Tag: breakfast

Fig & Cacao Granola with Banana & Coconut cream

I think these two complement each other really well – the creaminess of the banana and the hint of cacao in the granola match perfectly.  Of course I’ve also been eating the granola on it’s own straight from the jar and I may have sprinkled it on coconut ice cream last night.

Fig & Cacao Granola

fig-granola

  • 100g dried figs (cut into quarters – nice big chunks)
  • 50g Macadamia nuts – cut in half
  • 100g oats
  • 1 tablespoon raw cacao nibs
  • 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cacao powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 30g goji berries

Method

  • Put the figs, oats, nuts, sugar, cacao nibs, powder and cardamom in a bowl. Mix the rapeseed oil with the maple syrup and pour onto the dry ingredients and mix well.
  • Lay the mixture on a baking sheet and cook for 12 minutes – 400f/200c/Gas 6.
  • After 12 minutes – add the goji berries and cook for a further 3 minutes.
  • Take out of the oven to cool and clump.

Banana and coconut cream

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 fresh banana
  • 2 tablespoons coconut yoghurt
  • 2 tablespoons almond milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all the above together.  Lovely served with the granola.

granola-with-banana-cream

Cherry Oat Bake

In support of Veganuary all the brekkie recipes this month will be vegan.  To kick start here is a lovely baked oats recipe ideal for this frosty cold weather.  This is quick to make – you can mix it up the day before and cook it in the morning, or even cook it the day before and re-heat it.

I always have a bag of frozen cherries in the freezer, I love them. They defrost quickly and take on a softer texture that works really well in this recipe.  You can also microwave (or heat in a pan) a few extra to drizzle over the top before eating.

If you don’t have mini cake tins then just use any oven proof bowls and eat it straight from the bowl!

Cherry Oat Bake (makes two)

  • 120g oats
  • 130g frozen cherries (defrosted) – keep the juice, no need to drain
  • 150ml coconut milk
  • 25g melted coconut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons coconut palm sugar
  • A few flaked almonds for the topping

To serve – lovely with some warmed cherries and maple syrup. cherry-oat-bake

  • Grease a couple of mini cake tins (11cm/4.5″) with a little bit of coconut oil.
  • Warm the oven to 200c/400f/Gas 6
  • Mix all the ingredients together (apart from the flaked almonds).  Pour into the cake tins. Top with the flaked almonds.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Leave to cool for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tins.
  • Drizzle with maple syrup and extra cherries to serve.

 

 

Christmas Orange & Popcorn Granola

A few years ago I was browsing through a free magazine that had popped through the door and came across this lovely recipe from Café Boscanova in Bournemouth.  I thought what a fantastic idea to add popcorn to granola!   So I’ve been making it ever since. It’s a lovely granola with a hint of orange and spice and the popcorn really makes it feel festive and fun.

You can go to town on the popcorn, plain is best to add into the oats mix as it gets coated with the lovely flavours of the oil and spices, but you can add any flavour at the end. Why not try some of the amazing different flavours around at the moment. My current favourite is Joe and Seph’s mince pie flavour or the toffee apple and cinnamon, or the coconut and chia seed – the list goes on.  You can personalise each bowl depending on your families favourites!

Christmas orange and popcorn granola

popcorn-1

  • 300g rolled oats
  • 50g coconut flakes
  • 40g plain popcorn
  • 100g dates – chopped into quarters (you want to keep some big chunky bits)
  • Grated zest of one orange
  • 2 tablespoons mixed spice
  • 50g cashew nuts or other nuts (or leave out for a nut free version)
  • 3 tablespoons rapeseed or sunflower oil
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 100g dark brown sugar
  • juice of one orange
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 50g dried cranberries
  • Couple of handfuls of plain (or flavoured) popcorn

Method

  • Mix the oats, coconut, 40g popcorn, dates, nuts, spice and zest together.
  • In a small saucepan gently heat the oil, butter, sugar, orange juice, maple syrup and vanilla – until the sugar is dissolved. Then add this to the dry mix and stir it all well.
  • Spread the mixture onto a baking tray and bake 180c/350f/Gas 4 – for 15 minutes.
  • Take it out of the oven and add the cranberries.
  • Let it cool (it will harden as it cools) and then add a few handfuls of popcorn to the mix.

Freekeh Apple Bowl

I’ve only recently started cooking with Freekeh which is a grain very similar to bulgur wheat. It has a nutty taste and also a high protein content which makes it perfect for breakfast. After discovering the delights of brown rice porridge I thought using Freekeh in the same way might work well – and it does.

