Breakfast Recipes
This blog post had originally the title "Chia Pudding and Matcha", but as I am creating and adding more nutritious breakfast recipes that I want to share with you I changed it to Self Love Breakfast.
These are breakfast ideas for colder months but of course you can enjoy them all year round.
In a busy world where most of us rush out of the door in the morning with a long to do list in our heads, maybe a quick breakfast or totally skipping breakfast and just grabbing a cup of coffee, I feel now more than ever we need to create space and time for ourselves at the beginning of our day. Creating a nutritious breakfast for yourself it's not time consuming if you have done a good preparation the night before. Being present while you prepare your breakfast and setting an intention about how you want to show up in your day, helps in the long run to set an intention about your life.
How we start our Day is how we Live our Life.
Self Love and Self Care isn't Selfish when we take care of ourselves we can show up and take better care of others. After all we are here to help and support each other.
Brain Boosting recipes with healing ancient foods.
As much as I love smoothies and cold pressed juices, salads and a refreshing, cold chia pudding with fresh, raw fruits in Summer, when it comes to colder months my body doesn’t feel happy and in balance with the same recipes. Colder months call for more cooked foods and warm drinks with some extra good fat added and different herbs and spices. Not everybody is the same though. I have friends that drink room temperature water in July and my cousin water with ice in the heart of winter.
According to Ayurveda India’s ancient medicinal science, we are considered a microcosm of the macrocosm. What ever is going on in the universe affects our own bodies mentally, emotionally and physically. Ayuverda works with the 3 doshas, Vata: Air , Pitta: Fire, Kapha: Earth, with 2 of them more dominant in each one of us. I will not go in depth here but for the purpose of this recipe I will mention that I am Vatta-Pitta. For Vattas it is recommended to eat cooked, warm foods, more root vegetables and yes they can cook their fruits in colder months as their bodies absorb them easier. So since I love chia pudding I wanted to make a recipe for winter. If I eat it cold, I get cold, can’t focus or relax and simply I am not happy. So I warm it up and I add some cooked fruits.
I hope you like this recipe as much as I do, below you can learn more about the nutritional values. Feel free to have it for breakfast or afternoon snack with a cup of matcha or your favourite tea/coffee. Find more free recipes in my ebook Healthy Body or follow a well balanced 5 Day nutrition and yoga plan with Detox + Slim Plan.
Warm Chia Pudding with Caramelized Apples and Blueberries
For the Chia Pudding
1 cup nut or oat milk of your choice (I usually make mine fresh)
3-4 tbsps chia seeds
* I use almond milk in this recipe
In a glass jar with 1 cup of milk, I mix in the chia seeds. You can either let it overnight in the fridge or sometimes depends the chia seeds the pudding can be ready in 30 minutes. Keep an eye if you are trying this first time. Lately I got a new brand of chia seeds that I have to keep mixing for the first 20 minutes otherwise chia seeds go to the bottom and they don’t mix well.
For the Caramelized fruits
1 apple
½ cup berries
In this recipe I use apples and blueberries. But feel free to be creative. I also like to combine pears with raspberries or blackberries or strawberries.
Wash your berries and wash slice your apple. In a saucepan add 1-2 tsps coconut oil or ghee butter. In a medium heat add the slices of apple when both sides are golden then add berries and let them all cook together for about 5 more minutes. Then bring the heat to low and add 1-2 tsps of agave nectar or other natural sweetener of your choice. Let them caramelize for another 2-3 minutes then remove them for the heat.
You can now add your chia pudding in your favourite bowl if it’s from the fridge you can warm it up for couple minutes in low heat. Add 1 or ½ cup of your favourite granola and then garnish with your caramelized fruits. Optional if you want you can add more sweetener like extra agave or maple/rice syrup to your chia bowl. Feel free to add more superfoods, sometimes I mix into the chia pudding extra superfoods like spirulina or acai. You can add to your bowl more raw nuts or almond butter for extra good fats and a rich meal that can keep you satisfied for hours until lunch.
Matcha Collagen Latte
I have two favourite brands of matcha green tea. One is from Organic Burst and my recent favourite from Vital Proteins a good quality matcha with collagen peptides and coconut water powder. Good quality matcha shouldn’t have strong smell and/or taste. Organic burst is only using the top 4 leaves of the plant for their matcha green tea.
For the Matcha Drink
1-2 scoops matcha
1-2 scoops of collagen peptides of your choice
1 cup boiled water
1-2 tsp good fat of your choice (MCT oil, coconut oil, brain octane oil, ghee butter)
1/3 cup nut or oat milk
Optional: Sweetener, usually I don’t add any because I love the rich flavor of matcha.
Directions:
While water is boiling, I add matcha and collagen in a mug, when water is ready I add half cup in the mug and with an electric whisk I mix it until it gets frothy about 1 minute. Then I add the oil or butter the rest of the water and using the whisk once more for 30 seconds. Lastly I add the milk. Bonus: add some dried rose petals and/or lavender to your matcha and show yourself some love. They actually smell so good which makes the experience even more divine.
Nutritional Benefits
Chia Seeds are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, rich in antioxidants, and they provide fiber, iron, and calcium.
Almond Milk: almonds contain lots of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium and vitamin E. The health benefits of almonds include lower blood sugar levels, reduced blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels.
Matcha is packed with antioxidants, chlorophyll, fiber and phytochemicals. Boosts metabolism and burns calories.
