Homemade Granola

  
I’ve tried to make a lower-sugar, lower-fat version of granola but, because of the dried fruit and nuts, there is definitely sugar and fat in this recipe! This should make around 10 portions.

• 250g oats
• 150g unsalted nuts (I used pistachios, macadamias, cashews, almonds and pecans)
• 100g mixed seeds (I used milled flaxseeds, chai seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds and sun flowers seeds)
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso
• 1 large orange
• 2 tablespoon runny honey 
• 100g dried fruit (I used dried cherries and chopped apricots)

Heat the oven to 180C. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, nuts, seeds, cacao and coffee. Add the zest of the orange and the honey and mix well. Pour the mix into a baking tray and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the dried fruits in a bowl with the juice from half the orange. Remove the tray from the oven and mix the fruit and juice in with the oats, nuts and seeds. Return the tray to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. 

When cooked (keep an eye on the nuts and make sure they don’t burn), tip the mix out on to a chopping board and allow to cool. When cooled, this can be kept in an air-tight container for a month.

I served this with Greek yogurt and a blueberry chia pudding (blitz two handfuls of blueberries in a blender with a splash of oat milk (normal milk or other milk is fine), stir in 2  tablespoons of chia seeds, stir well and leave until ‘set’)

Smashed Avocado

2015 was definitely the year of the avocado! Looking through my food pictures, I can confirm I definitely I got on that bandwagon and I really see no possibility of me falling off any time yet!

Smashed avocado is a breakfast / brunch favourite because it pairs nicely with eggs. In the above picture, I spread it on toast and made soldiers for my boiled eggs. Below it went well with fried eggs and ham:

I like my smashed avocado quite salty and spicy, so it works best if the other ingredients aren’t (I calmed down with the salt when I put it with ham!)

• 1 ripe avocado
• Good pinch of sea salt
• Good pinch of chilli flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper

Using a fork, mash the avocado (I found it easier to do this straight onto a chopping board rather than in a bowl).

Add the seasoning (go a little at a time and taste until you find that sweet spot of salt and spice!).

Spread over whatever you like! This should serve two, but I find I can manage to take this down by myself!

 

Sweet Potato ‘Toasts’

This is one of my new favourite brunch ingredients. It’s very filling – it will definitely see you right up to dinner time!

This should serve 1-2 depending on the size of your sweet potato.

• Small sweet potato
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil
• Black pepper

Heat the oven to 180C. Put the coconut oil on a baking try and put in the oven to heat.

Wash (don’t peel) a small sweet potato and cut into 1cm thick slices. It’s easier to do this if you cut a slice off one side first, and then stand the potato on the cut side so it’s less wobbly.

3 slices per person is definitely enough!

By the point, the coconut oil should have melted, so take the baking tray out of the  oven, place the slices of potato in the oil and use a silicon pastry brush to brush oil over the oil of the potato slices. Season (I tend to just use black pepper as salt may be in the ingredients I serve this with).

Put the potato in the oven and cook for around 30 minutes, turning halfway. The slices should be soft in the middle and crisping around the edges.

My favourite way to serve this is with smashed avocado (avocado, sea salt, black pepper and chilli flakes), poached eggs, sautéed cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of sumac on top.

Chia Pudding and Cacao Avocado Mousse Layered Dessert Slash Breakfast Thing

Snappy title, huh?!

This is a dessert, though because it is essentially just fruit and seeds, it’s healthy enough to eat for breakfast. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

Because of what I had in the house at the time, the recipe turned out to be vegan and raw and all that. You can always swap things like the oat milk for regular milk and rice syrup for honey.

Also, although the picture has one huge glass of pudding, it’s really for 2 people (and that glass is the least practical way of serving this – I ended up tipping all of that into bowls to actually eat it!

Chia Pudding

• 3 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 cup of oat milk
• (optional) handful blueberries

If using blueberries, put into a blender with the oat milk and blitz. If not using blueberries, skip to the next sentence.

