Banana Oat Slice

I'm so in love with oats and bananas. This is delicious and freezes well for a midweek breakfast treat.

So lets talk about sugar. Are you aware of the extremist anti-sugar regime? Do you have an opinion about sugar? Apparently everything is loaded with it and it will kill us all. Then theres all this nonsense about not eating fruit. I just don't have enough facts and there are actually too many opinions on the internet and in overpriced books for me to formulate a well educated and unbiased opinion about sugar.

I would like to say that this slice has zero added sugar, as the only sweetness comes from those deliciously stinky smooshy overripe bananas that are sitting in your fruit bowl. I sure don't mind sweetening up my mornings with some oaty banana love and blueberries….and pure maple syrup….just a tiny bit won't hurt right?

Banana Oat Slice
makes 4 slices in a 1.5L baking tray 
150g-200g mashed over-ripe banana (I found this was about 2 small/medium)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Whisk the egg, milk, vanilla and then mix through the mashed banana. Add the oats, baking powder and baking soda and mix through. Let the mixture to sit for about 10 minutes then pour into an oven proof dish and bake at 180 for about 30 minutes.

Bircher Muesli

Do you like breakfast? I have a love hate relationship with this morning meal. I despise cereal. I get bread guilts with toast. I'm finicky about eggs and bacon. I'm fussy about pancake toppings. Breakfast is a tricky thing.

I was one of those kids that took 45 minutes to eat one piece of toast and then spent the morning being lectured by mum about being late and wasting time. Stupid breakfast, getting me in trouble. In a bid to get me out the door in time each morning, mum forced boxed cereal down my throat (mostly in the form of Weetbix and Cornflakes). Child Me thought cereal was just tasteless mush. Adult Me thinks cereal is sugar fill expensive mush. I went through the liquid breakfast phase. Adult Me shakes my head pitifully at this, again such a waste of money and so much senseless sugar consumption.

So what's the solution? My perfect world? Eat banana bread for every breakfast! Reality: variety. I try to pre-plan all of my breakfasts. If I have variety I actually have something to look forward to instead of the same old box of expensive sugar coated processed grains.

While I hate cereal I LOVE oats. Porridge is my winter love. Bircher Muesli is the summer version. This is the perfect pre-plan breakfast because, to get the full flavour and texture development, it needs to sit in the fridge overnight. It is lovely with some dried fruit and seeds mixed through or topped with fresh fruit and honey.

Bircher Muesli
1 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup wholegrain oats
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 apple, grated
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkle nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Simple, easy breakfast is done!

Banana Bread for Two

Banana Bread For Two
My Banana Bread love affair has been documented in the past (and even past-er past) and honestly I am a little ashamed of this recipe. To me, banana bread is one of those things that there should be more of, not limited "for one" (or in this case "for two") portion sizes. Actually, that's how I feel about most food.

Anyway, this came about due to the fact that my poor body becomes a trash compactor on the weekend. I seem to fill my weekdays with smoothies, nuts and vegetables but in contrast, on the weekend, I am transformed into a sugar guzzling, carb craving maniac. I spend the majority of my weekends in stretchy pants and an awful mood brought about by a combination of sugar-crash and food guilt.

Enter portion control and a perfectly sized banana bread for a normal sized breakfast with a reasonable amount of sugar.

Banana Bread for Two
3 tablespoons wholemeal flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 egg, whisked
1 banana, mashed
1 tablespoon butter, melted
scattering of chopped walnuts
splash of milk (if necessary)

Pre-head the oven to 180s degrees.
Combine all the ingredients and spoon mixture into muffin or loaf pans.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until browned and cooked through.
Serve topped with yoghurt or ricotta, honey and more walnuts.

Wholewheat Pikelets

Wholewheat Pikelets 

1 cup self-raising wholewheat flour

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 egg

pinch salt

almond milk

butter (for cooking)

Whisk the egg in a bowl then add the flour, sugar, egg and salt. Mix to combine, add almond milk until mixture is at desired consistency (thinner mixture = more crepe like or pancake like consistency). Heat butter in a frying pan, ensure pan is hot before adding dollops of mixture to pan. Usually, as pikelets cook bubbles form to indicate that it is time to flip, but it didn't seem to happen with this mixture! So carefully check after they have had a little time to cook. There are great to make on the weekend then freeze in preparation for delicious and quick week day breakfasts. 

These are totally delicious with berry compote 

3/4 cup of berries (I used raspberry, blackberry, strawberry)

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1/8 cup castor sugar 

Place the berries and lemon juice into a small saucepan over a low heat. Heat, stirring until berries have released some of their juice then add sugar and mix until dissolved. Allow to simmer until sauce has thickened slightly. This is also easy to freeze in small portions to be defrosted and tipped over the pikelets. 

Breakfast Tart

Start the day with vegetables, egg and pastry.

Breakfast Tart

Puff Pastry or Basic Pastry Recipe 

3 Eggs

1/4 cup cream

1 tablespoon milk

vegetables (sweet potato, mushroom, spinach, capsicum, broccoli)

Whisk the eggs, cream and milk. Chop all of the vegetables and add to the egg mixture. 

Prepare the pastry in a pan of your choice (mini, large, individual). Spoon the egg and vegetable mixture into the pastry tarts and bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. 

These are great hot or cold. They are easy to freeze and defrost over night ready for breakfast the next day. 

Breakfast Beans

I discovered a cookbook I brought about 7 years ago. It is a Women's Weekly book and it is amazing. It's one of those books I've looked through quite a few times and though, "Why did I ever even buy this?" and put back on the bookshelf.


For some reason I picked it up on Sunday night and started flipping though it and couldn't help but be amazed at how easy a lot of the recipes looked. Quite often I assume that because something seems pretty simple it mustn't taste very good. The thing is, while this is true for some of those "4 ingredients and dinner in 2 seconds", books for this book it is different. This book seems to strike the right balance between easy to make, accessible ingredients and taste. I kicked started with this delicious breakfast:


Breakfast Beans


What you need
1/2 an onion diced
2 cloves garlic
3 bacon rashers diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 can cannelini beans
parsley


What you do
saute the onion, garlic and bacon in a saucepan until the onion is soft.  Add the crushed tomatoes, mustard and beans and stir through until thoroughly heated. Serve on toast with parsley to top.