Category: breakfast

Fatteh

Leave a comment

This is my version of Fatteh, a traditional Middle Eastern dish usually made with crispy baked flatbread, yogurt and chickpeas. My version has slightly more spice, and while usually eaten for breakfast, this is a dish that also makes for a super quick and easy dinner!

Don’t eat this with utensils – the mess is half the fun!

Ingredients (for 2):

  • 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
  • 1.5 cups plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp Ras El Hanout
  • 1/4 cup almonds, flaked or crushed
  • Lebanese or Turkish bread (as much as you feel like really)
  • Olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Cut up the bread into pieces, spray with olive oil and bake until golden and crispy.
  2. In a fry pan on medium heat, toast the almonds until crispy. Set aside.
  3. In the same pan, cook the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant. Add the chickpeas, honey and Ras El Hanout and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  4. To serve, place the Greek yogurt in a bowl and top with the chickpea mix and almonds. Serve alongside the toasty bread.

Quarantine baking: spiced banana bread / muffins

Leave a comment

When life hands you mushy overripe spotty bananas – put them to good use!

This recipe has no added sugar due to the overripe bananas being naturally very sweet, but if you’d prefer something sweeter, add 1/2 cup of brown sugar as well. 

Ingredients 

  • 3 very overripe mushy bananas (the more spotty the better)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 + 1/2 cups almond milk
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 + 1/2 cups self raising flour
  • 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp ginger

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C
  2. Mix the wet ingredients
  3. Add the dry ingredients
  4. Pour into loaf tin or muffin cases and bake until a skewer comes out clean (will take ~ 25 minutes for the muffins but about 45 minutes for the loaf; start checking with a skewer as soon as the top is browned).

Pumpkin, banana and rhubarb loaf

Leave a comment

This was an experiment I’ll admit, but it was a rather delicious one. This is a great way to use up any leftover roast / boiled pumpkin as well as old bananas. The rhubarb is entirely optional and was just what I had in the fridge!

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup flaxseed meal, 1/2 cup buckwheat flour and  1/2 cup vanilla pea protein  –> BUT you can substitute ALL of this with 1.5 cups of plain flour of your choice + 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 over-ripe bananas (must be over-ripe for this to work!)
  • 100g roasted or boiled pumpkin
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup almond milk (or whatever milk takes your fancy)
  • 2 tbsp Nuttalex olive oil spread (or just use butter or coconut oil)
  • If using rhubarb – bake 4 stalks of rhubarb until soft, then mush with a fork until it forms a rough puree

Method 

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C and line a brownie tin with baking paper.
  2. Place the pumpkin, banana, milk, eggs and butter in the blender and blend until smooth.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flaxseed, buckwheat, protein powder and baking soda, then stir in the mixture from the blender until well combined.
  4. Pour into the baking dish and swirl in the rhubarb by placing small blobs on top and dragging through the mixture with a butter knife.
  5. Bake until firm and risen (about 25-30 minutes). Allow to cool, the cut into slices (I find it easier to cut into 9 chunks, and then cut these in half through the middle).

Nutty Carob Granola

Leave a comment

Nutty, chocolately granola without the hidden sugar!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup buckwheat groats
  • 1/4 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
  • 1/4 cup flaked almonds
  • handful each of hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts and flaked coconut
  • 2 tbsp carob
  • 2 tbsp cacao
  • 3 tbsp olive oil Nuttalex, melted

If you prefer your granola sweeter, add 1-2 tbsp maple syrup.

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Mix all of the ingredients together and spread onto the baking tray.
  3. Bake until crispy (~ 15-20 minutes), using a fork to turn the mixture every 5 minutes.

Muesli Banana Bites

Leave a comment

Banana bites, doo-doo doo-doo-doo. (It’s a Muppet joke, sorry).

These tasty morsels are deliciously moreish, full of fibre and make for a satisfying snack that’s easy to hide in my scrub pocket!

Ingredients (makes 12)

  • 2 large over-ripe bananas
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk or mylk (I used hazelnut coconut milk for something different!)
  • 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
  • 1 cup raw muesli
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour (can substitute with almond or hazelnut meal)
  • 2 tbsp melted cocoa butter (can substitute for Nuttalex or butter or coconut oil)

Method

  1.  Preheat the oven to 200*C and grease or line a 12 cup capacity muffin tray.
  2. Mash the banana and mix with the eggs, milk and butter until combined.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredient mix and mix well.
  4. Pour into the muffin tray and bake until golden (15-20 minutes).
  5. Serve warm with natural peanut butter or a squirt of maple syrup!

If you like them a little sweeter, try adding 2 tbsp maple syrup into the mix, or experiment by adding some chopped dates or raw dark chocolate – yum!

Pumpkin Spiced Porridge

Leave a comment

It’s only cold here for about 3 months of the year, which means there are 12 weeks of prime-pumpkin-porridge-tasting time to be enjoyed!

Ingredients (serves 2) 

  • 200g butternut pumpkin
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup quinoa flakes
  • pinch of pumpkin spice (I use 1 tsp cinnamon with 1 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ground ginger and 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
  • coconut or Greek yogurt and flaked almonds to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Skin and chop the pumpkin into small pieces and roast until soft and golden (approx 20-30 minutes).
  2. Place the pumpkin, spices and almond milk in a blender and process until smooth.
  3. Use the ‘pumpkin smoothie’ as a base to cook the quinoa flakes, on a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously (particularly the bottom so it doesn’t stick) until the flakes are soft and the mixture is thick and creamy. If you need to add more liquid, add more almond milk as you go.
  4. Top with yogurt and flaked almonds just before serving.

Tip: The most time-consuming part is roasting the pumpkin. So, roast a large pumpkin early in the week so that there’s plenty on hand to make porridge whenever you fancy!

Gluten Free Cacao Banana Bread

Leave a comment

All the taste of chocolate and banana bread without the nasty hidden sugar! Adapted from Sarah Wilson’s iQuitSugar gluten free banana bread recipe with the added deliciousness of cacao.

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup cacao powder
  • 1/8 cup olive oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 very overripe bananas
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup of yogurt (I used plain Chobani but coyo or flavoured greek yogurt also works)
  • 1/8 cup cacao nibs

Method 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180*C and line a loaf pan with baking paper.
  2. Mash the banana together with the yogurt and the oil.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the banana mixture and stir until well combined.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Eat while still warm with your favourite peanut butter on top!

Sassy Shakshouka

Leave a comment

I bake these ahead of time and freeze them for the perfect quick, protein-loaded, ‘throw in the microwave and then eat in the car’ style breakfast while I’m rushing to work of a morning!

Baked eggs with mushroom, cherry tomato, spinach and seeds 

Makes 2 servings (of 2 eggs each). Preheat the oven to 200*C. Grease the ramekins with olive oil, then line with a small handful of spinach. Place 2 button mushrooms and 2 cherry tomatoes on top of each ramekin, followed by the eggs (1 each in a small ramekin or  2 in a large). Sprinkle with 1 tsp of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, then bake for 10 minutes until the egg white is cooked through.

Baked eggs with broccoli, peas, beetroot and macadamia dukkha 

Makes 2 servings (of 2 eggs each). Preheat the oven to 200*C. Grease the ramekins with olive oil, the roughly chop the broccoli florets and place at the bottom. Add 1/8 cup frozen peas in each ramekin, then 1 baby beetroot finely sliced. Top with the eggs and a sprinkle of dukkha, then bake for 10 minutes until the egg whites are cooked through.