Pumpkin Oatmeal: The Ultimate Autumn Breakfast

The yellow, orange, and red foliage that bring the needed pops of colours during a gloomy, rainy day and that shine vibrantly in the shining sun. Ahhhh, autumn.. 'tis the season to incorporate pumpkin into every recipe possible. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bars, pumpkin latte, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin oatmeal. Today I will share with you one of the warmest, coziest, most-autumn-y breakfast one could possibly enjoy on a chilly morning. Not to mention it's extremely healthy, full of wholesome ingredients and no refined sugars of any sort.

The dry ingredients: oats + cinnamon

The trick to sweetening this oatmeal without adding granulated or brown sugar, or even honey, is the 'melted banana trick'. After I discovered this creative natural sweetener from Chocolate Covered Katie (who's recipes I adore), I will refuse to make oatmeal without a spotted banana lying around. I don't use the microwave but instead caramelize it (or cook it, if I'm impatient) in my pot before adding the rest of the wet ingredients. It adds so much sweetness and flavour, totally brings a plain bowl of oatmeal to the next level.

A bowl of oatmeal is the perfect breakfast to kick start the day. Oats provide long-lasting energy and are digested slowly, therefore keeping you fuller for longer. This particular recipe has a whole serving of fruits and vegetables in it! Cellulose (aka fibre) keeps the digestive tract squeaky clean! The warmth also energizes the body on a cold morning, or any morning really. Contrary to what I often read on the Internet, cold food is actually not a good way to start the day. Cold food takes away the body's energy, because the body uses up it's energy to warm the food it is ingesting. That's probably why diet articles always encourage dieters to chug down an ice cold glass of water right after getting up. Being raised in a Chinese family, my mom always frowns at me when I pour a ice cold glass of milk into my cereal. But I really have a thing against warm and soggy cereal, it's gross. So, if I am in need of a hot breakfast (that isn't pancakes or something with eggs), oatmeal satisfies.

This recipe can be customized to your liking; feel free to adjust amounts and add or omit items to suit your taste buds. I'm more of a chunky oatmeal kinda gal, so my liquid to oats ratio is a tad lower. Aaaand I love cinnamon, so a heaping teaspoon of that for good measure.

Hot bowl of Pumpkin Oatmeal

Using quick oats is the way to go, because if an empty stomach screaming for breakfast makes you cranky like me, then waiting more than five minutes for food isn't going to cut it. Measure out dry ingredients in the bowl you plan to eat out of, dunk all wet stuff into a small pot, boil, mix, boil eat. Easy and quick. Okay, enough with my meaningless mumble jumble. Here's the recipeeeee!!

Pumpkin Oatmeal

Recipe by Coconut Crumpet

Serves 1 

Ingredients

• ½ ripe banana (the riper the better!)
• ¼ quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup milk
• Splash of vanilla

Extras

• 1 tbsp nut butter – add to pot with wet ingredients
• Yogurt – stir in at the end; flavoured yogurts add extra sweetness
• Chopped toasted nuts – for topping
• Honey – extra sweetness

Directions

1. In a small saucepan or pot, mash ripe banana into a puree. Cook over medium heat until sizzling and 'breathing'.
2. In a small bowl, combine oats and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Once banana is caramelized or cooked, add milk, pumpkin, vanilla, and any other wet ingredients you wish you add in. Cover pot with lid and bring to a boil.
4. Once wet ingredients have come to a boil, add dry ingredients and stir. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, or according to package directions. 
5. Serve hot with a splash of milk, top with something crunchy, or drizzle more nut butter or honey on top. Dig in!

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Aren't my Piglet and Eeyore purple pajamas the best? :P

Rainbow Thai Quinoa

I've been eying this recipe for the loooooooooongest time, and finally had the opportunity to make it myself last Sunday. Cashews? Colourful veggies? Peanut butter dressing? Sounds like it was like designed for moi :'D

Rainbow of ingredients for Rainbow Thai Quinoa

How can this plate of fresh ingredients not bring a smile to your face? It's the definition of gorgeous! The only colour absent from my plate is yellow, which could easily be filled with some yellow bell pepper, corn, squash, or zucchini. Any dish with a whole rainbow of fresh produce in it has to be healthy for you.

Making this dish (or it could be called a salad, I suppose) is super quick and simple. Minimal cooking and lots of chop, chop, chopping! Most of the time is spent cutting up vegetables and herbs. To speed up the already short process even more, cook the quinoa ahead of time. I cooked mine in the morning before heading off to church, and threw the whole dish together for lunch when I arrived home. Easy and delicious, what more could a lazy chef like me ask for?

