Healthy Sundays-Sunday 'Kashka'
It' Sunday, sunny day, happy day, favourite day! This year one of my new years' resolutions is to become healthier and I guess more in harmony with myself. This is the reason why I decided to have 'healthy' Sundays. And by this I do not mean only healthy food, but healthy mind practices, healthy activities, healthy social interactions... healthy everything. And of course I will share these here with you, because I want to bring a little harmony to you too!
Hopefully we all find that lost balance within, one day! Amen! Let's continue, shall we...
I will start this series of healthy Sundays with my all time favourite food, I mean porridge.
Everyone that knows me well enough, knows that I am obsessed. I eat it for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. It is just comforting goodness in a bowl and I love it! (this is not very balanced, I know, I am working on it!)
But how this obsession became such a big part of my life and why I call it 'kashka'? I will tell you just now. Because I was raised by a Russian born and educated mother, my brother and I were fed oatmeal from very early age (and now is the time to say that it is really bizarre and not common to eat oatmeal in Bulgaria). But, anyways, we had this tradition to eat oatmeal or 'kashka' (which is the Russian word for porridge), every Sunday morning. It was our own family ritual that kept us excited every Saturday evening for the next day to come (we also had pancakes or some sort of cake on Sundays, so may be that was the other reason for the Sunday hype). And then I came to the UK, and it might be because of lack of time or because it is that simple to cook, I started making 'kashka' every other day. I try to come up with my own recipes, my own combination of toppings, my own experiments, really... most of the time successful, sometimes a bit odd, but still good.
There are so many varieties of porridge as well, different type of oats and grains, and I am planning to share with you, my lovely readers, a different recipe every other Sunday and hopefully someone understands my obsession and I am not alone in this world... (crying inside, actually not, because it is Sunday today and I have my comforting goodness, which is making me happy, yey!).
I understand well that porridge is not the healthiest thing in the world, nutrition wise. However it sure is super easy to make and you can practise both mindfulness and creativity. And this is healthy for your soul!
For one bowl of 'kashka' you will need:
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup oats
a pinch of salt
1 tsp butter (optional)
honey or maple syrup (optional)
For this weeks toppings, you will need:
half a banana
3-4 hazelnuts (chopped)
3-4 smoked almonds( I bought these from a shop, but I am sure you can make your own, I love how the saltiness works with the sweet ingredients)
1tbsp dried cranberries
one dried fig
Nutrition information:
Calories: 490cal
Protein: 16g
Carbs: 79g
Fibre: 11g
Sugar: 32g
Fat: 13g
How to make the 'kashka'?
In a saucepan add the water and milk on high temperature until they are just about to boil. Change the temperature to low. In the mean time, wash and drain your oats. Add them to the boiling liquid, add a pinch of salt. And stir, this is important! Cook on low until the consistency is the consistency you prefer. I like it quite thick, so that would be around 15-20 min in total. *Add the butter at the end. And stir again. A little secret here, I always stir it with a wooden spoon and use this spoon for 'kashka' only.
Add your toppings and enjoy! I usually have coffee with it as well, but I have coffee with everything anyways, so it's not a must. So this is it, so simple, yet delicious! Have a lovely healthy Sunday and enjoy your 'kashka'!
Oh and one last thing! I have created a hashtag on Instagram ⌗alexandkashka, where we can all share our recipes and experiments!