The Ultimate Breakfast

“The most important meal of the day is…” Over and over we are told that breakfast should be the largest meal of the day, yet a surprising number of us are ignoring this, instead opting for a small breakfast or no breakfast at all “gasp”. While the reasons may be different, time, weight-loss goals, appetite or schedule, none are any real justification for missing this fantastic meal.

Enter the breakfast food rated number one by basically all nutritionists……PORRIDGE!!!

Now I know that 89% of you are thinking ‘eugh, I hate porridge’ but you know what I say to that? No. No you don’t. “I don’t?” you question meekly (I say meekly because without starting your day with porridge you are without energy and generally unhappy as a person). No you don’t, because of this simple reason, anyone who hates porridge, hasn’t eaten good porridge before. Do not worry, I too have mistaken a tiny bowl of lukewarm, half-cooked, soggy yet crunchy bowl of goo as ‘porridge’, but once you know how good it can really taste you too will be converted to the porridge club. So before you rush out to bulk buy your steel cut oats here are 5 super cool reasons as to why porridge is the best thing ever.

1. It will make you happy.

I’m dorky and weird but to be honest the idea of a warm sweet bowl of porridge quite genuinely makes me happy inside. Even after having it literally every single morning this year it maintains its magical ability to get me out of bed, which is important since like most people mornings made me want to crawl into a  hole and die. Before you know it oats will turn you into that stupidly happy morning person at school with your travel cup of porridge.

2. Energy Energy Energy!!!

Over the years poor carbohydrates have gotten a pretty bad name for themselves, with a ridiculous number of fad diets and magazines telling us that carbs=fat, so the idea of a high carb breakfast seems pretty scary. Luckily there is nothing to fear as with a high amount of complex carbs that are digested slowly, porridge will keep you feeling fuller for longer as well as giving you lasting energy to get you through those morning meetings/classes.

3. Iron

Now something that all the amnesiacs and vegans can get excited about, IRON! Gone are the days of adding a pound of minced beef to your morning cereal because one cup of porridge has 14mg of iron which is 80% of a woman’s daily intake, and 100% of a mans! Since iron helps the oxygen transport around your body, it helps you feel less tired and encourages muscle growth!

4.Cheap as chups

With a 1kg bag of eats costing $4 the average bowl will only set you back 5cents! A breakfast to please even the poorest of hungry students.

5. Practically perfect in every way

Healthy, easy take on the go and the perfect base for almost any flavour combination, whether its almonds and date caramel, peanut butter chocolate and banana or even a savoury cream and salt, there is very little the humble oat cannot do.

SIDE NOTE: Do yourself a favour and don’t buy those horrific microwave sachets. Nutritionally refined within an inch of their life, full of sugary flavourings and a crazy-long list of additives, they do more harm than good, especially when I have to use 5 of their sachets to get a decently full bowl of porridge #girlsgottaeat.

How Instagram porridge looks

How real porridge looks

So happy Sunday everyone and may your week be filled with copious bowls of deliciously creamy porridge!

Chocolate Fudge Thickshake (V)

So it's all fun and games on the blog most of the time, but today things are gonna get serious for a moment and I’m going to be honest… I never ate fruit until I was 16 years old! *Collective gasp from the audience, with many fainting from shock*

I know that may not seem particularly insane, but just think about it for a second, really let that sink in. A childhood without any fruit No juicy watermelons, pears, oranges or mandarins. No vibrant purple plums, sour lemons, grapes or sweet dates. But most importantly, 16 years with no bananas or avocado. Although I’m yet to make peace with any type of berry (which still disgust me), eating more than one type of fruit is still relatively new and exciting for me with the introduction of both the banana and avocado being nothing short of life changing.

Now you may be thinking, ohmygod as a result of her many many many hours of productive exam study (ha), Sarah has lost what little sanity she had left, because an avocado is most definitely a vegetable. Poor thing. Well if that was what you thought then it looks like I’m not the only one who is going to be learning a thing or two today, because like the sneaky tomato, the avocado is actually scientifically considered a fruit!

So in celebration of my new-ish found appreciation for most things fruity I decided to share with you my super-weird but actually amazingly delicious recipe for a chocolate Avocado Thick shake! This recipe is a bit of an estimate of what I use because I’m hardcore and I don’t follow a recipe… also because I usually never have all of the ingredients…

And I don’t know about you, but nothing annoys me more than when someone tries to convince me that a couple of nuts can curb any chocolate craving. Usually because I’ll attempt to do just that, and end up eating 4kg o salted peanuts nuts while still starting longingly at the 1 square of milk chocolate that I originally wanted (which I will then still eat 10 minutes later). So when I feel like chocolate, this thickshake is my number 1 go to, as the kale and avocado will keep you feeling healthy and full for hours while the cacao powder adds a rich chocolate flavor to satisfy the strongest of sweet-tooth’s.

