Earthsprout aka Elenore Bendel Zahn is the food influencer other food influencers follow. While not busy taking care of her two sons, building a house, gardening and just making the world a better place, she passionately whips up some of the most followed plant-based recipes, absolutely bursting with whole food flavour explosions. Here's some greenylicious recipes and tips for how to glow like a superhero from Elenore with love.
Words: Meri
How do you like to prepare your herbal coffee super latte now that winter season is here?
Image: Earthsprout
As soon as the weather gets chillier and the rainy and windy days are abundant, whatever is in my favourite ceramic mug will be H-O-T, slightly creamy and with a good dose of something with extra superpowers. This is where my herbal lattes came to be. A perfect mix of some herbal coffee (cannot get enough of that caramel-y, rich flavor), my superfoods of choice, and a generous amount of frothed plant based milk (preferably oat or cashew for this one). If your digging the sound of this then either experiment and find your own super latte groove or check out my recipe + guide for it here. I've included 4 great ways to boost the herbal coffee/milk base that I think you'll be into. How about these: Cinnamon / Cardamom, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate & Vanilla or Mushroom Medicine?
Can you share a great breakfast recipe for the winter mornings?
For winter time, I'm a warm bowl kinda gal. If I go the savoury route, breakfast will most likely be a delicious veggie broth (this one) with miso paste, roasted root veggies, thinly sliced celery and cabbage/kale, and lastly a big pile of lentil/mungbean sprouts topped with chili flakes and a homemade spice mix, like za'atar or dukkah. If I go the sweet route, I love me a comforting bowl of ancient grain porridge based on The Powerful Porridge Mix, shared on this page.
"Our world today is both a beautiful and a very stressful place, so supporting ourselves with some extra powerful plant medicine can be of great help."
Image: Earthsprout
What are some of the best superfoods or adaptogens for the winter?
First of all, I don't believe superfoods and adaptogens are essential to an everyday diet if you make sure to eat real, unprocessed meals, and listen to what your body needs depending on where you are in your life. However, our world today is both a beautiful and a very stressful place, so supporting ourselves with some extra powerful plant medicine can be of great help. I've learned that it's beneficial to switch up your use of adaptogens to fully reap the benefits from them, so I have a few on rotation. At the moment I am very into a trio of ashwaganda, chaga and cordyceps (really big fan of these three), but on days when I need 'quicker' energy and less of a deep healing sort of thing, I'll definitely reach for chlorella, baobab and maca.
Share a great winter breakfast recipe with us that absolutely steals the show!
Powerful Porridge Mix
A breakfast mix with the incredible nutritional load and health benefits of gluten free whole grains and seeds that’ll keep you full for a long time. Have fun experimenting with toppings and add-ins, or go with one of my suggested compositions (Sweet, Energy or Boost, see here) to make the Powerful Porridge Mix seriously outstanding.
Image: Earthsprout
Makes +/- 12 servings
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Millet
1/2 cup Quinoa
1/2 cup Buckwheat
1/2 cup Flax seeds
1/2 cup Sesame seeds
1/2 Sunflower seeds
1/2 Pumpkin seeds
1 cup Old fashioned rolled oats or steel cut oats (certified gluten free oats if required or buckwheat or millet flakes instead)
Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and combine well. Store in an airtight container in the pantry or in the fridge if it’ll take a while for you to use it all up.
1 serving:
1/3 cup dry Powerful Porridge Mix (or alter to suit your needs)
1 cups water for soaking
1/2-1 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for soaking
2/3 cup water for cooking
a tiny pinch of high quality salt
1. Soak 1/3 cup dry mix in 1 cup pure lukewarm water and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. This will help release phytic acid and other enzyme inhibitor that would otherwise mess with your digestive system and ability to absorb nutrients. Soaking grains truly makes a big difference when it comes to health benefits and soaking your breakfast grains before going to bed is a really smart habit.
2. Give the soaked porridge mix a thorough rinse in the morning before adding them, a small pinch of good quality salt and 2/3 cup fresh water to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for 10-13 minutes. See special cooking requirements for the Sweet, Energy and Boost porridges here.
Note on soaking: if you’re not able to soak your serving of porridge mix overnight you need to give it a thorough rinse in warm water before cooking and then cook it with 1 cup + 1/4 cup water for 20 minutes. To cook the soaked porridge you’ll need 2/3 cup water.
Note on raw porridge: to make a raw porridge, soak, rinse then blend your serving of Powerful Porridge Mix with 1/2 banana, 1/4 cup plant based milk and 1/4 tsp pure vanilla powder in your blender/hand blender.
Find another winter favourite here.