Give your classic apple cinnamon flavored oatmeal a nutrient upgrade with this apple oat and buckwheat porridge!
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School year staples & cookbook development wrap up!
What a fall it has been! I feel like we were on the beach in flip flops just yesterday, but here we are, carving pumpkins this weekend! This fall has been filled with a great balance of incredible weather, fall sports, school…and finishing the recipe development and writing process for my newest cookbook! I had to cut some recipes that wouldn’t fit in the cookbook, so I’m going to blog them here instead!
Cut from the cookbook!
My newest cookbook, Nourished Mornings, will be focused on getting kids fed well before their day starts. Whether they’re off to school or off to play, every kid deserves to have a breakfast that keeps them full and focused. In the cookbook, I’ll show you how to build a breakfast that counts. In other words, a breakfast that won’t leave them with a grumbling belly and cranky moods in an hour!
Familiar flavors with a nutrient dense boost!
One of the goals in many of the recipes created for the cookbook was to spin familiar breakfast favorites, such as apple cinnamon oatmeal. Remember the little brown packets as a kid? I sure do! Have you ever peeked at how they sweeten those little packets? With 8 grams of added sugar (2 teaspoons of sugar!), it’s no wonder they are a kid favorite! And how many of us had more than 1 packet for breakfast as a kid?
Thoughtful ingredients with all the great apple flavor!
It’s easy to re-create an apple oatmeal type of a breakfast in a nutrient dense way that will keep your kids happy and focused for a whole morning. Here is some of the ingredient line up!
- Rolled Oats:: Whether using sprouted rolled oats, or regular rolled oats, this whole grain is a great source of fiber for great digestion. The whole grain fiber slows the carb burn so the kids will have an even, sustained energy all morning. If your oats are not sprouted, you can soak/sour them for best digestion. Swap ¼ cup of the milk for yogurt and stir everything together to soak overnight. In fact, even though I have sprouted oats, I tend to get everything into the pot the night before anyway! It makes cooking it that much faster in the morning!
- Buckwheat Groats: Here’s where we change things up a little! Instead of a bowl of all oats, adding mineral rich buckwheat groats not only adds nutrient variety, it also adds a little texture bite to the porridge. If you like the texture of steel cut oats, you’ll love buckwheat groats. Buckwheat groats have fiber, a rich mineral profile, and while not a huge amount of protein, it is actually a complete protein!
- Healthy fats: Between the butter to cook the apples in, and the full fat coconut milk or raw milk, this bowl of porridge is ready to satiate hunger, slow blood sugar spiking, and also nourish our kids’ nervous system and hormones with healthy saturated fats!
- Bonus add-ins: From chia seeds and flax meal to protein powder and hemp hearts, I’ll also show you how to get other nutritious ingredients stirred into the bowl without changing the flavor!
What kind of apples should I use?
Really, any kind of apple will work with this recipe! Use something that you and the kids enjoy the flavor of. Even a sour granny smith apple turns out really nice once cooked. Around here, we have so many different apple varieties depending on the month, so it’s nice to change it up all autumn long. We enjoy a chunky apple porridge. If your kids prefer the apples to be shredded into the porridge, that works too!
How to make Apple Oat and Buckwheat Porridge :: The Apples
To get your porridge started, cook the apples in some butter. This will help the apples along in getting softened before cooking the oats and buckwheat, since the apples take longer. This process also adds needed caramelized depth of flavor to the apples!
How to make Apple Oat and Buckwheat Porridge :: The Porridge
Once the apples are cooked through, you can add the rest of the ingredients. At this point, you can either stop and let your porridge soak overnight, or you can cook it through. I actually end up putting this together the night before every time because then it’s all in the pot the next morning, and all I have to do is cook the porridge. To cook the porridge, put the lid on your pot and simmer on low for 10 minutes until the oats and buckwheat groats are tender. Add more liquid if you like a runnier oatmeal.
How to make Apple Oat and Buckwheat Porridge :: The Add-In’s
Serve your apple oat and buckwheat porridge in bowls with any add-in’s you choose. I like to stir collagen into each individual bowl so I can ensure the amount of collagen the kids are getting. You could even set up an add-in’s “bar” for the kids to serve themselves using hemp hearts, flax meal, etc. We also love adding more cream or coconut milk to the top.
What should I serve with the apple oat and buckwheat porridge?
Unless you’re adding a good amount of protein powder or stirring eggs to cook into the porridge, this meal will need some breakfast protein sides to go with it. You can fry eggs and/or breakfast meat like chicken sausage or bacon.
Can I double up the apple oat and buckwheat porridge?
Absolutely! In fact, I do this often so that we have enough for at least 2 breakfasts. The porridge can be warmed up in a pan on the stove for up to 5 days. Add some splashes of water or more milk to re-heat the porridge.
Apple Oat & Buckwheat Porridge
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter or ghee to cook in
- 1 large apple or 2 small apples cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 ½ cups full fat coconut milk or whole milk (raw milk if possible) plus more as needed for serving
- 1 cup water or more milk
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats I use sprouted oats for best digestion. See Notes for how to soak rolled oats if you like to do that
- ¼ cup buckwheat groats
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt
- Add-in options after cooking to boost nutrients such as flax meal, hemp hearts, grassfed collagen, and/or protein powder
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium high heat, and add the apples. Cook the apples, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and caramelizing.
- Add all of the rest ingredients except the optional add-in’s, and stir together.
- Cook the apple oat and buckwheat porridge, with a lid on, over medium/low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oats and buckwheat are tender, and the liquid is absorbed.
- Scoop servings of the oatmeal into bowls, stir in any add-in’s you want, and garnish with a splash of milk or cream if you wish.
- Serve your apple oat and buckwheat porridge with breakfast protein sides such as eggs and/or breakfast meat. Greek yogurt and/or protein powder could also be stirred into the oatmeal for added protein.
Notes
- If your oats are not sprouted, and you would like to soak/sour them for best digestion, you can swap ¼ cup of the milk for yogurt and stir everything together to soak overnight. In fact, even though I have sprouted oats, I tend to get everything into the pot the night before anyway because it makes cooking it that much faster in the morning!
- You can cook a few eggs into this porridge too! It’s a great way to get nutrient rich eggs into the kids if they aren’t huge fans of eggs on the side. Simply whisk 2-3 eggs and add them into to cook with the oats and buckwheat. It makes the porridge even richer and creamier too!
- Any fruit will work for this recipe! Shop seasonally to change the flavor up, as well as nutrients! Berries or peaches in the summer! Apples and pears in the fall! In the winter we tend to do bananas or dried fruit like raisins in addition to apples which are readily available where I live most of the winter.
- You can double this recipe so that you have easy to warm up breakfast for more than one day! The porridge can be warmed up in a pan on the stove for up to 5 days. Add some splashes of water or more milk to re-heat the porridge.
