Overnight Oats - new favourite breakfast

As the weather starts getting a bit warmer, I'm less keen to have porridge for breakfast.  I'm not terribly good in the mornings although I know I'm much better when I do have breakfast, so I've spent most of the winter trying to eat porridge or have a protein shake which my very tolerant husband made for me, while I'm drying my hair.

My ideal scenario is always to have my breakfast while I'm actually at work, after I've woken up a bit, but unfortunately my new job doesn't have great kitchen facilities, so I either need to eat before I leave the house or have something I can take with me and eat at my desk.  Hence the winter of multitasking.  Recently I've started experimenting with overnight oats, this is my favourite recipe so far.

It's really easy to make, tastes delicious and keeps me going until lunchtime without any problems.  It also comes in at under 250 calories.  Obviously (with the overnight bit) I get to make it the night before and conserve my time in the morning for getting out of the door without falling over/sleeping.

Banana and Peanut Butter Oats

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp vanilla (I use vanilla paste)

1 tsp chia seeds

1 tsp peanut butter

1/2 banana finely chopped

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk.

Then you just ditch everything into a watertight container (I use small tupperware people on pinterest tend to use Mason Jars because they photograph better and, you know, Mason Jars and Pinterest.  In real life I'm happier with bad photos and no broken glass in my handbag), shake and pop in the fridge.

I should probably add, that as much as we liked it, I did make it for my parents in law at the weekend and they were not particularly enamoured with it.  They both looked particularly relieved when we offered them an alternative breakfast instead.

Celebratory drinks

Last weekend the Very Tolerant Husband and I had a late Valentine's day meal.  We'd had a really busy couple of weeks, with house guests and birthdays, so thought we take time to have a special meal together the two of us.

I kicked things off with new cocktail. It was so good that I made it again this weekend when my little sister, brother in law and their gorgeous daughter came to stay. My sister and BiL thought that it tasted of Christmas,  but I think that it's just the cointreau that made them think that. It's a lovely cocktail for any time of year and it's a gorgeous colour.

The Garnet
2x measures of vodka
1x measure of cointreau
2x measures of pomegranate juice
12 blueberries
Teaspoon of honey
Splash of lime juice

Muddle together the blueberries and honey,  add the other ingredients before shaking over ice. Double sieve into cocktail slippers and garnish with blueberries on a cocktail stick.

Weekend Breakfasts

I'm a big fan of weekend breakfasts, usually because I tend to only eat two meals at the weekend.  I keep thinking that I would like to open a breakfast club, but I have no idea how I would make it work. This week's offering was a breakfast quesada, with some gorgeous freshly ground coffee which a friend brought me back from her recent travels in Columbia.

The breakfast quesada was super simple to make and would be excellent for children, should you have them. 

I took two mini wraps, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one,  placed some thin slices of banana on top of this, quartered some strawberries and added these to the banana and then scattered a few chocolate chips over the top (these were left out on the very tolerant husband's version because of his chocolate allergy)

Once topped with the other mini wrap, the quesada was lightly toasted on both sides by dry frying. This is just enough to start cooking the strawberries and bananas and make them really juicy and gorgeous. 

Further experiments in quiche

The quiche Lorraine with added broccoli was good,  but I was looking for something a little bit more interesting for my new niece's naming day. I found pictures of this carrot and courgette tart,  but no recipe, so I've had to make it up as I went.  It's actually worked out pretty well,  but it could use a bit of refining.

As an added bonus I got to buy some new kitchen toys;  a mandolin, which I've wanted for ages,  and a large flan case,  which I really needed.

I used the rest of the pastry from the last set of quiches and blind baked in the same way. 

I then took two courgettes and two carrots, peeled them and used the mandolin to slice them into long thin ribbons.  These were used to layer in alternative ribbons around the flan case to create a flower effect.  This could probably be neatened up on a second attempt by trimming the vegetable slices to a more similar widths.

For the filling I used the same two large eggs, 250ml single cream combined with a bit of salt and pepper as last time,  but this time I added in 150g of finely grated pecorino.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180C, or until set and golden. 

Experiments in quiche

I've never made quiche before.  I've eaten it,  I'm a big fan of its work.  But pastry isn't really my strong point; mine always tends to shrink inside the flan case and I never leave enough hanging over the edge to counteract this. 

However,  this didn't stop me offering to make quiche for my little sister's daughter's naming day. My youngest niece is getting named in April, so only three months to perfect some sort of recipe. I thought I would start with a basic quiche Lorraine. I'm making mini quiches, partly because I only have mini tart tins and partly so they'll fit in the tolerant husband's lunch.

Pastry
85g butter cubed
175g plain flour

I made double quantities for a future experiment, if it works it'll be a future post; if it doesn't we'll never speak of it again.

Rub together with your fingertips until breadcrumb consistency, add about 3 tablespoons of water until it comes together in a ball. You can do this in the food processor if you don't want to do it by hand.

Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes,  roll out and line the tart tin(s). Prick the base all over with a fork,  line with foil and fill with baking beans.
Blind bake for ten minutes, remove beans  and bake for another ten minutes at 220C.

The filling
3x rashers of bacon
1x onion diced
Broccoli  (because I love it, it's not in the recipe)
250ml single cream
2x large eggs
Grated cheese
Salt and pepper

Fry off the sliced bacon and diced onions in a little olive oil,  remove from heat and add in finely chopped broccoli.

Mix together the eggs, cream and salt and pepper.

Place the bacon, onion and broccoli mixture in the bottom of the flan case,  top with a handful of grated cheese and then pour over the cream/egg mix.  Return to the oven and bake foe 25/30 minutes at 180C until golden and set. 

Mine actually look ok for a first attempt. The pastry could be neater which isn't really a surprise,  but otherwise I just hope that they taste as good as they smell.

Breakfast of champions

As usual, the very tolerant husband and I have been doing dry January.  But without the irritating insisting people sponsor us part and just not drinking.

Obvious upsides of dry January are always getting more done at the weekend, better sleep and more enthusiasm (from me) when it comes to cooking first thing.   I've been  trying out a new breakfast this month. It's taken a couple of goes to perfect it, but I think I'm nearly there. 

The first time I tried this I did individual hashes in ramikins but they were too deep to get the whites of the eggs cooked while retaining the runny yolk. If you want to make it veggie just leave out the bacon.

Baked eggs with sweet potato hash
1x sweet potato, peeled and diced
1x onion diced
2x rashers of bacon sliced
2x eggs
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Pinch of sugar
Coconut oil

Peel and dice the sweet potato, toss with coconut oil and half a teaspoon of paprika.  Preheat the oven to 180C. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until soft and golden.

Caramelise the onion and bacon in the butter, with the sugar and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Mix the potatoes with the onion and bacon mix and set to one side.  I normally do this the night before.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the potatoes/onion/bacon mix in a cast iron frying pan. Make a small dip in the middle and crack in the eggs. Put in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until the eggs are baked to your liking.  Serve with strong coffee.