can get some photos off my sister, unluckily for me my camera battery died. Here’s a hint though: we met someone off the Dragon’s Den. Any guesses??

I’ve been making this porridge all summer while rhubarb has been in season, probably I should have posted it earlier so you could enjoy it too, for that I can only apologise, my draft post list is longer than my published list! And I should probably admit that this recipe is basically plagiarised from my original pudding porridge post but the change in fruit was inspired by Seitan is my Motor. I always thought I didn’t like rhubarb!

Rhubarb & Marzipan Porridge
1/3 cup porridge oats (about 40g)
1/2 cup soy milk (about 120ml, I use Alpro unsweetened + vitamins)
1/2 cup water
1 cup rhubarb, sliced thinly(ish)
4x4cm piece of marzipan (about 40g I guess)
2-3tsp golden granulated sugar
2-3 drops of almond extract

Put the oats, smilk & water into a small saucepan. Heat at a
very low temperature for 40-50minutes. I personally am really
fussy about my oats, I like them so they’re really creamy and
quite soft. If you’re not as fussy (v.likely!) you could
probably cook them at a higher temperature for a shorter
amount of time. If at any point your oats look too dry feel
free to add more liquid.

When the oats are really creamy and the texture reminds you of
tinned rice pudding(!) it’s time to add your rhubarb. While
that’s cooking, turn to your marzipan. I personally pull it apart and
roll it into little balls, but you could chop it if you’d
prefer.

Add the marzipan, being careful to drop the pieces around so
they don’t all clump together, sugar (to taste) and almond
extract. Stir to mix it all in thoroughly.

Get a spoon and enjoy!
Here would usually be more pictures, but my boyfriends computer appears to have gone mad! If I try to rotate a picture it disappears entirely from the computers recollection, and so I’ve now lost the photos. Very weird. Hopefully I can work it out before my next post.

Here instead is a picture of some cookies I made from an unusual ingredient I found at the Asian supermarket. I’ll write about them soon!

Elise x

Pineapple Upside Down Porridge

Hello,

How has your day been? Mine has been full of baking, making coffee and cleaning, so like everyday really! I love my job! It’s been quite weird listening to all the stories about the rioting in London though. I don’t know what to think about it to be honest. Obviously I don’t condone the burning of businesses, shootings and looting, but why is anyone surprised this is happening? And some of the things people are saying about the rioters is just mad. Oh well.

Onto happier things: Pineapple Upside-Down Porridge

It was one of my favourite cakes when I was a kid. It was so simple but almost magical, the way you carefully lay pineapple slices (out of a tin of course!) and placed glace cherries in the middle of the rings, then smothered it all in cake batter. Then when it came out the oven and you turned it upside down it looked like a treasure chest with all the jewelled fruit!

Unfortunately with only 3 of us in the flat we don’t eat cake quick enough to make it worth making :( so I decided to play around with my morning porridge and I’m pretty happy with it!

Pineapple Upside-Down Porridge
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp chickpea flour (gram flour)
2 slices fresh pineapple, skin removed and centre cored
4 cocktail cherries, halved
sugar to taste

Put the porridge oats, soy milk and water into a small pan. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat. For example, my cooker goes up to 9, I have the porridge on 3. Cook for about  50 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. This will make very creamy porridge, but if you’re not as fussy about your porridge consistency as me (or like it a different way) cook to your preferred timings.

Chop one of the slices of pineapple (the less perfect one) into small cubes and stir into the porridge along with the vanilla and sugar to taste. Thin the chickpea flour with a little water so it won’t go lumpy when you add it to the porridge (this will give a slight eggy taste). Pop the chickpea flour mix into your porridge and leave to cook for another 5 minutes or so, it’ll need to be quite thick to support the pineapple ring.

Pour the porridge into your chosen bowl, top with the remaining (special) pineapple ring and fill the centre with the halved cocktail cherries. Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over the top and put under the grill until caramelised, giving your porridge a glossy cake look.

Enjoy!

This satisfied my nostalgic craving, but I’m still planning on making a vegan upside down cake for my next hapless victim guest. Nothing quite beats cake.

Elise x

Apple Pie Porridge

Hello. How are you today?

I love writing this blog, it gives me an amazing excuse to invent loads of porridge recipes. Maybe I should rename it ‘Porridge 101’ or something equally cool, maybe  ‘No thanks, I’ve got my Porridge’? Either way I just seem to find porridge recipes really easy, probably because it’s pretty hard to mess up! Even if you forget to stir it and it sticks to the bottom, just add a little bit more liquid and lots of elbow grease, voila, it’s back to creamy goodness.

Apple Pie Porridge
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vegan margarine
1 medium eating apple, sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
2-3 tsp sugar

Put the porridge oats, soy milk and water into a small pan. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat. For example, my cooker goes up to 9, I have the porridge on 3. Cook for about  50 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. This will mae very creamy porridge, but if you’re not as fussy about your porridge consistency as me (or like it a different way) cook to your preferred timings.

Meanwhile, in a frying pan melt your vegan margarine until it begins to bubble gently. Add your sliced apple and fry gently until it looks a little translucent. When the apple is cooked, sprinkle with a light dash of cinnamon powder and toss to coat evenly

Into the porridge stir the vanilla extract and sugar to taste. Top with the caramelised apple.

Enjoy!

I topped mine with a date syrup which I’ll write about soon. But if you topped it with granola you’d have apple crumble!

I think I take these porridge puddings a bit far…maybe…but hey that’s what a blog is for! I have a recipe for pineapple upside down porridge soon :)

Elise x