Tag Archives: Breakfast

by | April 26, 2013

Maple Pecan Granola

Today, I’d like to share one of Lil’ L’s all-time favourite breakfasts.

I started making home-made granola about five years ago in response to Lil’ L’s dislike for the dried fruits that appear in shop-bought granolas.  After a week of picking out the raisins from a granola before serving it to him, I decided that life was far too short to waste time picking out dried fruit and that I would have a try at making my own granola instead!   By making it myself, I would be able to tailor the granola to suit all our tastes.  Lil’ L loves nutty granola, I love a mix of nuts and dried fruits, while M will eat anything ;)

Granola

By making our own, we could also omit the refined sugars and oils that are found in shop-bought granolas and replace them with healthy, natural alternatives.

Maple Pecan Granola Ingredients

For breakfast, we love serving this granola with non dairy milk or yoghurt (Alpro’s Pouring Yoghurts are lush!)

Maple Pecan Granola

They also look great when layered with yoghurt and fruit in a parfait.  We serve these as breakfast, dessert or even a post-school snack.

Berry Granola Parfait

It’s so simple to make your own granola.  In fact, with very little assistance, the kids could easily make their own!  Lil’ L prefers his granola to be “chunky clusters” and we’ve found a simple method of doing this which we’ve set out below.

Makes approximately 5 cups

Hands on time: 5-10 minutes    Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients

300g / 10½ oz / 3 cups rolled oats (use GF oats for those with a gluten intolerance)

100 g / 3½ oz / ½ cup buckwheat groats* (washed and drained)

27g / 1oz / ¼ cup dessicated coconut

63g / 2¼ oz / ½ cup chopped pecans

27g / 1 oz / ¼ cup flaked almonds

3 tbsp unrefined sugar (I use coconut palm sugar)

½-1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

¼ tsp sea salt

150ml / 5 fl oz / ½ cup maple syrup (or other natural liquid sweetener, such as Sweet Freedom Fruit Syrup or agave syrup. I often use a mix of Clarks Original Maple Syrup and Sweet Freedom)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 tbsp virgin coconut oil, liquefied (to liquefy the oil I place it in a heat proof bowl in the oven while it is warming up)

*I add buckwheat to my granolas as it’s a great source of protein and adds another dimension of texture. In the UK, it’s available in the wholefoods section of Tesco and from health food stores.  If you can’t get hold of buckwheat, you can substitute with another ½ cup of oats or other grain.

 Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 150C (130C fan) / 300F / Gas 2. Line a large baking tray (38cm x 26cm / 15 inch x 10 inch) with non-stick baking paper.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the oats, buckwheat, dessicated coconut, nuts, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir until well mixed.

3.  Mix the maple syrup and vanilla extract together, then stir it into the dry ingredients. Add the coconut oil and stir until the grains are thoroughly coated.

4.  Spread the granola out evenly on the prepared baking tray. Press down with a spatula, the back of a spoon or your fingers so that the mixture sticks together (as if you were making a thin granola bar). Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the granola has lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool (it will firm up as it cools). Gently break up the granola into clusters and transfer to an airtight container.

5.This cereal is delicious served with non-dairy milk or yoghurt. Mix in your favourite nuts, seeds and fruits for added nutrition and yumminess.

Maple Crunch Granola - 500 copy

Last Christmas, I thought I’d treat Lil’ L to some “luxury” shop-bought granola.  I bought two different brands for him, both of which included a selection of his favourite nuts and no dried fruits.  It turns out he didn’t like either of them as they were “way too sugary”!  Instead, he asked whether he could have some of our home-made granola.  Since we’d run out, he was even prepared to postpone his Christmas Day breakfast for 45 minutes until a fresh batch was baked!  I wasn’t expecting to be making granola on Christmas morning but I was happy to oblige. Thank goodness it only takes a few minutes to prepare!  We won’t be buying shop-bought granolas any more.  Home made is best by a long shot!

Have a great weekend everyone xx

Do you make your own granolas?  If so, what is your favourite flavour combination? If you have any published recipes, please do link up below. 

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by | March 2, 2013

Apple & Cinnamon Dough Balls (Healthy ‘Monkey Bread’)

When I first started blogging, I recall there was a wave of health food bloggers posting recipes for ‘Healthier’ Monkey bread.  I had absolutely no idea what ‘Monkey bread’ was or why it had such a funny name!

Wikipedia soon filled me in…

Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, bubbleloaf and monkey brains is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast.  The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough which are baked in a cake pan after first being covered in melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.