Collagen, is the vital building block of our bodies including skin, hair, nails, bones, and joints. Our bodies cannot synthesize enough collagen on their own and our diets today contain minimal collagen. Since I am a vegetarian I recommend foods and supplements that are high in Vit C that help the body produce its own collagen. Two Ayurvedic herbs that I use for collagen support are “Amla” and “Bramhi (aka Gotu Kola)”. You can save 15% off with Banyan Botanicals using code: AGGELIKIYOGA15
1:1 Ayurvedic Health Counseling
Working together to create your unique Ayurvedic plan. Ayurveda recognizes that every individual is unique.
Ghee butter: ghee is clarified butter, a lactose and casein free, high-heat cooking oil with origins in ancient India. Since all of the milk solids have been removed, ghee is lactose free, making it a healthy option for those with dairy sensitivities. According to Ayurveda, ghee is the best oil for the human body. It stimulates digestion, aids the absorption of nutrients, and reduces inflammation, especially in the gut. Ghee lubricates joints, optimizes skin and eye health, and has an alkalizing effect on the entire body.
Amaranth the Food of the Gods
I got to love this ancient grain, from my days in Kripalu. Starting the day with a warm, creamy and nutritious amaranth porridge while I am surrounded by some of my most favorite people created the need inside me to have it when am away from them and this magical place. So I start cooking it home and getting creative with recipes.
Origin
Amaranth" derives from the Greek ἀμάραντος (amárantos), "unfading", with the Greek word for "flower", ἄνθος(ánthos), factoring into the word's development as amaranth. Amarant is an archaic variant. Amaranth is an incredibly nutritious grain dating back to the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations—which is why it gets described as ancient.
Known to the Aztecs as huāuhtli, amaranth is thought to have represented up to 80% of their energy consumption before the Spanish conquest. The Aztec month of Panquetzaliztli was dedicated to the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli. This was one of the more important Aztec festivals, and the people prepared for the whole month. They fasted or ate very little; a statue of the god was made out of amaranth seeds and honey, and at the end of the month, it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a piece of the God. After the Spanish conquest, cultivation of amaranth was outlawed, while some of the festivities were subsumed into the Christmas celebration.
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, its palatability, ease of cooking, and a protein that is particularly well-suited to human nutritional needs, interest in amaranth seeds revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated.
Nutritional facts
Because of its high amount of manganese, amaranth will help to boost mental cognition, as maganese plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy brain function.
Cooked amaranth leaves are a rich source of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and manganese, with moderate levels of folate, iron, magnesium, and potassium. Amaranth does not contain gluten
Favourite Recipes for Breakfast
Amaranth Porridge
How to cook
For 1 part of amaranth 3 parts of water In a pan I add amaranth and 1 tsp of either Ghee Butter or Coconut Butter. I sauté them for couple minutes until I smell the caramelized, buttery aroma. Then I add the water and lower to shimmer for 20-30 minutes. Amaranth like chia seeds create a gel consistency around their seeds when mixed with liquid which is very good for gut health.
Once it's cooked and creamy I add it to the HeartBowl and I start adding other superfoods. You can be creative with the superfoods you like to add: seasonal fruits, chia and or flaxseeds, raw or roasted nuts, good fats such as nut butters, spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup etc.
In these recipes I have added
Chia seeds, Goji Berries and Spirulina from Organic Burst
Purely Elizabeth Granola
Strawberries
Peanut Butter
Greek Honey
Add your chia Pudding to your Amaranth porridge
When I use the cooked amaranth from the day before I like to warm it up with a little Ghee Butter and 2-3 tbsp of nut milk.
Ceremonial Cacao Drink
Ceremonial cacao is 100% ground cacao fruit seeds, minimally processed to retain all of the health benefits. Made from ‘criollo’ or land-raised cacao used by indigenous communities who regard it as a sacred medicine. The spirit of cacao is alive in this superfood.
Benefits of Cacao
· 40 times the amount of antioxidants present in blueberries.
· Highest plant based source of iron.
· Tons of magnesium for healthy heart and brain function.
· Release of serotonin, inducing happiness and a sense of connection.
(the above information is from cacao laboratory's website)
Although in this blog the Amaranth porridge breakfast is pictured with the Cacao Drink usually I don't have them together. I like to enjoy a cup of Cacao with adaptogenic herbs at midday where energy levels drop or any time that I feel I need to relax and ground myself. I will make a cup of ceremonial Cacao with Maca I will sit down on a meditation pose sometimes on the floor sometimes on a couch I will close my eyes and focus on my senses like taste , smell and my breath when I take 10 minutes to enjoy this drink away from distractions. Usually after those 10 minutes I feel relaxed, calm and my breath is deeper.
Recipe
1 cup hot water or rose- lavender tea or Rasa Adaptogenic Coffee Alterantive
2 tbsp Ceremonial Cacao from Cacao Lab
1 tsp Maca Root from Organic Burst
1 tsp Good Fats such as Ghee Butter or Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil
1-1/2 Plant Based Milk ( I usually make my own fresh)
1 tsp natural sweetener ( honey, maple, agave etc)
I either add everything to a blender and blend for 10-20 seconds (makes it very creamy yum) or I add them to my big (2 cups / 16 oz) SweetDestructor mug and use an electric whisk to mix them.
Now I would like to hear from you. What's your favorite delicious and healthy breakfast recipe? Do you have a morning ritual that you would like to share with us? I would also love to see your self love breakfast and ancient foods recipes on social media. Tag me on Instagram and I will share your recipe on my stories.
Happy, Healthy Cooking