Rainbow Thai Quinoa ready to eat!

Although the peanut butter didn't dominate the dish like I had expected, it added the perfect hint of nuttiness and richness. I like everything sweet, so I adjusted the sauce a twinge with more honey. This quinoa dish has so many dimensions, and is a party for the taste buds to try and decipher all the components. Sometimes a little sweet, sometimes a little spicy (raw onions!), sometimes a punch of cilantro... I could eat bowls and bowls of this stuff. For lunch, for dinner, for snack..okay but maybe not breakfast. That's when I need my pancakes.

I highly recommend you push this dish to the top of your 'recipe bucketlist' because it is mind-blowing-ly delicious. This Rainbow Thai Quinoa tastes wonderful slightly warm but also great cold from the fridge. Meaning it make great left-overs, if there is any.

Rainbow Thai Quinoa

Very lightly adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

Yield: 4 really large servings

Ingredients

For quinoa

• ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1½ cup chicken or vegetable stock (or water + crumbled stock cube)
• 3 handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• ½ red onion, diced*
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 green onion, diced
• 3 handfuls of roasted unsalted cashews
• A few squeezes of fresh lime juice, optional

For dressing

• ¼ cup all natural peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey or agave
• A dash or vinegar (apple cider vinegar is fine)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Water to thin, if necessary
• A few cracks of freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Cook quinoa with stock in a medium pot according to package. I brought mine to a boil over high heat, then turned down the heat to the lowest and cooked for 15 minutes. Let cooked quinoa sit with lid covered for 5 minutes. Add the baby spinach with quinoa and lightly mix together in pot. Cover pot with lid; the residual heat and steam will wilt the spinach.
2. Cut, shred, and chop all vegetables.
3. To prepare the dressing, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl or custard cup. Microwave for 10 seconds or so to melt honey and mix thoroughly. Add water by the tablespoon until dressing reaches desired consistency. A viscous but steady stream flowing off spoon is good.
4. Add sauce to quinoa and spinach mixture, gently mix to combine. 
5. Pour dressed quinoa into a large mixing bowl, add all vegetables and nuts, and mix until combined. Serve with a few squeezes of lime juice if desired.

*If your stomach is very sensitive to acidic foods, omit or cook onion. Or replace with shredded purple cabbage.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Easiest & Fastest Vegan Pie Crust

Wow, I really seem to be venturing into Peanut Crumpet's land of veganism. Not because I am a vegan, but simply because Coconut Crumpet enjoys the wholesomeness of vegan recipes~ I still have a lot to learn from Peanut Crumpet; she has some awesome possum recipes. Be sure to check them out in our collection of recipes!

Poor Coconut Crumpet has been admiring the summer sunshine...from indoors. After spending all day in the house, I had the sudden urge at 8pm to make pie and started Goggling recipes for inspiration. My experiences with pie crust haven't been so pleasant. Even when I follow a recipe exactly, making sure the butter is cold and cutting it in with a pastry blender, there is always something that isn't quite right. Whether it be a really hard end product, too greasy, or shrinkage, my pie-making skills are far from stellar.

Since I have already pulled out my museum-artifact of a food processor to make my family-pleasing Vegan Nutty Nanaimo Bars (YOU MUST MAKE THESE!!), I figured it'd be the perfect opportunity to try using it to make pie crust dough. After watching Chef John of Food Wishes' video on Youtube, I was convinced I needed to try it for myself. I have inserted the video at the end of this post so you can visually see the steps and consistency at each step. He's videos are super lively; his happy voice shows he actually enjoys his work. In an essence, this is the fastest and most fail-proof way I have ever completed a pie crust. Ever.

Making Peach Basil Hand Pies

In his recipe, he uses frozen butter, but since I tend to gravitate as far as possible from butter, I decided to try using frozen coconut oil. The changing states of coconut oil continue to amaze me; it can be used in place of butter in every possible recipe I can think of. Melted, softened, or frozen, just like butter. It's magical! The only difference is that since it's currently summer, the coconut oil only needed to be blitzed for about 30 seconds to become pea-sized crumbs rather than the 1 minute for butter, as it softens at room temperature. Coconut oil is a translucent white colour so you'll have to look closely to see if the pieces are small enough. Beware that coconut oil melts fast so be sure to also work quickly when molding mixture into a ball.