Sounds yummy doesn’t it?  However, traditional Monkey Bread isn’t particularly healthy.  It contains A LOT of fat and sugar :(   In contrast, the ‘healthified’ versions often use bread or pizza dough as their base, and are glazed with healthier alternatives to butter and refined cane sugar.

Inspired by Mama Pea’s Healthy Monkey Bread recipe, I decided to have a go at making some Apple and Cinnamon Monkey Bread myself one Sunday as a ‘special breakfast’.  It was a huge hit with Lil’ L and M and,  I must admit, I’m rather partial to it too. ;)

The ‘authentic’ way to serve Monkey Bread is to invert it onto a plate…

Apple and Cinnamon Healthy Monkey Bread

However, we prefer to eat it straight from the pan.  Hands get less messy, and you can use the balls to mop up any syrup left in the pan. ;)

Healthy Apple & Cinnamon Monkey Bread

If you’re lucky enough to have a breadmaker, then this recipe requires very little effort at all.  You simply throw all the dough ingredients in the machine and press a button.   I’ve had my breadmaker for a couple of years now and it’s been fantastic!  I use it at least a couple of times a week for making breads, pizza doughs and naan breads.  I reckon it’s easily paid for itself in terms of the amount of times we’ve chosen to stay in rather than going to Pizza Express!

Today, I made some Monkey Bread as an after-school treat for Lil’ L and his friend, and I made it by hand to see how it compared to the bread-maker version.  To be honest, making dough by hand doesn’t require THAT much effort.  It takes less than 15 minutes, which isn’t too bad at all.  Plus kneading dough is great exercise for the arms. ;)

Below I’ve given instructions for making the Monkey Bread by hand and in a breadmaker.  If you’re planning to eat it for breakfast, you can easily prepare the dough the night before and chill it in the fridge.  In the morning, simply remove the dough from the fridge about 20 minutes before you need to use it.

Makes 18-20 dough balls (serves 3-4)
Hands-on time: 10-30 minutes (depending on whether you make the dough in a breadmaker or by hand)
Dough resting time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Dough
½ tsp fast action/easy blend yeast
300g / 11oz / 2 cups strong wholemeal (wholewheat) bread flour (I use chapatti flour which is a very fine wholemeal flour)
½ tsp sea salt
170ml / 5¾ fl oz / ¾ cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil

Cinnamon Sugar
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or use granulated sugar)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple Cinnamon Syrup
1 organic apple, cored and chopped (I keep the skin on)
2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (or you could use non dairy margarine, like Pure)
2 tbsp maple or agave syrup (I often use Clark’s Original Maple Syrup)
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Prepare the dough.
    - In a breadmaker: Throw all the ingredients in the pan and select ‘pizza dough’.  The programme should take around 45 minutes.  When it signals that it’s ready, leave the dough in the machine for a further 20 minutes or so to rise.
    - By hand: Place the yeast, flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add the warm water and oil.  Mix well with a spoon, then bring it together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.  Knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea cloth or oiled cling film (plastic wrap), and leave in a warm place for about an hour until it has doubled in size.  If your house is cool (like ours) then cover with oiled foil and leave in the oven at 40C / 100F for an hour.  When the dough is ready, remove from the oven, knead for a couple more minutes then set aside.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / Gas 6.  Brush or spray a 23 cm / 9″ loose bottom pan with oil.
  3. Prepare the cinnamon sugar: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
  4. Prepare the apple cinnamon syrup: First blend the apple into a smooth puree.  I find the easiest way to do this is to place the apple pieces in a bowl and use a hand blender (stick / immersion blender).  Place the apple puree, coconut oil, syrup, sugar and cinnamon in a small pan and gently heat until the oil has melted.
  5. Pull off small amounts of dough and roll them into balls about 2½ cm / 1″ in diameter.  Roll them in the cinnamon sugar and place in the oiled pan.  Repeat until all the dough has been used.  Evenly space out the balls in the pan (they will expand when baking).  If you have any cinnamon sugar left over, add it to the syrup pan.
  6. Spoon the apple cinnamon syrup evenly over the top and in between the dough balls.  Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes.
  7. Serve warm, either inverted onto a plate or straight from the pan.


I hope you enjoy it as much as this little monkey ;)

Lil L & Monkey Bread

N.B. Next time I make Monkey Bread, I’ll try using Doves Gluten Free Brown Bread Flour & let you know how it compares.

