Power Porridge

By Tom and Shona Pickering

Our approach to cooking...

Our approach to cooking is based around taste, convenience and health. So typically, we try to make our meals quite fast and easy, without sacrificing on the healthy qualities that whole plant foods provide.

We tend to cook a lot of ‘one pot meals’, where in we throw everything in a big pot and cook it up with a dose of delicious herbs and spices for flavour. This way we often put about 6 portions of food together in around 15 minutes, which is great when you find yourself pressed for time.

Plant based cooking has really taught us how to be creative in the kitchen, but the best advice we could give is to go with the flow. We’re not professional chefs (in case it wasn’t obvious!) – far from it. Bu that’s the thing, you really don’t need to be in order to cook up delicious wholesome plant based goodness.

There might be times when you want to cook something but you only have half the ingredients available. No problem, just substitute with other ingredients. There might be times where you think you’ve got the measurements wrong, or overdone the spices. No problem, in time you’ll get the hang of it. In fact, we don’t ever measure portions or spices anymore, we’ve just learned how much flavour we need depending on the dish, and often it tastes different to the time before as a result of this, but it’s still always tasty!

I suppose what we’re trying to say is have fun with it. Use these recipes as a starting point then make them your own. These are all quite simple recipes really, but deep down that’s something that all of us seem to have forgotten. The whole foods the planet has provided for us generally provide everything we need.

With that said, it’s time to tuck in!

You might think there’s nothing exciting about porridge, but trust us, once you level up your porridge game and turn it into a fancy, colourful bowl of oats, you’ll never look at porridge in the same way again.

It’s such a healthy way to start your day, and generally sets you up for a productive few hours ahead. It will fill you up for the morning, which is something we can probably all appreciate. It’s quick and easy too once you get into a routine with it. Definitely cook it on the hob – porridge in the microwave is unpredictable and often outrageously explosive!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Wholemeal Oats
  • Water
  • 150ml-300ml Unsweetened Soya Milk
  • 1 Banana
  • Blueberries
  • Almond Butter (or a nice, low sugar jam if you’d prefer)
  • Flax seed
  • Walnuts - optional
  • Cacao Powder - optional

Instructions

  1. Add the oats into a pan, along with 300 ml of soya milk and water (we tend to add both water and soya milk, but if you would rather add purely soya milk that’s fine).
  2. Cook on the hob and continue stirring to avoid your porridge sticking to the pan and destroying your morning in the process.
  3. Pour cooked porridge into a bowl, then decorate with blueberries, sliced banana, a sprinkling of flax seed and almond butter (or jam if you prefer). Pop some crushed walnuts on the side if you want an extra dose of omega 3 goodness, and sprinkle some cacao powder for an additional hit of flavour, but you’ll probably find it’s not necessary.
  4. One cup of oats like above will provide one big bowl of porridge, so reduce accordingly depending on your appetite (although you can’t beat a big bowl of porridge like this to start your day)!
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