a raspberry breakfast recipe

This summer, this dry, dry summer, we've finally managed to harvest a wonderful crop of raspberries. All sorts of magic just seems to have come together - warm weather, flourishing canes and best of all, a bird net! Oh yes, the bird net, has been very helpful in keeping out those rascally blackbirds, although any small gaps are very quickly taken advantage of by birds that seem to spend their days waiting for a lucky break! And as you can see, one small brightly coloured chickadee still managed to find her way in under the net on a daily basis……and under the strawberry netting too! She visited most days and the first excursion was always the berry patch! 

While most of the berrys were eaten fresh, some did manage to make it into a meal and that meal was mostly breakfast. Theres nothing nicer in summer than a sweet berry feast to start the day and its even better with home grown ones! I mentioned before, that I'm following an eating plan called Trim Healthy Mama, which, at its most basic, separates fats from carbs and eliminates most fructose. I lowered my blood pressure (which had 'mysteriously' risen after years of very low BP), I lost that bit of flubber that was expanding my waist and I am feeling fantastic! Although I feasted on Christmas food including sugary biscuits (well, it was Christmas) I'm now firmly back on my eating plan and happy to be so.

The following recipe is one that we make a lot, mostly with frozen berries as the berry season is so short lived. We make it in various incarnations and although there are a plethora of these recipes getting around the 'net, I'm just going to share the variation that we make and enjoy using raspberries.

Raspberry Summer Porridge

1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats!)

1 tablespoon whey protein powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds

Pinch of salt

1tablespoon of Natvia* (or to taste - I like it sweeter so I add extra stevia too) 

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

1/2 cup 0% Greek yogurt

3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk

Optional splash of vanilla

The evening before- 

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Add in all the wet ingredients and stir to mix well.

It should be fairly sloppy because you are going to let it sit overnight and the oats and chia seeds will soak up a lot of the moisture. 

Leave in the fridge.

In the morning, enjoy your summery berry delight!

This recipe is what would be called an 'E' meal which means it is very low in fat and therefore high in slow release carbs. But please don't think I'm dieting and missing out on satisfying fats…oh not so! I'm still eating lots of butter, coconut oil, eggs, cheese and all other delicious fat rich foods, I'm just eating them separately from my starchy foods! If anyone is interested, I'm happy to share more recipes and information although the best idea is to buy or borrow the book and read it for yourself. Fascinating stuff! 

So there you have another summer breakfast to add to the repertoire. Sadly our raspberries are now finished but we do still have strawberries coming on……..

*Lets talk about Natvia. This is a mixture of stevia and erythritol (theres an excellent article about it here) and while I'm not 100% convinced that its completely benign, I do feel its a whole lot better for us than sugar/fructose. Stevia is a fine white powder thats been processed from a small plant and like most things, there are good quality products and cheaper not so good quality products on the market. Natvia is actually just a brand name combining the two sweeteners and is found in Coles or Woolworths in the sugar section.