 

Good Hemp Seed Giveaway Results!
Before I go, I’d like to announce the winners of the Good Hemp Seed Giveaway.  The eligible entries were placed in chronological order and 3 winners were randomly selected using Random.org.

I’m delighted to announce that the winners are…

1. Emma
2. Samantha
3. Penniless Veggie

Please email your postal addresses and I’ll arrange for the gifts to be sent to you asap.

 

Have a great weekend everyone! xx

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon and Elements for Life. Any commission that I receive through these links will help to fund the future development of Bit of the Good Stuff.

 

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by | January 30, 2013

#WIAW – I’ll Bring the Chickpea & Vegetable Balti (& recipe!)

Upon my return from the school run this morning, I spotted the first signs of new life in our (otherwise dead looking) garden. The snowdrops seem to have appeared overnight!

Snowdrops

And what a joy they are to behold :)

For this week’s WIAW party, I’m sharing our eats from Sunday, which included some of our all-time favourite breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I’ve even written up another one-pot recipe to share. I’ve got such a backlog of recipes to write up… but I’m getting there… slowly!

Thanks, as always, to our most gracious host, Jenn over at Peas and Crayons.

Breakfast

As it was Sunday, Lil’ L was very keen to have a ‘special breakfast’. He’d spotted some very ripe bananas sitting in the fruit bowl and suggested we make some banana pancakes. I halved our usual recipe, used two frying pans, and speedily made 6 pancakes, which we shared :)

Banana Pancake with nut and choc chip topping - 500

We’ve been playing around with new toppings for pancakes. This week we had pecans, walnuts, dessicated coconut, choc chips and a drizzle of maple syrup. This combo went perfectly with the banana pancakes.  It was very yummy indeed :)

Lunch

Ready for when M got back from his Sunday morning marathon mountain bike ride, I made a large pot of watercress, leek and potato soup, which we served with chunks of wholegrain, seeded bread.

Watercress & Leek Soup - 500

You might be surprised to hear that this is one of Lil’ L’s favourite soups. He’s been eating eat since he was about 2. While raw watercress can be quite peppery, when combined with potato and leek in a soup, it takes on a wonderful, mild taste.

For lunch time dessert, we had a slice (or two!) of raw chocolate and lime cashew cream cake. I actually made this cake for M’s birthday back in December but we never got round to eating it!

Raw Chocolate Lime Cashew Cream Cake - 500

This dessert is really good. Lil’ L described it as ‘scrumdiddlyumptious’! I scribbled notes of how I made it on a scrap of paper and as soon as I locate it (!), I’ll write up the recipe and post it.

Dinner

Our Sunday dinner wasn’t particularly traditional… we had a Chickpea and Vegetable Balti served with home-made naans.  Mind you, maybe curry has become the traditional English Sunday dinner. It wouldn’t surprise me. I can happily eat curry any day of the week :)

Chickpea & Vegetable Balti

This balti was designed to be mild enough for children, but if no kiddies are going near the balti bowls, feel free to crank up the heat!

Here’s how I made it:

Mildly Spiced Chickpea and Vegetable Balti

Serves 4
Hands on time: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 40 minutes    Ready in: 50 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 2.5 cm / 1” piece of fresh or frozen ginger, finely grated

Spice mix*:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground turmeric
* alternatively, use 1 tbsp mild curry paste

1 bell pepper (I use a mix of red and green)
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 large carrot, finely chopped
70g / 2½ oz / ½ cup frozen sweetcorn
200g / 7 oz baby leaf spinach (or use frozen spinach)
100g / 3½ oz / 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 x 400g / 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g / 14 oz can chickpeas, drained
½ tsp sea salt, or to taste

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan and sauté the onion until it starts to soften. Stir in the garlic, ginger and spices. Cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes. Add the veggies (pepper, potatoes, carrot, sweet corn, spinach and mushrooms). Thoroughly stir to coat them in the spices, cover with a lid and leave to sweat on a low heat for five minutes.  Stir in the chopped tomatoes and chickpeas. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt, to taste.
  2. If you want to add more heat to the dish, remove any children’s portions first, then add some finely chopped red chilli or chilli powder to the pan.
  3. Serve in warm bowls with a side dish of naan bread, brown rice or both!

Lil’ L loved this dish so much that he ‘bagsied’ the fourth portion and took it to school the next day for his lunch, rolled in a seeded tortilla wrap!

