{Recipe} Millet Porridge

This time last year, having not long left Italy, I was back in France, living peacefully in the idyllic countryside.  After spending several months eating stodgy pasta at every mealtime, I'd sadly gained a hideous and somewhat uncomfortable amount of weight and was therefore full of good dietary intentions, including my commitment to being a vegan again and the deletion of processed foods from my life.

In fairness, these changes ended up being far easier to implement than I thought they would be, even living outside of Paris, where the word végétalien, seems to be a mythical word someone made up to confuse the French.  With the help of Pinterest, I managed to discover a plethora of recipes and links to great food blogs and websites, that offered up an array of amazing, super healthy, super delicious, simple vegan recipes.  Which, I thought at the time, would be nice and perhaps useful, to share on my own site, with other people who may be interested.  Hence, the {RECIPE} tag was started.

However, as with all good intentions, moving back to a city, unfortunately meant that some things soon seemed to fall by the wayside.  Like healthy clean eating, which somehow got a little fuzzy, in favour of trips to cute cafes, that served up delicious fatty slabs of cake and food trucks that sold burritos the size of small children, which left me with a smile on my face and then subsequently, three hours of soy related stomach cramps.

Anyway, I digress...A few weeks ago, a bearded vegan friend from yoga introduced me to millet.  Which, I'd kinda heard of, but never actually tried before.  He cooked it up with some lentils and sweet potato and a side serving of kale and I found that it was actually really tasty.  In fact, I liked it so much, that after lunch, we went straight out to the store and I bought a kilo of it!

What I like about it, besides the taste, is that it's gluten free, high in protein, vitamin B, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese and is super cheap to buy organically here in Berlin!  Unlike my previously favoured grain, quinoa, which is pretty expensive here, compared to the price back in England.

With a kind of fluffy texture, slightly akin to couscous, I personally love it cooked with half a stock cube and a sprinkle of turmeric and coriander, as the base of my Buddha bowls, but lately I've discovered the joys of turning it into porridge!

Now, as a Brit, porridge for me will always be a winter staple, but, as much as I love it, my stomach isn't as keen when it comes to the consumption of oats and whilst I've experimented with boxes of organic yogi porridge, made from ground tigernuts, to be honest, it just gets a little expensive after a while and the consistency isn't really the same.  So, I've been pretty happy to discover this entirely new version of porridge, which is making breakfast something worthy of getting up for!

So, as it's been a seemingly long amount of time, since I last shared anything food related and seeing as several people have recently inquired about these bowls of breakfast deliciousness, via my Instagram and Facebook page, I figured now was as good a time as any to share the very simple, very yummy, very healthy and very easy recipe!  Guten Appetit!

Simple Millet Porridge

  • Half a cup of millet
  • One cup of hazelnut milk (or other dairy/alternative milk)
  • One cup of water
  • A drizzle of honey (or agave/maple syrup)
  • A sprinkle of cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce down to a simmer and cook for roughly 10-15 minutes, until the millet is soft and the majority of the liquid has been absorbed, depending on how runny or thick you like your porridge of course.

That's it!

Then it's just a case of choosing your toppings!  Personally, I opt for half a banana, cut up, with a sprinkle of both Chia and Hemp seeds over the top and a drizzle of either organic honey or agave syrup.  Some days though, I throw in a few squares of 60/70% dark chocolate into the pan, whilst it's still cooking, for a mildly indulgent cocoa version.  Let's face it though, when it comes to toppings, the combinations are endless!

Ultimately, for fifteen minutes wait, you end up with a really filling, super nutritious, totally delicious, gluten free breakfast, which I find to be a really good start to the day!

If you give it a try, let me know what you think and maybe share a snap on Instagram, using #ouijetaimeaussi as a hashtag, so that I can find you!  I'd love to know what you think and also what combinations/variations you go for!

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{Lately on Instagram}

Okay, let's face it, I'm not going to be able to write today without acknowledging the fact that it's Valentine's Day and currently, to some extent, that kinda sucks for me right now.  Mostly because, instead of exploring the souks of Marrakesh, hand-in-hand with the man I've been hopelessly in love with for nearly a year, I am instead, still here, at home in Berlin, alone.

For the most part, I've been keeping my shit together, but admittedly, last night I had a bit of a wobble.  A little moment whereby I questioned...well, everything really.  Including my stubbornness and maybe my own communication issues.  However, I woke up today to the sun beaming in and I've made plans with a friend to go check out the street food on offer by Bite Club, over at the Berlinale.  So thankfully, not all is lost to the land of broken hearts and rejected lovers.

Plus, I've got a whole week of cake eating ahead of me and a visit from one of my favourites to look forward to come March!  In fact, regardless of anything, I have to say, I am always genuinely really thankful that I have such wonderful friends in my life.  I really am.  I can't deny that these past few years have been incredibly unstable and somewhat turbulent at times and there is no doubt in my mind, that I wouldn't have made it through without the help and support of my closest friends.

The English dictionary describes a friend as; "a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations."  Personally, I think the real meaning of a friend goes far beyond a mutual bond, or common ground.  I think in reality, it's when you care about someone enough to be there for them and support them, when they have absolutely nothing to offer you and vice versa.  People you expose yourself to emotionally and who accept and love you, regardless of what that reveals.  People you can trust to share your fears, dreams and experiences with.

Admittedly, I've had a lot of fair weather friends over the years and perhaps, I too have been one on a few occasions, unintentionally, but now more so than ever, I know who my real friends are and I keep them close and appreciate them, every damn day.  When shit hits the fan, you don't have to have a lot of friends in life, but you do need real ones.

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Whilst the temperatures are still stubbornly low here in Berlin, the sun has at least been fighting to make a much welcomed comeback and I for one am grateful.  Whilst I will never attempt to deny my allergy to morning wake-up calls, I have to say, that the gentle light that has begun to beam through my window each morning, has been greatly helping me get up and out of bed at a far earlier time than previous weeks/months have seen.  Okay, we may not be talking single digits here, but we are at least seeing the morning side of noon.  It's a small accomplishment and damn it, I'm gonna run with it.

The sun's reappearance is somewhat shifting my day-to-day habits too; I suddenly feel far more encouraged to be outside again, even despite the chill.  As I amble around the city, during the late afternoon, I can't help but become acutely aware that I'm actually able to see it once more, now that it's no longer cloaked in winter's murky shadows!  It's eclectic architecture, it's abandoned bottles, the technicolour graffiti, I can see it all clearly once again and it's a little like being reacquainted by an old friend.

Admittedly, I, like many others, suffer awfully with Seasonal Affective Disorder during the winter months and there were so many moments during this particular winter, whereby I just wanted to book a flight to the nearest tropical location and never come back, but in the end, as gruesome as the past few months have indeed been at times, I truly am glad that I stuck it out.  Sometimes, despite everything, you have to realise that the problem is less so the environment and more so, yourself and thus, it's ultimately irrelevant if you and your suitcase find yourself by the beach in Borneo, or holed up in a chilly Berlin apartment, because the issue will still be there, regardless.

If the past few years have taught me anything, it's that burying your head in the sand isn't going to solve things and that, for the most part, facing your demons actually works out a lot less scary than continually hiding from them.  So here's to spring, may you bring all the warmth we so aptly deserve!

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