One of my small pockets of joy that helped me survive last years’ lockdown was the fabulous herbal teas from www.tearoutes.gr. Just to clarify: this is not a paid ad. I genuinely love their herbal teas that’s why I wanted to share with you what helps me with my physical and emotional wellbeing.. and teas are certainly a big part of my wellness regime. So if you are into herbal teas then Tea Routes is your place: they have great variety and really delicious blends of herbal teas, impeccable service and a really good online shop too. My favourite green tea afternoon ritual is “the green fragrant garden”, honestly its the most delicious green tea I ve tried, but last year I also found out about another exquisite blend which I fell in love with, called, very aptly, “ Wise men gifts” and contains a blend of orange peels, cardamon, aniseed, almond, hibiscus and dried apple. This one is caffeine free (its a herbal blend, no tea) and so became my favourite night tea ritual during lockdown. It also has hibiscus which leaves a vibrant red colour to the tea so I have been thinking for a while of how to use in my cooking too. And the inspiration came when making my morning porridge the other day. I normally add cinnamon sticks in the milk in which I boil my oats so thought I would add the “magicians gifts” instead of the cinnamon. The result was more than compensating: almost as if I was drinking my favourite night tea with my porridge! The extra bonus came from the light pink colour of the porridge which matched a treat the pomegranate I garnished with and instantly made my porridge a full sensations feast! You should definitely give this one a try, or at least hopefully you will be inspired to add a a bit of variety on your porridge spices. No need to roam about the nutritional benefits of porridge for breakfast.. Its really beneficial for those with elevated cholesterol, as a bowl of breakfast porridge everyday has found to reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol by 6-8% while its beta glycans help minimise CDV risk.

Ingredients

For the porridge:

1tbs “Wise mens gifts” herbal blend (cardamon, star anise, orange peels, apple, hibiscus, almond)
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup almond milk

To garnish

a handful of pomegranate seeds
1 tbs of cacao nibs

Preparation

In a small saucepan, add the herbal blend and the almond milk and boil on a medium heat for approx 3-4 mins.
At this stage you can remove some of the shells of the spices if you wish to ( personally I didn’t)
Lower the heat, add the oats and keep stirring until the oats have absorbed all of the milk and have become a thick porridge consistency.
Garnish with the toppings of your choice and relish all your senses!