You can eat this dish hot or cold.  I made it up the night before and then gave it a quick blast in the microwave to add some warmth.

Freekeh Apple Bowl (makes two portions)

freekeh-2

  • 50g Freekeh (dry weight) cooked (wash well, bring to the boil and simmer for 20mins under tender, then drain)
  • 50g sultanas or raisins
  • 25g hazelnuts – crushed
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 100g stewed apple (cooking apples are best) + a bit extra if you want to dollop some on top before eating

Mix everything together in a bowl – I mixed everything whilst the freekeh was still warm to help infuse the flavours.  You can pop it in the fridge for the next day and eat it cold or warm it up.  Or of course eat it as soon as it’s made.

Worth adding another dollop of hot stewed apple on the top and some yoghurt before eating.

freekeh-1

Squash & Walnut Bread

Oh the squash season never ends, so now I’ve turned my glut into bread. I made this today – so I have my brekkie sorted for tomorrow morning – but I will admit that quite a chunk of the bread has been eaten for tasting purposes.  It’s delicious just with butter, or add a sliced banana and some maple syrup drizzled over the top.

This loaf was inspired by a recipe by Naturally Ella for Pumpkin Oat bread.

Squash & Walnut Bread

pumpkin-bread

  • 80g oats
  • 250g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 80g walnuts – roughly chopped or bashed
  • 200g cooked squash (crown prince or butternut or pumpkin)
  • 80ml maple syrup
  • 80ml coconut oil – melted
  • 70ml walnut oil
  • 2 eggs

Mix the oats, flour, baking powder, spices, salt and walnuts in a bowl.

Put the cooked squash (no skin), the syrup, oils and eggs into a blender and whizz for a few seconds to combine. Add this mixture to the dry mixture and mix together.

Put the mixture into a loaf tin.  Bake for around 50 minutes – 200c/400f/Gas 6.  After 30 minutes put some foil over the top for the last 20minutes to stop the top getting too brown.  It’s cooked when a skewer comes out clean and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.  Let it cool slightly then pop it on a wired rack to cool completely. (I will admit I ate a slice whilst it was still warm, it does crumble a bit, worth waiting that bit longer for it to be properly cool!).

 

Crown Prince Granola

I’ve been trying out granola recipes and trying to incorporate some pumpkin or squash – I’ve had a few failures, mainly because the squash made the granola soggy and I prefer my granola clumpy and crispy.  But eventually I’ve found one that works. It is based on a Nigella recipe that used apple puree, and this gave me the idea of using squash puree.

I’ve been eating this all week – even hubby has been caught snacking straight from the jar.

I used crown prince squash to make the puree – but pumpkin or butternut squash would work just as well.

Note – see my Spiced Squash Pancake recipe for how to make the puree.

Crown Prince Granola

pumpkin-granola

Dry ingredients

  • 225g oats
  • 60g pumpkin seeds
  • 60g sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 50g coconut sugar (or any other brown sugar)
  • 100g whole almonds
  • 50g Pecans – broken in half
  • Pinch salt

Wet ingredients

  • 100g squash puree
  • 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
  • 60g brown rice syrup
  • 2 tablespoons honey

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients until well combined.  Then pour the wet into the bowl of dry and coat everything really well.  Lay out the mixture onto a baking sheet.

Cook at 160c/320f/Gas 3 for around 40 – 45 minutes.  Ensure you move the mixture around on the baking sheet every 15 minutes to stop it browning unevenly. You want it to look golden and have a crunch to it.

Leave it to cool completely in the baking tray and then store in a container.  Keeps for a week or so.

 

Spiced Squash Pancakes

I was filling time looking at recipes last night and a pumpkin pancake one caught my eye. It was an American recipe using pumpkin puree, which seems to be hitting our shops in tins at the moment.  Yet it’s really easy to make up fresh and with my bumper squash harvest this year, I’ve got plenty to play with. Mixed with the right spices it becomes a delicious sweetly spiced puree that is crying out to be used in sweet recipes.

So here is my take on the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pancake craze.

The Puree

Pumpkins and squashes I think are pretty much interchangeable.  I’ve been using crown prince squash in place of pumpkin, and butternut squash can be used as well. To make a sweet puree I cut the squash into big chunks  (like big watermelon slices) take out the seeds but keep the skin on. Then put the chunks into a roasting tin, add some small dollops of coconut oil and roast for around 20-30 mins until really tender. The use of coconut oil keeps the sweet theme, you could use olive oil, but I would avoid vegetable oil or any other more savoury flavoured oil.

Once cool, slice the flesh off the skin and put into a food processor.  Blend for around 20 seconds into a soft puree.

