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Berry Bircher Müsli

We have summer!

It’s been such a long wait this year that it is worth me mentioning this. We’ve had 3 days of sun in a row with about 25-30 degrees and it’s been great.

In this weather I like to use my balcony for breakfast – it gets the sun in the mornings, which is lovely. And, instead of slaving over a hot stove to cook up something exciting, I have been enjoying a summery and healthy “Bircher Müsli”  which is so quickly put together that I often have it during the week before work as well as on lazy weekends. It’s rather healthy and full of slow release energy thanks to the oat flakes.

Of course, the original “Bircher Müsli” is a Swiss müsli, which may be another reason why I like eating it in the  summer… it reminds me of family summer holidays in Switzerland, when I grew up. However, this is not quite a traditional receipe but my version of it, made without nuts but with seeds and grain flakes, all of which you can find in health food shops.

As for the measurements, it’s actually not that easy to write up a proper receipe, since I very much make up the quantities as I go along. So use this as rough guidelines only – in other words, feel free to vary them as you like. The same goes for the ingredients.

Whatever your ingredients for the dry müsli mix, I suggest making up a big jar of it, so you can scoop out a few tablespoons for each portion you make up – just remember to do this the night before as it needs soaking in the fridge!

You will need:

  • 1 cup Oat flakes
  • ½ cup Barley Flakes
  • ¼ cup Spelt Flakes
  • ¼ cup Toasted Rye Flakes
  • ¼ cup Pumpkin Seeds
  • ¼ cup Sunflower Seeds
  • Apple Juice
  • Fat Free Vanilla Yoghurt
  • Fresh Berries such as Strawberries, Blueberries and Raspberries

 

Combine the flakes and seeds and store in a jar.

The night before you want to eat the Bircher Müsli, add a few tablespoons of the flake and seed mix to a bowl and add some apple juice, just enough to cover the müsli. Leave to stand in the fridge overnight so that the apple juice sweetens and softens the müsli.

In the morning add as much yoghurt and as many berries as you like. I tend to stir everything in and then top it with another dollop of yoghurt and a few more berries.

Mmmmmmm….

Guilt Free Strawberry Muffins

It’s time for another healthy breakfast, some low-cal, low- fat, low-(or even no) sugar strawberry muffins. The strawberry season in England is well and truly upon us, with Wimbledon just around the corner, and the strawberries are at their best right now.

This simple that receipe I found on the Dashing Dish blog doesn’t include any butter/margarine or oil and it is wheat-free. Plus it can be made with Stevia instead of sugar to lower the calories even further. I opted for Stevia and can therefore truly call these muffins guilt free. Apparently they only have about 90 calories per muffin!

It has to be said though that the muffins are so healthy tasting that I didn’t quite have the guts to offer them around the office. I’m not saying they tasted bad but they are not really sweet and I feared my colleagues would think I’d have lost my touch, as they are usually treated to extra sweet and creamy goodies from my oven to get us through a hectic day I the office. I should probably have added a bit more Stevia or used vanilla flavoured yoghurt rather than plain, which may have made the muffins sweeter. As it was, they did taste a bit like oatmeal porridge in muffin form but as a healthy breakfast option, this works for me.

It is very important to cut the strawberries in small pieces so that they can mix into the dough and muffins evenly as it is these juicy red pieces that give the muffins their flavour. And one more note, as pointed out by the original author, please use silicon cases for the muffins – they would stick to paper ones!

Receipe from: http://dashingdish.com/recipe/strawberry-shortcake-muffins/

For 12 muffins (that are of the smaller size rather than the gigantic American ones) you’ll need:

  • 2 ½ cups of oats
  • 400g (about 2 cups when cut into small pieces) strawberries
  • 1 cup plain low fat Greek yoghurt (or you could try a vanilla or honey flavoured one)
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup Stevia (though you may want to increase this up by about 3 extra tbsp)
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda

Start by prepping the strawberries: cut them in small pieces and put them on some kitchen paper to dry, so they are not too juicy. Set about ½ a cup aside!

Preheat the oven on to gas mark 6.

In a bowl mix the yoghurt, the eggs, the Stevia, baking powder and baking soda with a whisk.