Put the oat milk and chia seeds into a bowl or container (make sure the milk covers the chia seeds) and set aside for an hour or two. You should give this a stir halfway through this time as the seeds can clump.

Cacao Avocado Mousse:

• 1 ripe avocado
• Half cup cacao powder
• 4 pitted dates (soft dates like medjool work best)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp. rice syrup
• Oat milk

Put everything but the oat milk in a blender or food processor. Add the milk gradually until you get a mousse-like consistency.

Layer up the Chia Pudding and the Cacao Avocado Mouse in dishes and top with things like cacao nibs and blueberries. You could put whole blueberries in between the layers too.

 

 

Chicken and Mushroom Balti

You can’t really beat a curry on a Saturday night, can you? I love this one, served with some fluffy rice and a homemade naan (when I can be bothered!)

The recipe for the Balti is from The Curry Hub website. There are two steps to making this curry, the first is to make a basic curry sauce, the direct link for that recipe is here.

I think the recipe is great, and it’s one I come back to again and again.

Basic Curry Sauce
3 Tbsp Vegetable oil or Ghee
2 medium onions (chopped)
1 Tbsp Fresh Garlic (crushed)
1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger (grated)
1/4 tsp Medium Hot Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
400g tin Chopped Tomatoes

1. Heat the oil in the pan and add the onions. Fry on a medium/high heat for 10mins stirring continuously until the onion turns translucent and just starts to brown.
2. Add the Garlic and Ginger and continue stirring for 1min making sure it doesn’t burn then reduce to a low heat.
3. Cook for a further 5mins or until the garlic loses its raw smell then add the chilli, turmeric, cumin and coriander stirring continuously and cook for 1-2mins. Don’t let the spices catch and burn as this will make the sauce bitter, add a splash of water if concerned!
4. Next, stir in the tomatoes, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Then, reduce the heat and simmer for 10mins.
5. Now, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool a little before pouring into a large blender.
6. Add 150ml of water to the sauce and blend until smooth before returning to the heat and simmering for a final 15/20mins stirring occasionally. Alternatively, if you have a hand blender the sauce can be blended in the pan along with the added water.
7. The idea is to fry the sauce and not boil it. Do not let the sauce catch and burn and feel free to add more water if required to keep the consistency as you would prefer.
8. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before transfering to freezable container(s).

The Curry

2 Tbsp Oil or Ghee
1 1/2 lb of Chicken breast (cubed)
1 Green Pepper (sliced lengthways)
1 Mild Red Chilli (de-seeded and cut into rings)
5/6 large mushrooms (chopped)
1 tsp whole Cumin seeds
1 tsp whole Fenugreek seeds
1 tsp whole Fennel seeds
2 whole Cardamom pods
1 inch piece Cinnamon stick
Pinch of dried Curry Leaves
1 Tbsp Garlic puree
1 Tbsp Ginger puree
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 tsp ground Paprika
1 tsp Salt
1 Portion Basic Curry Sauce
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
200ml water or chicken stock

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan on a medium heat and add the whole Cumin, Fenugreek, Fennel, Cardamom pods, Cinnamon stick and Curry leaves.
2. As soon as the seeds just start to fizzle in the oil remove from the heat and add the Garlic and Ginger paste and stir continuously taking care not to let anything catch and burn. After about 1min return to the heat and continue stirring for another 2-3mins until the garlic has lost its raw smell.
3. Now, add the pepper and chilli and cook fry for 4-5mins stirring continuously.
4. Then add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5mins until they start to soften before adding the Coriander and Paprika. Fry the spices for 1min ensuring they do not catch (add a splash of water if concerned) and then add the Chicken cubes and salt.
5. Seal the chicken and then add the Basic Curry Sauce and water/chicken stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10mins stirring occasionally.
6. Finally, mix in the Garam Masala and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Taste for salt and heat then serve with Chapattis and Naan breads.