[This recipe has been submitted to Ricki Heller's #Wellness Weekend]

Dessert

To boost our calcium, fruit and omega-3 intake, for dessert we had a berry milkshake smoothie. Since Lil’ L doesn’t like the pips from raspberries and blackberries (I’m not that keen either!), I blended the berries and almond milk first, then sieved it before returning it to the blender and adding banana and chia seeds.  It was creamy, refreshing and ‘special’ enough to be considered a ‘real dessert’ by Lil’ L ;)

Berry Milkshake Smoothie

So that’s me done for another WIAW.  It’s time to hook up with all the lovely bloggers over at Jenn’s. Hopefully see you there!

Are you a fan of curry? If so, what’s your favourite type?
I adore Indian kormas and baltis as well as creamy Thai curries.  I’m such a wimp though when it comes to heat. Anything beyond ‘mild’ and I feel like a pressure cooker about to explode!

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by | January 23, 2013

#WIAW – Chocolate Porridge, Tomato & Lentil Soup & Speedy Falafel Wrap

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all doing well & managing to stay warm!

It’s WIAW party time again!  Thanks, all always, to lovely Jenn for hosting this shindig.  For this week’s virtual foodie fest, I thought I’d share my eats from yesterday. Here goes…

Breakfast
- Hot water and lemon (pre school drop off)
No run today as it was too icy, so I came straight back home and made myself a warming bowl of chocolate porridge. I used 1/2 cup Mornflake superfast oats (which only take a minute to cook), 1 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 cup Alpro Almond Milk.  Once cooked, I left it to cool for a minute then stirred in 1/2 tbsp hemp seeds, sprinkled some flaked almonds, goji berries and grated dark chocolate on top, and finished it off with a light drizzle of agave syrup. Totally scrumptious!

Chocolate Porridge with Goji Berries - 500 1

Lil’ L had the same breakfast but made with Ready Brek. He prefers the smoothness of Ready Brek and I like the fact that it’s fortified with lots of minerals and vitamins, including calcium, iron and vitamins B12 and D.

Lunch
For lunch, I made some tomato and red lentil soup (recipe here).  I love this soup. It’s so warming and filling! Lil’ L and M took this soup in flasks today for their lunch :)

Tomato & Lentil Soup 500

Snacks & Drinks
2 nettle teas, 1 cherry & cinnamon tea, 2 black coffees, Innocent apple juice, water
2 tangerines
1 choc chip cookie (I made a batch of these for lunch box treats this week). This is another yummy recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Choc Chip Cookies

Dinner
I raided the fridge tonight and we all had left overs for dinner. Lil’ L chose to have the last portion of sweet chestnut casserole with 3 dumplings; M chose the sweet n sour veggies with noodles and marinated tofu; and I had one of my all-time favourite super quick meals… falafels in a wrap.

Falafel Wrap

This consisted of 2 wholegrain seeded tortillas, caramelised onion humous, Cauldron falafels (which I warmed in the microwave to soften then broke in half), 1 avocado sliced, some salad leaves, sprinkling of sunflower and hemp seeds and a big dollop of Branston chutney.  It took less than 5 minutes to assemble and was totally lush!

This falafel wrap is also one of Lil’ L’s favourite meals (minus the chutney!) and he loves to take them to school for his packed lunch :)

Dessert
Lil’ L had some pineapple chunks and Alpro soya yoghurt. I was too full for dessert!

At the moment, I’m loving meals that have little ‘hands on time’. I’d much rather be playing table football with Lil’ L then standing in the kitchen chopping and prepping food! I don’t mind if the dinner needs time to simmer on the stove or bake in the oven, as long as I don’t need to be there standing over it! What’s your current favourite quick prep meal?

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by | January 16, 2013

Sweet Kale Soup (Child Friendly!) #WIAW

Hi everyone!I hope you’re having a great week so far :)

Just for a change, I thought I’d share our eats from Sunday for this week’s WIAW virtual foodie party. Thanks, all always, to our glamourous hostess Jenn over at PeasandCrayon.com.

Here goes…

Breakfast

- Warm water & lemon (usual gentle start to the day)
- Black coffee whilst reading in bed (Sunday is the only day I get to lay-in now so I’m making the most of it!)
- Warming bowl of cinnamon porridge, made with Alpro almond milk and topped with ground linseed (flaxseed), chopped walnuts, flaked almonds, goji berries, candied citrus peel, and a light drizzle of agave syrup. This is one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. It’s so yummy!

Cinnamon Porridge with Nuts and Dried Fruits 500

Lunch

At the moment I’m on a mission to find new ways of encouraging kids to eat kale.  Now there’s a challenge!

