Carrot Cake & Spiced Pear Porridge

🍂 It’s that time of year again where adding nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger & allspice (also known as ‘pumpkin spice’ ) to everything including your favourite alcoholic beverages, becomes acceptable. 🌚It’s not just trendy to lather everything with these spices but they’re also intimately intertwined with the transition into a colder climate & longer nights. ✅Benefits from the spices are another reason why you should look to include them during the colder months: ➡️Ginger has shown consistently & reliably reduce nausea symptoms whilst also reducing inflammatory markers. ➡️Cinnamon is great for regulating blood sugar (chose the Ceylon variety over cassia). ➡️Nutmeg may be beneficial as a sleep aid & improve mood. ➕ So as well as the great flavours there’s some added nutritional therapy at work. 🥣 The oats are soaked AND drained (+lightly rinsed) to remove the anti nutrients like phytic acid which can impair absorption of essential minerals like zinc, iron & calcium (which isn’t something to always avoid but just manage using better preparation methods & dietary management). 🧑🏽‍🍳The soaking and draining is more so to make the oats more easily digestible and ‘less heavy’ on the gut. 🤲🏼Gut-friendly, flavourful & warming. 🖐🏽Let’s leave all of that out for a second, here’s the fun part:

Here’s what you’ll need: Serves 1

• 60g of rolled/jumbo oats, soaked overnight AND drained - we rinse ours as we find the oats are ‘less sludgy & starchy’

• 1 pear, diced

• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

• 1 tsp of powdered sweetener

• 300ml of you’re chosen milk (we used unsweetened coconut) OR water

• A pinch of sea salt

• A medium carrot, grated

• Spice mix - 1 tsp. of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ground/fresh ginger, 1/4 tsp. of allspice, 1/8 tsp of nutmeg.

• 20g of raisons

• Sweetener of choice

• 3-4 walnuts, crushed

Here’s how to put it together:

1. Add around 150ml of water to a saucepan. Add in the chopped pear, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon & tsp of sweetener. Cook for around 10 minutes on a medium heat until soft, shaking often.

2. Add the oats to a large saucepan and add in the milk with a pinch of salt. Heat on a medium to low heat for 8 minutes until cooked.

3. Once the oats have begun heating up add in the grated carrot. After around 5 minutes add in the spices & stir well. Add in the raisons towards the end.

4. Serve on a large bowl and add in your chosen sweetener of choice. Add the pear on top & crushed walnuts.

5. Enjoy with your favourite protein-rich yoghurt on the side (or on top) or a protein shake to support recovery, blood sugar regulation & extra fullness!

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