Category: Uncategorized

Minty green banana smoothie

The mint is going mad this year and I had forgotten about this old recipe. No banana mint this year but I am growing a chocolate one instead!

Thebrekkieblog

I love mint and am growing a few different varieties at the moment.  This year I’m growing a banana mint which really does have a hint of minty bananas!  So with the sun making a rare appearance this morning I felt the need for a light summer smoothie and of course it has to have mint.  I’ve used banana mint but any mint will do.

Banana mint melon

Minty green banana smoothie (serves one)

  • 100g fresh melon (I used cantaloupe)
  • 1/2 banana or one small one
  • 250ml coconut water
  • large bunch of mint – I used about 15 leaves of banana mint – if using normal garden mint then probably 10 leaves as the banana mint has smaller leaves.
  • 2 blocks of frozen spinach (or a handful of fresh)

Blend it all together.

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Rhubarb & Tahini overnight Oats

The rhubarb keeps coming and so does the Tahini.  Tahini is one of my favourite foods, I have it with almost everything.  During the first few weeks of lockdown I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I went for almost a month without any- until my lovely bestie delivered a jar and left it outside my door.  That didn’t last long!  but fortunately my stocks are now replenished and I am eating it liberally again.

The combination with rhubarb really works, although be warned rhubarb and tahini blended does look a bit beige – so the decorations on top of this dish are worth it!  You do need some sweetener with this – I don’t add much sugar to my stewed rhubarb so usually need to add a bit extra into whatever I’m using it with.

Enjoyed eating this today after an early dog walkies in the sunshine.

Rhubarb & Tahini overnight oats

  • 2 tablespoons stewed rhubarb (plus extra for the topping)
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or other sweetener of choice)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 200ml Milk (almond, soya or coconut work well)
  • 35g oats
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Blend the rhubarb, tahini, maple syrup, milk and ginger in a blender.  Pour into a bowl and add the oats.  Leave overnight.

To serve – sprinkle over the sesame seeds and add the extra rhubarb on top.

Almost instant brekkie crumble

When in lockdown, eat heartily – is the current mantra in my household!   I went out for my usual lockdown morning dog walkies, got soaked through and came home feeling cold, wet, fed up and in need of something warm, sweet and quick.

I did have crumble on my mind as i had made a lovely rhubarb crumble for my mum a few days earlier, which took ages what with having to wait 30 minutes whilst it cooked in the oven.  The leftovers were great for brekkie, until i discovered the last portion had been eaten by my husband…

So – this was my urgent recreation with whatever i had in the house – and it’s pretty close to the real thing too.  Probably took around 5 minutes to make and certainly hit the spot.

Almost instant brekkie crumble

(serves one hungry person – but could do two)

The fruit layer

Some fruit that will go juicy and mushy in the microwave – I used a punnet of blueberries and zapped them for a minute.  Rhubarb or apple is great too as that only takes a few minutes to stew.

The crumble

  • 1 piece bread (stale is good too) – blitzed into breadcrumbs
  • 2 tablespoons oats
  • sprinkle of cinnamon, ground cloves or nutmeg or any warm spices you like
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons sugar – less or more depending how sweet you like your crumble (i go for v sweet!
  • Knob of non dairy spread or butter – coconut oil or other oil works too.

Method

  • Melt the spread in a frying pan.  Mix the breadcrumbs, spice, oats and sugar together and add to the pan.  Fry for 2-4 minutes until the mix has some bite to it like crumble (i.e not too soft)
  • Whilst the crumble is frying – zap your fruit in the microwave – it won’t need long, maybe 30 seconds or so.
  • Add the crumble to the fruit and there’s your crumble.  Lovely with some extra fruit on top and some yogurt and maple syrup.  Or cream or ice cream – after all we’re in lock-down.

I also added a sliced banana on top of the hot blueberries before i added the crumble on top.  Play around and add in anything you have handy – peanut butter, nuts, seeds…

 

Heavenly Rhubarb

This is seriously the BEST way to cook rhubarb.  I discovered this when making a raw cake that included cooking rhubarb for the longest time at a low heat.  I’ve played around with the timings and this is about as good as it gets.  Honestly, if you like rhubarb this is the way to go!  If you have anyone in your family who doesn’t – try them with this.  You can make it in big batches so you’re not wasting too much oven time.

