Make This Fall-Flavored Hemp Heart Porridge Recipe To Break Your Fast
A morning bowl of oatmeal is the perfect way to start a fall day, especially when it's flavored with flavors like apple and cinnamon—but the carbohydrate content of a bowl of oatmeal makes it a less than ideal option for breaking a fast. Not only that, but many prepacked oatmeals are loaded with sugar, another enemy of proper fast-breaking.
"Definitely avoid carb-loaded meals and sugary drinks as they will cause a blood sugar roller coaster," explains Amy Shah, M.D. "Additionally, having lots of sugar will make fasting for the next day even harder because your hunger hormones will be raised."
So what's a porridge lover to do? Cutting down on the sugar in your bowl is easy enough, but oats are a pretty essential part of porridge—or are they? This recipe, from The Intermittent Fasting Cookbook, swaps oats for a mixture of hemp hearts and flaxseed meal.
For Desiree Nielsen, R.D., her everyday meals always include hemp hearts, largely because they "will give you 10 grams of plant-based protein" in only 3 tablespoons. (For reference, this recipe calls for the equivalent of 8 tablespoons, or about 25 grams of protein).
The flavors of apples and cinnamon make this recipe a near dupe of those sugar-loaded packets you may have known growing up and will put a smile on your face on even the chilliest autumn mornings.
Hemp Heart Porridge With Apples & Cinnamon
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened hemp or almond milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla powder
- Pinch of Himalayan salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup hemp hearts
- ½ cup flaxseed meal
- ½ cup grated, unpeeled apple plus extra for topping
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) MCT oil
- Chopped toasted walnuts (optional)
- ½ teaspoon coconut sugar
Method
- Heat the milk over medium-high heat and whisk in the vanilla powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- At the first sign of a boil, whisk in the hemp hearts and flaxseed meal. Lower the heat to medium and stir.
- As the mixture thickens, stir in the apple.
- Once it looks like all liquid has been absorbed, remove from the heat and stir in the MCT oil (if using). Transfer to serving bowls. Garnish with extra grated apple, toasted walnuts (if using), and brown sugar.
Eliza Sullivan is an SEO Editor at mindbodygreen, where she writes about food, recipes, and nutrition—among other things. She received a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in english literature with honors from Boston University, and she has previously written for Boston Magazine, TheTaste.ie, and SUITCASE magazine.