Success with porridge

Wantobe

Just thought I'd share my new 'secret'.

I've always been very anxious to ensure that my children follow a healthy diet but the one meal that wasn't going too well for me was breakfast and particularly the cereal element. I had been trying all sorts and up to about 6 weeks ago they were getting either wheetabix, cornflakes or cheerios. Not bad but I really wanted them to eat porridge!

Tried porridge everynow and then with no success. However have now had total success with converting them by putting a spoon of nesquik in the cooked porridge, making it into the much more acceptable chocolate porridge!

Probably really silly, and I'm sure loads of other parents have already done this ( or didn't need to at all) but someone might appreciate the tip!

silverharp

our little guys staple for breakfast and before going to bed was a bowl of porridge flakes with milk (not cooked) and the magic ingredient of a teaspoon of something like nesquik. Gone off it recently unfortunately

deisemum

Flahavan's do lovely real fruit porridge, apple and cinnamon and the other one is sunrise fruits

wolfpawnat

have you tried readybrek, my fella is 8mths old and adores it, That and baby rice are the only things he will willingly eat!

ebmma

why are you so keen for them to eat porridge, anyway? :-)

Mr. Presentable

Your problem stems from Cheerios etc. When you give children cereals high in sugar (cornflakes are also) they get a taste for it (almost an addiction) and expect it. Thus the Nesquik in porridge works. The best, and most difficult, thing, is to avoid getting them into high refined sugar contents in the first place.

Quality

I put in a teaspoon of jam to sweeten it up for them.

January

I have a bit of an addiction to porridge with jam and milk in it... gorgeous!

My DD eats weatabix for her breakfast!

Khannie

ebmma wrote: »

why are you so keen for them to eat porridge, anyway? :-)

Porridge is a total winner of a breakfast. Relatively unrefined, slow release carbohydrates, good protein content, good fibre content, most of its nutrients still intact.

Compare it to any boxed cereal and it's absolutely /streets/ ahead.

I have my porridge as pancakes. True story. I'll dig out and post the recipe later.

littlebug

Khannie wrote: »

I have my porridge as pancakes. True story. I'll dig out and post the recipe later.

Now there's an idea! My eldest loves her porridge with raisins but the youngest won't even look at it never mind eat it. He does like pancakes though....
I'd love to have that recipe Khannie

Khannie

Ok....so I'll preface this by saying that I have a higher protein intake requirement than the average joe. I train twice a day most days, so I need to eat a LOT of protein or I just get sick.

Now the recipe I use at the moment is this:
150g oats
25g whey
80g cottage cheese
water
an egg

I mix everything except the egg and leave it to soak overnight. Throw in the egg in the morning and blend it up. It makes 8 american style pancakes (i.e. small and thick) which you stick a bit of butter and jam on. Savage stuff.

Now most people don't have whey and a lot of you would be put off by the notion of cottage cheese (though actually it gives the pancakes a nice softness and you can't taste it at all so I'd urge you to try it at least once). So I'd suggest this recipe for the normal household:

150g oats
milk instead of water (enough to just about cover the oats)
cottage cheese if you have it (65c for 200g in lidls)

leave to soak overnight
add 1 or 2 eggs in the morning then blend it up.

edit: If your batter doesn't turn out very thick, just throw in a few more oats and blend again.

My pancakes look like this:



(that picture's actually slightly dark)

Khannie

Last thing....if you're finding it turning out thin consistently, you could add some oat bran to the overnight soaking mix. You can get oat bran in any supermarket.

January

Khannie, they sound and look yum!!

Khannie

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Khannie, they sound and look yum!!

Thanks. I have them for breakfast nearly every morning with a big fat mug of delicious coffee. Great healthy way to start the day, especially if (like me) you have a sweet tooth. The kids love them too.

Das Kitty

Khannie wrote: »

Porridge is a total winner of a breakfast. Relatively unrefined, slow release carbohydrates, good protein content, good fibre content, most of its nutrients still intact.

Compare it to any boxed cereal and it's absolutely /streets/ ahead.

You forgot no additional salt! Took a look at Fruit and Fibre the last day, 33% of my RDA of salt in 35g!

The only "cereals" with no added salt or sugar are Shredded Wheat and Porridge (although you can get ones in health food shops that aren't).

Porridge is amazing.

Thanks for the recipe dude

katieboo84

i used to always put in a little pot of pettit felous or a bit of strawberry yougurt to make it taste a bit different my lil girl loved it.

ebmma

Thanks for a cool recipe, Khannie, but tbh this doesn't really qualify as porridge anymore :-) But I get your point.
Tend to make myself eat porridge in winter, because it is too cold in the house for cold breakfast. I still have to find out an additive to porridge that doesn't make me wanna get sick, it's just oats and water for me so far.

What I found truly weird is that OP's kids like chocolate porridge. I mean the stuff is colour and consistency of a loose bowel movement, just looking at it would probably make me sick

But hey, whatever works, works

taram

I got the kids I mind to make their own personalised porridge, draw on letters using squeezy honey, or make faces: raisins for eyes, slices of apple for smiles etc.

I make it with water, then little bit of honey or fruit, and a small splash of milk to mix into it for flavour, the kids prefer it with lots of milk though, yuck! :P

angeldelight

While it's slightly OT as it's not for kids.. for the person who couldn't find anything to add to porridge to make it tolerable I'd recommend ground flaxseed.

I hated porridge with a passon but made myself eat it cause I was on a diet and needed something that was (a) healthy and (b) kept my full for at least few hours. I would literally have to force myself to swallow every mouthful but then a friend recommended flaxseed and it makes a big difference! One big heaped tablespoonful of it mixed in with a little honey changes the consistency and makes it feel chewier/nuttier rather than sludgy. Also it's a good source of omega-3!

Ludo

Our two love their porridge. We add some chopped prunes to it (or honey sometimes) and they absolutely devour it.

Hate the stuff myself though