Although the food processor method helps me successfully put together a dough, I'm still not very good with handling it. The fact that coconut oil changes state so quickly doesn't really make things any easier either. If using coconut oil in place of butter, be sure to let the dough sit at room temperature for at least half hour after fulling chilling in the fridge to let the centre become pliable. Essentially, we're waiting for the bits of coconut oil inside to soften so it doesn't crumble once you try and roll it out. Roll the dough out between two layers of plastic wrap or parchment paper to ensure the dough doesn't stick to everything.

The flaky layers of Vegan Pie Crust

So how does this pie dough turn out when baked? I used this dough to make Peach Mini Galettes and Hand Pies. The result was phenomenal. An definite improvement from my previous attempts at pie crust. The crust is sturdy, fragrant, and just as crispy and flaky as the video shows. It is a tad bit greasy to the touch because the clumps of coconut oil melt as it bakes in the oven, but it is unnoticeable when eaten. I normally don't care much for flaky pastries but this was so. insanely. good. Worth every second of my time to shape, chill, and put together the pastries. Never again will I use butter in my pie crusts.

Easiest & Fastest Vegan Pie Crust

Adapted from Food Wishes

Yield: 1 layer pie crust

Ingredients

• ½ cup coconut oil
• 2 cups all purpose flour, divided
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• A few grinds of Himalayan pink sea salt
• 6 tbsp ice water

Directions

1. Put measured coconut oil into a silicon mold and place in freezer until completely frozen. Remove from mold and cut into half-inch cubes. Keep cubes in freezer until ready to use.
2. In a food processor, pour half of the flour in. Add the cubed frozen coconut oil. Pour other half of the flour on top. Your frozen coconut oil should now be sandwiched between two equal layers of flour. 
3. Add sugar and salt into the food processor. Pulse in short intervals until coconut oil becomes pea-sized pieces. This took about 30 seconds.
4. Drizzle ice water over crumbly flour mixture in food processor. Pulse in slightly longer intervals until mixture becomes fine crumbs. Like the texture of almond meal.
5. Thoroughly scrape down the mixture, making sure to scrape off any wetter parts from the S-blade and bottom of food processor. 
6. Pulse a few more times just to incorporate. Press mixture between two fingers to see if it becomes a dough. If so, pour mixture onto a clean surface (I used a silicon baking mat) and press with hands to make a ball. Flatten slightly into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour, no more than that or, due to the characteristics of coconut oil, the dough will be rock solid to the core. You want it to still be soft enough to roll out. Use this versatile pie crust for both sweet or savoury pies, galettes, or tarts.

Video instructions on Food Wishes

 
Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Quick as a Wink Pizza (Yeast-free, V, GF)

I have always loved homemade pizza. But I never liked making the dough because it just hogs up all your time. Here's an example: "Let sit for 2 hours. Once dough has doubled, punch the middle, and let rise for another 3 hours" ... you get what I mean?

Many people would just buy the unbaked or pre-made pizza dough, but what's the point of eating a home-made pizza when you didn't actually make the dough? You more or less just put toppings on and stuck it into the oven.

So the solution to solve my problem for never having the motivation to make pizza is to create my own yeast-free, vegan recipe. For those with gluten sensitivities, this recipe is also for you!

Quick as a Wink Pizza (Yeast-free, V, GF)

makes one large pizza

Dough

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup amaranth flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour 
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

Topping Ideas

• Vegan Pesto
• Walnut Cheeze (crumbled walnuts + nutritional yeast)
• Zucchini chunks
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Red peppers
• Avocado
• SUNDRIED TOMATOES!! 

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2.) In a large bowl, combine together all the dry ingredients.

3.) Add your water and mix with a plastic spatula. This will seem like a lot of       water, but it will be absorbed!

4.) After water is absorbed, your dough should have the consistency of a drop         cookie dough, a bit of a contrast compared to your good ol' fashioned dough.     Dump your dough onto a pizza pan or cookie sheet. 

5.) Spread the dough evenly on your pan. I found it easier to wet my fingers         first so the dough stick less.

6.) Put in oven for 15 minutes, until the top of crust is no longer doughy.

7.) Now it's time to pile up your pizza! Remember to stack it up high with           nutrient dense veggies!

8.) Bake for another 20-30 minutes until crust is perfecto, slice and indulge!

 Lots of Nuts,
Peanut Crumpet xo