Blueberry Pancakes

I’ve never really been a pancake fan. People look at me like I’m a weirdo when I tell them I don’t ‘do’ Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I’ve started to realise that I don’t like the thin crepe-style pancakes but I actually do enjoy nice fluffy American-style pancakes.

Getting into the American spirit, I made these blueberry pancakes then topped them with crispy  streaky bacon and a good drizzle of maple syrup.

This recipe made 10 small pancakes (there are 4 stacked in the picture)

• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk (I used skimmed, I think any will do)
• Knob of butter
• 80g blueberries
• Olive oil and/ or butter to cook the pancakes in
• Streaky bacon, grilled (optional)
• Maple syrup to serve

Heat the oven to 150C. Place plates in oven to warm. If using bacon, keep warm in the bottom of the oven.

In a saucepan, slowly melt the butter. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg and milk.

Make a well in the flour, pour in the wet mix and whisk to make a smooth batter. Pour in the melted butter and stir in the blueberries.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. I used olive oil and butter, but you can use either if you’d rather. Pour around 2 tbsp (about two-thirds of a ladle) of the batter in the pan for each pancake. I found I could cook 3 or 4 pancakes at a time in my pan. Cook for around 3 minutes on each side. Once golden on both sides, transfer the pancakes to the warm plates in the oven (though not stacked at this point as they might go soggy) and cook the rest of the pancakes.

Serve stacked with maple syrup and, if using, the bacon on top.

Avocado and Eggs on Toast

Sometimes the best things in life are also the simplest…

A nice, simple, healthful breakfast. I find this keeps me going well past lunch so is great if you’ve got a busy day ahead.

• Bread (I used Burgen pre-sliced Buckwheat and Poppy Seed but I think a sourdough would probably taste even better with this)
• Ripe avocado
• Dried chilli flakes
• 2 eggs
• 2 tomatoes
• Sumac
• Salt and black pepper to season

It’s a bit of a cheat to call this a recipe, but here goes…

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, pop the tomatoes in and dry-fry until soft and starting to colour.

Mash the avocado with a pinch of dried chilli flakes. Toast the bread and poach your eggs. When the toast is ready, top with the avocado and chilli mix. When your eggs are ready, remove from the water with a slotted spoon and leave to sit on some kitchen towel to drain.

Place the toast and tomatoes on your plate. Pop the eggs on the toast and sprinkle with a little sumac. Season and eat!

 

Sweetcorn Fritters Take Two

One of my favourite old recipes is this one for sweetcorn fritters. I made them today in a sort of eggs benedict. I made the fritters and then topped them with some nice thinly sliced ham, some of my guacamole and two poached eggs.

It was a very tasty and filling brunch. I’ll kid myself that it’s healthy because there is a lot of veg going on here!

 

 

 

 

Halloumi and Quinoa Salad

This is a nice light meal for warm evenings or when you need to feel a little virtuous! It’s pretty simple to pull together too as it’s mostly from jars and packs you can keep on stand-by in the cupboard. Serves 2.

• 2 roasted peppers, cut into bite-sized chunks
• About 80g sundried tomatoes, cut into pieces
• 1 pack prepared quinoa (I used Merchant Gourmet)
• 250g halloumi, sliced
• Olive oil
• Salad to serve on the side

Heat a griddle pan (you can use a frying pan instead) to medium-high. Brush the halloumi with a little oil and place on the pan. Turn once the cheese has charred (or is golden if cooking in a frying pan)

In the meantime, warm the peppers, tomatoes and quinoa through in another pan. When both sides of the cheese is cooked, serve with the quinoa and a side salad.

BLT Tart

If you’re looking for a super-easy, super tasty treat for brunch, look no further!

This recipe is another one from BBC Good Food. The only change I make to this recipe is to use less red onion chutney – I find 4 tablespoons gives you a thick layer over the pastry which tends to overwhelm the other flavours. If you get the chutney right, you’ll find this is a great brunch dish.