Banoffee Porridge

I hope everyone in New Zealand had a great Queen's Birthday weekend and a nice 4-day working week. I am currently sick! Not an annoying wee snuffle kind of sick, but a keep-me-up-till-2am-sneezing kinda sick! Yea not so fun. So basically I plan on spending my day on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket in my pyjamas, blogging, chick-flicking and maybe working on my dissertation.

One of the great aspects of being on dissertation leave is that with my stress levels being waaaaay down I am actually feeling incredibly inspired food-wise. This means that you can expect some fantastic recipes coming your way on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

Today's recipe was something I came up with for the holiday Monday. Porridge is a fantastic winter breakfast, but I always like to jazz it up a little for a weekend breakfast. While it is tempting to throw in a bunch of sugar to make it a sweet treat, this porridge is completely decadent without any refined sugars. Think caramel porridge, topped with banana and whipped coconut cream. I know that there is a lot of controversy over the fat in coconut cream, but hey, a little bit isn't going to hurt. I also find that a little bit of extra fat makes me feel a lot more satisfied and helps stop me reaching for extra sweet treats.

I hope that you enjoy this porridge as much as I did!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch salt
1/4 cup dates
2 bananas, sliced
1 tin coconut cream (must be full fat- in New Zealand I find that Pams works fantastically)
1 Tbsp rice malt syrup (could also use honey or agave)
1 tsp vanilla extract

The night before you make the porridge, open the tin of coconut cream. Leave uncovered in the fridge overnight. (This separates the cream from the water and makes it reeeeeeeeally thick).

Place the rolled oats, milk, water, salt and dates in a pot over a medium heat. Bring the boil, stirring regularly and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to stir until porridge is thick.

Either place the porridge in a blender or food processor and give it a little whiz or use a stick blender to do the same.

Scoop the thick coconut cream out of the top of the can (make sure that you leave the water behind). In a bowl, whip the thick coconut cream with the rice malt syrup and vanilla.

Place the porridge in bowls, top with the sliced bananas and then the coconut cream. If you want an extra touch, grate a little dark chocolate over the top.

Deliciously Natural Banana Bread

Welcome to the first post of the new blog! After updating the blog, I created a Facebook page to make it easier to keep up with what's going on. Thank you so much to everyone who liked my page so far! You can find my Facebook page here.

I thought that since I had changed my blog to have a more real food focus, my first recipe should fit in with this. Everyone I know loves banana bread, but it is often full of white sugar. I decided that I wanted to have a go at getting rid of this refined sugar, while still having a delicious tasting banana bread.

I chose to use dates to sweeten this as dates create a really great caramel-like sweetness that lends itself really well to banana bread. While this may not be quite as sweet as some banana breads, I still really liked it and I thought that because it was slightly less sweet, it would make a really great breakfast on the go. I was also really impressed because this banana bread stayed moist for ages!

If you have a go at this banana bread, let me know how it goes!

Ingredients
1 cup dates
2 bananas
2 eggs
1/4 butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Turn the oven on the 180 degrees C. and line a loaf tin.

Place the dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for 10 minutes to soften, then drain.

Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until they start to break up. Add the bananas, eggs, butter and milk and process until well mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. If the flour is not combining, add some more milk to thin out the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and gently smooth out the top. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the banana bread starts to brown too much on top, just place a little foil over the tin.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack.

This will stay moist for a couple of days. If you do have any left in a few days, it is also really great toasted.