Apple, Vanilla & Hazelnut Proats & Chia Blueberry Jam

Lately I have been obsessed with proats, aka protein oats. This morning I had a big craving for apple pie and decided to whip up this yummy porridge recipe. I want to emphasize straight away that in this recipe there's no protein powders or other artificial stuff. Protein powders are good if you're training a lot but in baking and cooking I feel their taste is too distinctive and they give a bit of a rubbery texture. This recipe is also dairy free and gluten free.

I love porridge. It's such an easy and quick breakfast and you can easily add stuff to it that will keep you full until lunch. If you like you can replace the unsweetened almond milk with for example vanilla flavored almond milk. I personally as a diabetic prefer to use the unsweetened milks.

The recipe for chia blueberry jam is super easy. You can use the recipe for pretty much any kind of berries. Love how simple and healthy it is! The jam stays goof for about a week (if it lasts that long ;).

Happy porridge making
xxx
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APPLE, VANILLA & HAZELNUT PROATS

• 50 gr Oats
• 200 mll Unsweetened almond milk
• 100 mll Coconut milk drink (not canned coconut milk)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ts Vanilla
• Pinch of cardamom
• Pinch of cinnamon 
• 1/2 Apple, grated
• 2 Egg whites
• 1 ts Alpro vanilla custard
• 1 Tbsp Chopped hazelnuts
• *Berries according to your own taste. I used raspberries. 

Mix oats, almond milk, coconut milk, salt, vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. At the end add grated apple and let sit for one minute. Mix in egg whites, vanilla custard and chopped nuts. Mix well until the egg whites are blended in well and porridge texture is creamy. Serve with chia blueberry jam and fresh berries!

CHIA BLUEBERRY JAM

• 150 gr Blueberries
• 1 tbsp Chia seeds
• 1 tbsp Fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp Honey (or other liquid sweetener)

Boil the blueberries in a frying pan over low heat until they're soft. Smash them with a fork and add chia seeds, lemon juice and honey. Spoon into a jar and let sit for about 30 minutes.

NUTRITION

Calories 386kcal
Carbohydrates 49gr
Protein 19gr
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/173462621376061

Pan cakes, SWEET pancakes!

Now we're at my favorite topic! Pan cakes! Pan cakes are über fashionable in the fitness world at the moment. They're even selling protein pan cake mix in a bag. I'm sure they're grand and ok, but I haven't tried them yet. Usually there is always some semi suspicious ingredients in them after all. And the carb counting from a product like that is just so tiring and frustrating! 

See every single time a diabetic eats he/she has to count the carbohydrates, which determines the amount of insulin you have to take for the food you've eaten. Every person has their own ratio for that, and the calculating has to be EXACTLY correct, otherwise you can suffer for that for  even a few days afterwards. So better just stick to making things from the scratch yourself so at least you know exactly what you're putting down in your mouth :) 

But back to the pan cakes. They are jus so incredibly handy, diverse and fun form of food! You can literally put anything in them. You can eat them sweet or savory. Often when you think of pan cakes the image you have is a shmoking pan with a litre of butter or oil reeking in it. BUT, if you own a good Teflon pan and a bottle of the 1kcal spray, even the pan cakes turn into healthy treats! 

I eat pan cakes pretty much every morning. They just combine so handy all the stuff you need for breakfast: carbs, protein and berries. Another option would be an omelet or scrambled eggs, and porride with berries. Same ingredients in both. Somehow though the pan cakes do bring some luxury to the every day life, like if you where having a treat day every day?! I'm eating treats, but not really?! It's like cheating our brain a little bit ;)

I will be sharing my multiple pan cake recipes along as I keep writing. Here is one super basic idiot-proof recipe that is guaranteed to work!

PAN CAKES

0,25 cup Rye flour (or ground rye porridge flakes)

0,25 cup Oat flour (or ground oat porridge flakes)

0,75 - 1 cup Water (depends on how thick you want the batter)

And that's it. 

Well ok you can add i.e. these too: 

Baking powder

Stevia (for sweetness)

Vanilla essence 

Cinnamon

Then just fry away on a medium heat, and when finished top with delicious berries! This pan cake recipe has about (just the pan cakes) 176kcal. Berries in general have 32kcal/100gr. So it is a very light breakfast, but ahh so yummy!!

Traditional pan cake made with the recipe above

Alpro soy custard on top

Yoghurt pan cake with tofu-ricotta chocolate cream

Traditional pan cake from a different angle

Vanilla swirl

Perfection!

A blond pan cake from spelt and oats

Pan cake art

This pan cake had a rough one last night

Apple pan cake

Yoghurt ricotta pan cake. A very beautiful looking one if I might add!

Super thin crepes with maple syrup! nooommmm

HELLO!

Apple pan cake

And another such PERFECT pan cake! Everyone knows the _massive_ satisfaction you get from creating a perfect pan cake! The roundness, the lace pattern on top, flipping without the pan cake getting stuck..Ahh!

American style big pan cakes

My Finnish cat Vikke is dreaming of pan cakes! Probably filled with fresh fish and mice ;) yak!