Breakfast in the Raw: Apple Nut Porridge...

Though this is not the post I had originally intended for this afternoon, my experience with raw porridge was so mind-blowing that I just had to share!

This morning I decided to forego my regular morning Green Smoothie in favor of a different kind of raw breakfast. Since Christmas I’ve been working towards incorporating more raw fruits and vegetables into my diet, in the way I was over the summer and fall. It’s been going really well, and each morning I wake up eager for my green smoothie. This morning however I thought it might be nice to try something a little different.

The Raw Foods lifestyle is something I’ve been fascinated by for some time now. I’ve read and own many books on the subject, enjoy dining in raw restaurants, and participating in raw discussion groups, I even own a dehydrator. Though I’m not raw I do try to consume a lot of raw foods throughout my day. Green Smoothie for breakfast, big ole’ salad with homemade dressing for lunch, that kind of thing. Since reading "Crazy Sexy Diet" and "The Beauty Detox Solution" - A review of which will come Friday - I’ve been trying to make a greater effort to incorporate raw fruits and vegetables into my daily diet.

This morning I was sitting here contemplating my day when Ani Phyo’s "Ani’s Raw Food Essentials" caught my eye. I’ve owned this book since it came out and I’ve made one or two things from it but like most of my other raw food uncook books it mainly serves the purpose of collecting dust. It looked so sad sitting there on the self, untouched for months and practically unused. I grabbed it and began flipping through it. The recipe for Buckwheat Crispies caught my attention, and in that moment they sounded like they’d really hit the spot. It also just so happens that I had a large bag of buckwheat groats sitting in my pantry, also unused and practically untouched. I was all set to go about making this when I realized the groats require soaking over night. I chose not to be disappointed by this fact, and decided to view it as an opportunity to have a delicious breakfast tomorrow.

I set the groats to soaking and then went back to the question of "What should I eat for breakfast today?" the next recipe to catch my eye was the Apple Nut Porridge. I had apples, nuts, flaxseeds, agave, Goji berries, figs and a food processor. The recipe was simple, and quick, and required no soaking time or dehydrating. Excited I went to work preparing my raw breakfast, and in five minutes I was ready to eat it!

Now honestly I had no idea what to expect from this recipe, I wasn’t exactly sure how raw apples and nuts were going to have the texture and consistency of porridge, but as it turns out they did! This breakfast bowl was such a delightful surprise! It was smooth - thought not too smooth you want a bit of chunky texture - and creamy and tasted strongly of apple. In the recipe Ani says you can use any nuts, I chose to use Cashews because they’re my favorite and I think it was a good choice for this bowl as they yield a much smoother result and have a slightly sweet but mostly nuteral flavor. I also really liked the addition of Goji berries and dried figs over top, and my only complaint is that I found it a little too sweet for my taste. Next time I would use only 1 tbsp of Agave rather then 2, but I wanted to make it the proper way first. She also states in her recipe that you can enjoy the porridge with your favorite nut milk, but I opted to eat mine just as it was. Though it isn’t warm like traditional porridge it’s still delicious especially I imagine on a hot day. However if you’re living in a colder climate and it’s winter I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t give the porridge a quick heat either in your dehydrator or your oven set at it’s lowest temperature.

This dish was such a welcome surprise, and man do those nuts keep you full in the morning! I can’t wait to try my buckwheat crispies tomorrow! Here’s hoping they’re just as delicious!