Friday, April 12, 2013

Leftover Oatmeal Smoothie Rich In Antioxidants

In our home, we often have leftover oatmeal from the breakfast. We are big on oatmeals and different cereal porridges, especially over fall and winter time. In a land with 7 months of snow and subzero temperatures, it is an excellent and valuable nutrition, that warms you from inside out and prepares you for the day spent mostly outdoors, running dogs and doing all kinds of chores around the farm.

We do porridges mostly from oat flakes, but often use also pearled graham, barley, polenta, rice flour, and add all kinds of seeds, nuts, almonds, sometimes raisins and apples. And of course the super healthy, my all time favorite cinnamon :)

In case you haven´t tried, I highly recommend this kind of breakfast - it is multigrain, full of vitamines, minerals, proteins but also low GI carbohydrates (the "good guys" :)).

So a while back I started toying with ideas of what to do with the leftovers. And soon they became a part of my morning or mid day snacks - smoothies, shakes and cocktails.

I often add a banana or just a bit of milk (regular, almond or soy), plus some natural sweetener - I personally use either birch sugar or organic agave syrup, but you can also use raw brown sugar or honey. I prefer to stay as low as possible with the Glycemic Index, so I chose the two first as they have 0 GI.


Today I opted for a more vitaminized version of the snack, as I need to add some extra antioxidants to my daily intake at this moment. With the end of mushing season I started running again and my training program is rather full, so hence the needs for more vitamins and also iron.

And I thought sharing means caring, so why not share the recipe with you, in case you are looking for some inspiration or find it simply interesting.

So here it goes:

1/2 cup oatmeal porridge with apples and cinnamon (or whatever amount you have left over, not more than a full cup, though)
You can take a look here for my oatmeal porridge with apples and cinnamon recipe
handful of strawberries
handful of raspberries (when it´s not their season, I buy them frozen to have on hand every time I need them)
1-2 spoons blueberries (we pick loads in summer and freeze them over the winter - nothing compares to self picked blueberries from the wild and clean woods of the North)
1 tbs agave syrup (or honey) OR 2 tsp birch sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 cup milk

Put all in a blender and create a thick smoothie. That´s it! Takes about 5 minutes to make! No excuses :)


If you want more creamy, less "sour" version, you can use banana instead of the berries and apples (which were originally in my leftover porridge) and you can even add some coacoa powder, or blend in some nuts. Let your fantasy run wild :)

Have a great day full of sunshine!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious!!!

Hope Robinson @ Reboot said...

Never thought of making a shake out of porridge, but why let a good thing go to waste, right? :) I think it's a clever use of the leftovers, and the added health benefits are definitely a plus. Thanks for sharing! Will definitely try this out!