Tip the oats in a blender and top with the yoghurt mix to blend. The best way is to start this is using the pulse setting – the oats needs to get grind down to a rough powder whilst being mixed in with the yoghurt.

Pour the mix back in to a bowl and fold the strawberry pieces under, except the ½ cup you set aside earlier! Spread the dough evenly between 12 silicone muffin cups and use these strawberry pieces you set aside earlier to top about a teaspoon worth of them in the middle of each muffin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or do the toothpick test (ready whem the toothpick comes out clean!).

Christmas Cranberry & Almond Cakes

Frohe Weihnachten!

I am writing this from Germany where I am spending Christmas with my family. Here, Christmas has already started as today is Christmas Eve and that is the day where we go to church, have a special Christmas dinner and get to open the presents with which the children get to play until late at night.

We then still have Christmas Day and Boxing Day (which we call second Christmas Day in Germany) to celebrate some more with some big roast lunches usually with goose or duck. Because of all these big dinners and lunches, we don’t usually have Christmas brunch in my family but I heard that the Christmas breakfasts in the UK and US are a much bigger thing and lots of food blogs I follow suggested special Christmas muffins or rolls for the occasion. On one of the blogs, Roost, I saw a recipe for some “Upside Down Cranberry Cakes” that I liked the sound of , so I decided to try them out and suggest them for your Christmas breakfasts.

They are not too sweet which is good as there is already a lot of sweet chocolate to get through over the festive days and they are sugar and gluten free. This might please my friends Leanne, Tracey and Emma and anybody else that’s gluten intolerant.

They’re made in a muffin tray and then turned upside down so that the shiny cranberries can be seen. Add a dollop of whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon and there you are.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Recipe based on Cranberry & Almond Upside Down Cake by Roost.

For 10 – 12 muffin sized cakes you’ll need:

  • a greased muffin tin
  • 2 1/2 cups ground almonds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground all spice
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sunflower oil
  • 1/2 cup honey

For the cranberry layer:

  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • freshly grated orange zest of 1 Orange
  • freshley grated lemon zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup honey

To serve:

  • whipped cream

Preheat oven to gas mark 4.

Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and all spice in a bowl.
In another bowl whisk the eggs, oil and honey.
Then combine the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until mixed through and set aside.

Now mix the cranberries with the citrus zests  and honey and spoon them into the  muffin tray cups. The should result in a single layer with a few extra cranberries on top in each of your 10 – if not 12 – muffin cups.

Top with the cake batter, which doesn’t have to go to the top of the muffin cups but should have an even surface.

Place the tray  in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and cooked (tooth pick test!).

If your cakes get too brown but need to cook  a few more minutes, place some foil over the tray and continue cooking.

When the cakes are ready, let them cool down in the tray for a few minutes and then take them out, turning them upside down to finish them cooling off on a wire rack. If the middle of the cakes have risen, you may need to cut the risen dome off to make a flat surface that the cake can sit on (uspide down).

Serve with some whipped cream.

Honey Waffles with Blackberries

HONEY WAFFLES WITH BLACKBERRIES

When blackberries are in season and ripe, they can be almost as sweet as raspberries and much juicier! When they are at their perfect ripeness they are best eaten straight away, without turning them into a crumble or baking them in a cake.

If you’re lucky to live in the countryside or have a back garden with some blackberry bushes, go out and pick a few and serve them with some honey waffles – replacing sugar with honey makes them feel somewhat wholesome.

This recipe is really easy and quick to make but you do need a waffle maker/ waffle iron.

To make ca 6-8 waffles you’ll need:

  • A waffle maker, I’m afraid
  • Blackberries
  • Maple syrup (optional)
  • 120g unsalted butter/baking spread
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g runny honey
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 150ml milk

Mix the butter, eggs, honey, salt and vanilla bean mark until creamy, best done with an electric whisk.  If the mix starts to curdle, add a spoon full of flour.

Add the flour and milk and whisk until fully incorporated into a smooth dough.

Bake a ladle full at a time in the waffle maker, adjusting the baking time depending on your waffle maker and taste. I like mine a little cross on the outside.

Top with a handful of berries, drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!

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