You can add the spices here as well – roughly 1 teaspoon of mixed spice to every 100g of skinned squash – just blend it in for 1-2 seconds then the puree is ready spiced to use. The puree will keep in the fridge for a few days.

spiced-squash-pancakesSpiced Squash Pancakes (serves 2 – makes 4 -5 pancakes)

  • 60g spelt flour (or wholemeal)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 40g oats
  • Pinch salt
  • 125ml milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup (more for drizzling over the cooked pancakes)
  • 8g melted butter (more to grease the frying pan)
  • 100g squash puree with 1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method

  • Mix the flour, baking powder, oats and salt into a bowl.
  • In a separate bowl whisk the milk, egg, maple syrup, butter, puree and spice, until well combined. Add this mix to the flour mix and whisk to combine.
  • In a small frying pan, add a small knob of butter and melt this to coat the pan. Once melted add a ladle of the pancake mixture. Cook for around 2-3 minutes per side.

Enjoy with some raisins or sultanas, yoghurt and more maple syrup.

 

Vanilla Latte Porridge

This mornings dog walk was freezing and I got home needing coffee and hot food. So why not combine the two?  Hence my new favourite porridge – vanilla latte style. I tried to keep as close as possible to the style of latte I would usually order – which is a skinny latte. Personally I prefer cows milk in coffee, but whatever milk you normally have should work just as well.

I did prefer the porridge with some sugar (which I don’t normally have in coffee) – I think it needs something to give it a sweet hint and I do believe that the best match is brown sugar – can’t beat a bit of demerara.

Vanilla Latte Porridge

vanilla-latte-porridge

  • 50g oats
  • 250 ml milk
  • 50ml espresso ( I used an espresso shot from my coffee maker which is a perfect 50ml,  but you could use 50ml of strong black instant coffee.)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • Brown sugar – depending on taste. I used 2 teaspoons in the porridge and then an extra sprinkle on top.
  • Some crushed almonds to top. (I used 4)

Put the oats and milk in a pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and add the vanilla essence and the espresso.  Simmer for 5 minutes or so until the porridge reaches your preferred consistency.  Add sugar and mix in whilst still on the heat.

Serve with some sugar sprinkled on top and some crushed almonds.

Pronto Pumpkin Pie Oats

I’ve harvested all my squashes from the allotment and now have the lovely task of finding different ways to eat them.  You can’t beat the taste of pumpkin pie, that gorgeous aroma of spices with the sweetness of maple syrup and I love the addition of pecans.

This is a quick way of getting that pumpkin pie taste for brekkie – takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.  The texture is softer than granola (I’m working on a granola version!) but with all the taste.  You can use pumpkins or squashes for this – I used Crown Prince Squash, butternut works well too.

Delicious on its own or with yoghurt.  If you can wait a few extra minutes before eating it, it starts to stick together and smell even better.  Still good the following day too.

Pronto Pumpkin Pie Oats (enough for two portions)

pronto-pumpkin-pie-oats

  • 100g fresh pumpkin or squash peeled and diced into small cubes
  • 3 teaspoons coconut oil
  • 60g oats
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 30g pecan  nuts roughly chopped

Heat 2 teaspoons coconut oil in a frying pan, add the cubed pumpkin and stir fry for 8-10 minutes, you want the cubes to get really soft but not falling apart.  Keep tossing it to ensure none of the pieces brown too much.  Tip out of the pan and keep to one side.

Add another teaspoon of coconut oil to the pan and add the oats stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Then add in the spices and the cooked pumpkin and toss well together over the heat for another minute.  Turn off the heat and add the maple syrup and mix everything together. Finally add the pecans.  Ready!

Wait a few minutes or eat warm – or keep for later if you can.

 

 

 

 

Oaty Coaty Strawberries

Strawberries always remind me of the heat of summer and for some reason I rarely fancy them once the weather turns. But this morning I found a punnet in the fridge and didn’t fancy them cold so made this very quick oaty brekkie to give a bit of warmth.

I’ve been frying up my oats a lot recently, it’s such a quick and easy way to have some hot oats when you don’t fancy porridge.

Oaty Coaty Strawberries (serves one)

oaty-coaty-strawberries

  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of honey
  • Handful of oats (around 30g)
  • Handful of strawberries – sliced in half
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom or cinnamon

Heat the coconut oil in a small pan, add the oats and fry for 2-3 minutes.  Add the honey, spice of choice and strawberries and fry for another couple of minutes. Toss to coat the strawberries with the oats.

Lovely served on top of yoghurt.