The quantities below makes enough for 2-3 portions – although if I’m honest I could easily eat all of this in one sitting.  Use it for overnight oats, as a pancake topping, mixed through yoghurt or just eat it on it’s own.

Heavenly Rhubarb

Turn the oven onto almost it’s lowest setting – so 80-100c /180-200f or Gas 1/4 -1/2

  • 200g raw rhubarb, chopped into small slices (about 1cm slices)
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar  (any brown sugar will work – I like soft brown sugar best.)

Put the chopped rhubarb into a baking dish or tray and add the syrup and sugar and coast it well. Put into the oven for 1.5 – 2 hours.  It should still hold it’s shape but be tender – the picture shown is of the cooked rhubarb so you can see how its held it’s shape.

Eat immediately or put in a container and keep in the fridge, save the juices too.  I prefer eating this at room temperature rather than straight from the fridge, but hot, cold or warm, it is truly delish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apricot Bran Loaf

Apricots are one of the few fruits that I rarely fancy, I think I’ve bitten into too many unripe ones and been put off, an unripe apricot is really horrible!  However with the British apricot season well underway and with our wonderful hot summer, there are some lovely juicy ones on offer and I bought a big bag this week which needed using up before they went over so I started baking with them.

They work brilliantly in this loaf, which is an updated version of my old Retro bran loaf. The pairing with cardamom adds a great floral hint. Do use ripe apricots as they add moisture to the bake, although you could use up any unripe ones too.

Apricot Bran Loaf

  • 100g All Bran (I used Kellogg’s but there are other varieties out there!)
  • 70g soft brown sugar
  • 8 cardamom pods, crushed and ground in a pestle and mortar
  • 160g SR flour or 160g plain flour and 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 50g raisins
  • 3 ripe apricots, roughly diced (keep skin on)
  • 250ml Almond milk

Method

  • Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
  • Mix all the ingredients, apart from the flour, together in a bowl and leave to soak for 30-60 minutes. Then add the flour and mix well. It should be like a very thick cake mix, add a drop more milk if its too thick and paste like and difficult to stir.
  • Pour into the tin and cook for around 40 – 50 minutes at 170c/Gas 3/325f.  Leave it in the tin to cool and then turn out and enjoy.

It’s great with spread and jam (apricot!) or marmalade or nut butter with some fresh apricot slices, or with some thick coconut yoghurt.

apricot bran loaf 2

 

P&J brekkie tortilla

My latest supply of one of my favourite peanut butters (Manilife) arrived yesterday and so peanut butter had to be part of my brekkie today (although I had already eaten a fair few spoonfuls from the jar within seconds of it arriving.)  With a packet of flatbreads languishing in the bread bin, this simple P&J tortilla was envisaged, made and eaten within 5 minutes.  If you love peanut butter and jam, you’ll love this.  I used raspberries and raspberry jam, but you could use strawberries with strawberry jam, blueberries etc., anything would be lovely.

Possibly not the healthiest of breakfasts due to the high sugar content of the jam, but it was worth it and in my defence I had walked the dog.  You could of course use a low sugar jam or make your own chia seed jam, but for now, the original stuff did the job beautifully.

P&J brekkie Tortilla

  • 1 flour tortilla (large)
  • 1 tablespoon of your favourite peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons Raspberry Jam
  • Handful of fresh raspberries
  • Yoghurt (I used coconut)

Heat a frying pan (no oil required) – and when it’s hot, add the tortilla.  After a minute, take the tortilla out of the pan and put it on a plate cold side down.  Spread your peanut butter over the hot side, and then spread the jam on top and top with some raspberries.  Fold the tortilla in half over the filling.  Put this back in the pan (heat on) and dry fry for a minute on both sides – the tortilla will start to brown.

Cut in half and serve with some more fruit and yoghurt.

 

 

Barley and orange porridge

This was inspired by an Yotam Ottolenghi barley and orange pudding. I thought it had breakfast written all over it, so I played around and made it more breakfast than pudding.  The barley does take a while to cook, so it’s worth making it the day before and then just warming it up in a pan with an additional glug of milk to soften it up again.

