I have a confession to make.
I’ve been cheating…
…on my oatmeal. You see, oatmeal and I have a very close relationship. In fact, we’re use to spending every morning together. No matter the day, no matter the season, we are always together for breakfast. Until recently, that is. Recently I created this:
And I haven’t been able to stop eating it since.
But wait, isn’t that a bowl of oatmeal? Nope! Believe it or not that is a big bowl of creamy, delicious, sweet…
LENTILS!
Yup, you read that correctly. I’ve been cheating on oatmeal with lentils! The day I decided to experiment with making lentils for breakfast, I never expected them to taste as amazing as they do! I also didn’t expect them to keep me full for as long as they did. Lentils are packed with protein, fiber, iron, folate, molybdenum, and manganese, just to name a few. They really are a nutritional marvel and therefore a fantastic food to incorporate into your daily diet.
And when they taste this good, they’re a welcome daily addition!
Grain-Free Cinnamon Raisin “Oatmeal”
Nutritional lentils cooked into a creamy porridge consistency, spotted with chewy raisins and topped with fragrant cinnamon.
Serves 1
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup uncooked red lentils
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp raisins, divided
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- optional- sweetener of choice (I used 3 drops cinnamon liquid stevia)
Instructions:
- Add lentils, water, cinnamon and 1 tbsp of raisins to a small sauce pan. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the lentils are soft. Remove from heat.
- Add chia seeds, non-diary milk and sweetened or choice (if using) and stir until combined.
- Pour into serving dish and let sit for 5-10 minutes. The chia seeds will absorb the extra liquid and thicken the “oatmeal”.
- Top with remaining raisins and an extra dash of cinnamon and dig in!
What’s your favourite oatmeal flavour? Leave a comment letting me know!
xoxo Erin
Nutritional Information:
Calories: 304 Fat: 4.4 g (0.1 g saturated), Carbohydrates: 51.7 g, Fiber: 17.7 g, Sugar: 12.3 g, Protein: 17.3 g
Nutritional information is based on using unsweetened almond milk and liquid stevia in the recipe. Nutritional information was calculated using this.
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UPDATE! This recipe has been shared at Wellness Weekend, Whole Food Fridays, Fight Back Fridays, Make Your Own Mondays, 5 Ingredient Mondays, Fat Tuesdays, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Whole Food Wednesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Tasty Traditions, Gluten-Free Fridays, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Thank Your Body Thursday, Fresh Bites Friday and Simple Lives Thursday.
I am not particularly fond of oatmeal though I try to eat it everyday (I hear it helps battle the bulge.
). This recipe sounds both interesting and appetising, and I will try it this weekend!
I think oatmeal is one of those things people either love or don’t care for. I hope you like this recipe better than oatmeal
I love beans but have never thought to make a sweet version of lentils for breakfast. You inspire me.
Thank you!
Ahhh!Awesome. An excuse to eat lentils for breakfast, without looking weird by eating last night’s leftovers… Great idea, I need to make this sometime. (I also eat oats like EVERY morning XD)
This is really clever! I JUST started the GAPS/SCD diet, and I’ve been missing my oatmeal.
Thanks
I hope you like it!
Another great and simple idea to incorporate Chia Seeds! LOVE It!
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Lentils, really? You caught me off guard there! That was the least expected ingredient in my mind. How creative! I too have a love affair with oatmeal, but I may have to put our relationship on hold just to try this new version. Thanks for breaking me out of my mold!
I’ve gotta try this! Great idea!
Wow! This is a great idea! I overlooked it in last week’s Healthy Vegan Fridays bloghop because it said “Grain Free” and I’m not grain-free. But, I LOVE lentils, and would love to have them for breakfast this way : )
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!
I am glad you came clean with your confession. Admitting it is the first step. haha
This sounds awesome! I have it marked as one of my favs for this week! YUM What a fun idea! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 
Thanks for linking back to the Gluten Free Fridays post!
Party starts tomorrow at 7:05 pm eastern time! Hope to see you there!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
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Such a good idea! I’ve been trying to get more protein in my breakfast while staying grain-free, and this is both filling and delicious! The only changes I made were to add less chia (down to 1tsp) and for a whole foods sweetener I add ~1/3 of a banana mashed (frozen and defrosted which makes it extra sweet!). It’s like warm raisin banana bread in a bowl!
I don’t know why sweet beans didn’t occur to me, as there are many desserts that feature beans in chinese as well as indian cooking. This would translate nicely as a base recipe into an indian “rice” pudding type dish.
Next to experiment with an apple cinnamon version… Thanks for the great recipe!
Mashed banana is a great idea for a sweetener. I’ll have to give it a try! I’ve also been working on different flavours, so many different possibilities
I mixed half lentils and half oatmeal and really enjoyed it. I started the oatmeal first and then added steamed lentils that I had. It was a nice change of pace.
Great idea, I’m going to try that out tomorrow morning
I just made this dish this morning. Thanks for the idea! How very clever. The texture was not quite as thick as oatmeal, though – do you have any recommendations to get it nice and thick? Thanks!
Ah yes, good question. I do tend to make my oatmeal not as thick as other people, so you bring up a good point. Adding more chia seeds (I’d start with an extra 1/2 tbsp) will absorb more of the liquid and thicken it up. You could also add some mashed banana or pureed pumpkin (1/4 cup or so) along with more chia seeds (extra 1 tbsp) to get more of a thick and creamy texture. Let me know how it goes
The recipe makes sense! Our Thai friend makes us smoothies with red beans in ‘em–a similar idea. Why not?! Gluten free, and tasty too
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