As we all know, kale is a super food. It’s packed with antioxidant vitamins A, C and K, contains iron and is a great plant-based source of calcium.  However, at the end of the day, when you’re 9 years old, it’s still a slightly bitter tasting green leaf and, as such, doesn’t hold at lot of appeal.

One of the biggest successes I’ve had in encouraging Lil’ L to eat kale is in the form of crispy kale (aka kale chips). However, after the initial enthusiasm for it, he’s now getting a bit tired of eating bowls of crispy kale every week.

On Sunday, I thought I’d experiment with making a kale soup. To make it more appealing to Lil’ L, I used sweet potatoes to make the soup creamy and sweet tasting. I also added some grated ginger to give it a little warming kick.

Sweet Kale Soup 1 - 500

The verdict?

He loved it!! After tasting it and declaring it to be ‘really yummy’ he proceeded to devour the whole bowl :)

While not the prettiest of soups, the taste more than makes up for it. For me, it’s a great Winter warming soup, perfect for keeping those cold bugs away!

Sweet Kale Soup 2 - 500

Here’s the recipe…

Serves 4    Hands-on time: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch piece of fresh or frozen ginger, grated
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
120g / 4 oz / 4 packed cups of kale, thick stalks removed then shredded
800 ml – 1 litre (about 3.5 – 4 cups) vegetable stock (start with the smaller amount and add more, if needed)
Lightly toasted pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds (for a protein and omega 3 boost)
Finely chopped red pepper or chilli, for garnish

Optional extras: 1 tbsp miso paste (to add a more savoury taste) or ½ tbsp garam masala (for a delicious, light curry flavoured soup)

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion until it starts to soften. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Reduce the heat, add the sweet potatoes and kale, cover and leave to sweat for 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the potato has softened (15-20 minutes). Allow the soup to cool slightly before blending. Return the soup to the stove and gently heat through. Stir in the miso paste or garam masala (if using). Taste the soup and season, to taste.
  2. Gently heat a frying pan and lightly toast the pumpkin seeds or gently fry them in a little olive oil.
  3. Serve the soup in warm bowls, with a sprinkling of pumpkin and hemp seeds. For small children, the seeds can be grinded and mixed into the soup before serving. Add some finely chopped red pepper or chilli as a garnish and serve with some warm, crusty bread.

Lunch was followed by a delicious Ghirardelli chocolate. These chocolates were a gift from my wonderful American blogging friend Rachel. A parcel arrived on Christmas Eve filled with a whole host of goodies, along with a batch of her delicious home-made vegan ginger biscotti. What a star she is!

Gifts from Rachel 500

Snacks

A fruit smoothie, made with Kara Coconut Milk, fresh organic blueberries and frozen banana slices.

One tangerine & some walnuts

I made some Blackstrap Gingersnaps for this week’s lunch box treats and of course I had to taste test one ;)

Blackstrap Gingersnaps 500

These are one of my all-time favourite dairy free / vegan cookies. They’ve received great feedback from friends and family too.  One of my friends (who isn’t vegan) said that he was ‘blown away’ by these cookies. High praise indeed.

The recipe comes from this wonderful little vegan cookie book.

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

I highly recommend this book to anyone that’s looking for dairy free or vegan cookie recipes. I’m not a great baker, but the cookies I’ve made from this book always work out perfectly. I received the book as a gift from a friend a couple of years ago and I still use it practically every week!

The book is American, but you can purchase it from Amazon UK with free delivery.  The measurements are in cups, but it’s very easy to purchase cups in the UK now. I have 2 sets that I use every day. One I bought from Asda for about £2. The other set were a gift from a friend. Check them out…

 

M Cup Matryoskkas Measuring Cups

 

they’re Measuring Matryoshkas! Such a cool gift!

Dinner

For our main meal today, I wanted to make some comfort food, so I opted for one of our all-time favourite Winter warmers… Sweet Chestnut Casserole with Herby Dumplings.

Chestnut Casserole with Herby Dumplings

This was just what the boys needed after playing outside and making fire!

Dessert

For dessert, we had a Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding. A lovely, quick dessert that’s totally scrumptious (and healthy!)

Chocolate Banana Chia Pudding 500

That’s me done for another WIAW! Time to dash off to school now to teach my Wednesday Workshops :) Enjoy the rest of the week everyone xx

Question of the day: What’s your favourite Winter comfort food?

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