This has a much more ‘bitey’ texture than normal oat porridge, in fact it probably isn’t really a porridge at all, but the cooking and serving is similar so I think I can get away with it.

Barley & Orange porridge (makes two portions)

  • 125g pearl barley
  • 700ml coconut milk (or other milk of choice)
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • One orange
  • Plus toppings of choice

Method

In a saucepan put the barley, sugar, vanilla pod (scrap out the seeds and add these and then add the remaining pod as well), milk and the grated zest of the orange.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 50-60 minutes.  Keep checking in case you need to add a bit more milk. The barley should keep some of its bite.

Then either eat straight away and add your toppings, or cool and put in the fridge overnight.  Remember to take out the vanilla pods before eating.

Toppings

Melt a bit of coconut oil (or other oil) into a small pan and add some orange segments and a bit of brown sugar.  Heat for a couple of minutes to soften and caramelise the orange.

Other toppings include:- cacao nibs, chocolate coconut yoghurt (truly lovely with this), sesame seeds work well too.

Blueberry Choc Chioaty

I like using both chia seeds and oats in my overnight soakings, a mix of protein and carbs.  I find the consistency can become a little more solid, much like the old Irish tradition of porridge slabs kept in drawers!  It’s like eating a soft flapjack and I love this consistency especially with some maple syrup and yoghurt spooned on top before eating.  This is another healthy way to have chocolate for breakfast.

Blueberry Choc Chioaty

blueberry chioaty

  • 100g Blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 2 tablespoons oats
  • juice of one orange
  • 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder (if you want a stronger cacao hit then add a bit more)
  • 1 tablespoon cacao nibs

Mix together and put in the fridge overnight.  Top with yoghurt and maple syrup or some chocolate sprinkles!

Coco beet overnight oats

As the weather turns autumnal this is the perfect earthy overnight oats breakfast.  Beetroot is in season and I am currently harvesting a big bunch each week on the allotment.  I’ve tried a few different breakfast dishes with beetroot and I love it.  This has become a favourite because it’s so quick and looks such a lovely shade of red!

I find it’s best if you process the beetroot in a food processor – peel and chop and then process until it looks like couscous (a few seconds).  You can also finely grate it for this dish if you don’t have a food processor.

Coco beet overnight oats (serves one)

Beet coco oats

  • 50g raw beetroot – either processed in a food processor or finely grated
  • 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
  • 40g oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 20g sultanas
  • 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
  • 50g flaked coconut
  • 150ml coconut milk

Layer up the beetroot, coconut, oats, cardamom, sultanas and seeds.  Then add the coconut milk and leave overnight in the fridge.

You can play around with your seeds and dried fruit – personally I love the taste of sultanas with this dish, but dried cranberries, raisins or goji berries would work well.  The hemp seeds give a nice subtle crunch, or you can use pumpkin or sunflower seeds.  Pistachio nuts also go very well with beetroot.  Just layer up as you fancy.  The key ingredients are the beetroot and coconut – the mix of earthiness and sweetness is perfect.

 

 

Rhubarb Crumble overnight Oats

We’re coming back into Rhubarb season (for forced rhubarb) and my allotment rhubarb is starting to come back to life.  In anticipation I’m trying to clear my freezer of the batches I froze at the end of last season.  I adore rhubarb, it’s so versatile and quick and easy to cook.  Of course you can’t beat the old favourite that is rhubarb crumble, so here is my healthy breakfast version of overnight oats.

Rhubarb Crumble Overnight Oats (makes 2 portions)

rhubarb-crumble-oats

  • 300g stewed rhubarb
  • 200ml almond milk
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 100g oats
  • Yoghurt to serve

Topping (makes two portions – although it’s very moreish)

  • Around 10 hazelnuts or almonds (or other nuts of choice)
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons demerara sugar

Method

  • Blend 1/2 the stewed rhubarb with the almond milk, spices and maple syrup. Add this to 100g oats and then stir through the rest of the rhubarb.  Put in the fridge overnight.
  • To make the topping – crush the nuts and seeds in a pestle and mortar and stir through the sugar.

To serve – layer up with yoghurt and sprinkle the topping on top.