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie (Vegan) – Makes 1 large glass

- 1 frozen banana (Cut the banana into slices before freezing for easier blending)

- ½ Ripe Banana (the riper the banana, the sweeter the smoothie)

- 3 ice-cubes

- ¼ Avocado

- 2 T Cacao Powder

- 1 ½  C Water/Coconut Water/ Soy Milk (Depends on your taste/richness preferences)

- 2 stems Kale (optional) 

          1.   Add bananas, ice-cubes, kale, cacao powder and avocado into blender

          2.   Add ½ C of liquid into the blender, steadily add more until it is your preferred consistency  

         3.   Blend on high until the thickshake is totally smooth. I have an industrial blender and will usually leave it on high for at least 1 minute to ensure that the kale is totally incorporated. If it is gritty/leafy then you have not blended it long enough or on a high enough setting!  

        4.   Store in fridge until ready to drink (best consumed within a few hours of making)

      Happy Monday Everyone :)

 Happy Monday Everyone :)

Toasted Granola (Vegan)

Breakfast. It’s considered the most important meal of the day, and is only challenged as my personal favorite by dessert. Lets be honest chocolate basically trumps any other food. Interesting enough my great appreciation for all things breakfast-y started about a year ago, while before I saw it as a meal that wasn’t really necessary.

 When going vegan for a week I suddenly found myself interested in making my own food and one of the most successful discoveries over this time was home-made  toasted granola. It is so ridiculously simple, cheap and delicious that I’m surprised more people don’t have it as a staple in their home.

It seems silly to include a recipe, as you can basically add anything to personalize the granola to your liking from coconut milk, honey, dates, macadamias or chia seeds! Also this recipe is not only flexible in ingredients but quantity as well, so if you are unsure how a batch may turn out try making a bowlful or two before making it in bulk.

Here is the basic recipe;

4 Cups of whole oats (the larger the oats the healthier and crunchier it is!)

1 Cup of Buckwheat

2 cups of nuts/seeds

½ Cup dried apricot

1 T Cinnamon

1 Cup of dates soaked and drained in boiling water

¼ Cup Water

2tsp Vanilla Essence

Method;

1. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients apart from the cinnamon spice.


2. Using a blender, blend the dates, water, vanilla essence and cinnamon spice into a smooth, thick sauce

3. Pour the sauce into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir until all the dry ingredients are well coated.

4. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Transfer the mixture to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and spread into a thin, even layer. Bake for 25-35 minutes, gently stirring every 10 minutes to ensure even browning. 

Allow to cool completely before storing in an air-tight container in the fridge or at room temperature. Will last for up to 3 weeks

Again this is so flexible so add in whatever flavour you love like almonds, cacao powder, pistachio nuts or cranberries! Also feel free to swap the dates for another sweetener like maple syrup or honey for the non-vegans out there.

So if you are as busy as I am whip a large batch of this in the weekend and add yoghurt bananas and milk for a quick breakfast on the go!

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Let me be honest with you, I hate math… and science.  Give me a camera, set of paints or pencil and paper then I’m entertained for hours, even days at a time, as long as I can remain a safe distance away from calculators and simultaneous equations.

The addition of ¼ cup and ¾ cup of flour and converting Fahrenheit to Celsius is probably as close as anyone will ever find me to algebra or calculus.

 So today in celebrations of my strong dislike for all things highly mathematical, or academic, I’m going to keep the math reeeeeeeal simple.

Winter day + day off school + fresh warm blueberry muffins = good

Winter day + day off school – fresh warm blueberry muffins = bad

Now that was relatively painless wasn’t it? So lets get to the important part…

Ingredients

•                2 cups whole wheat flour

•                ½ cup bran flakes

•                1/3 cup mejool dates soaked*

•                3 teaspoons baking powder

•                1 teaspoon salt

•                ¾ cup Almond milk/ Skim milk

•                1/2 cup canola or light vegetable oil

•                1 egg

•                Zest of one lemon/orange

•                1 cup fresh blueberries

•                ¼ cup buckwheat and linseed (optional)

•                Raw or turbinado sugar

(Makes 12 Muffins)

* If you have time to prepare, these dates are delicious when soaked overnight in a bowl with a can of light coconut cream. Over a few hours the dates absorb up the cream to create these large, sweet, soft coconutty dates. Although if you are short of time soak them in a bowl with boiling water for a few moments

 Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 muffin cup tin with paper baking cups, or grease muffin cups.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In large bowl whisk together milk, oil, egg and lemon zest. Pour dry ingredients, all at once, into wet ingredients, and stir together until dry ingredients are just moistened (batter will be lumpy). Do not over mix This is the most vital step, as if you just whisk instead of fold the muffins will turn out tough and small.

Fold in blueberries gently. Scoop or spoon the batter evenly into muffin cups, they will not rise too much so fill the cups quite high.

Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Immediately remove muffins from pan to cooling rack.