Banana & oat smoothie with a spice twist

Banana & oat smoothie

It's been a few days since my last post.  I've not really been able to do much exploring of new recipes as I sit here with my leg on ice after tearing my calf muscle.  Cooking whilst on strong painkillers is probably not the best idea, so food is pretty basic these days.  I am hoping that I will get back into it soon though as I do miss my little blog and writing about food.

What I can mention though is this delicious idea for when time is tight but you want something nutritious, even on the go: a banana & oat smoothie made with almond milk, a dollop of peanut butter and finished off with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Whisked up in the blender it makes for a lovely breakfast or snack before exercising.  You can obviously change the ingredients but I think the spices go ever so well with banana and oats.  Yummy!

Mushroom egg cups - a lovely breakfast idea

I've been exercising a lot these last few weeks - it's great fun, I have heaps more energy and feel stronger.  I am also quite hungry a lot of the time, especially after doing resistance (weights) exercises and therefore always on the lookout for tasty recipes that won't break the calorie bank.  After all, I don't want to undo all my hard work :-)

Portobello mushroom egg cup

That's where this little recipe idea comes in: portobello mushroom egg cups.  I came across this a few days ago and just love the simplicity of it.  Simply cut the stem out of a portobello mushroom and crack an egg into it.  Season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven at 220 C for 10 - 15 minutes (depending on whether you want your yolk runny or not).  Serve hot on top of a slice of toasted bread (or have it without the bread).  You can also line the mushroom with a few spinach leaves like I have done or a slice of ham before adding the egg. 

This recipe takes a little longer than just scrambling an egg but is a cute breakfast idea that is also nutritious.  Enjoy!

The staff of life

A batch of muffins cooling down

Bread has to be one of the most satisfying things to make and eat.  In my view, there are not a lot of things that beat freshly baked bread with butter.  And there are just so many types to choose from!  When I first arrived in the UK, I came across some breads that I had never heard of before - one of these was the good old English muffin.  I thought it was a cake but little did I know - had Wikipedia existed then (gosh, I am showing my age) I would have found that "a muffin or English muffin is a small, round, flat (or thin) type of yeast-leavened bread which is commonly served split horizontally, toasted, and buttered.".

So, there you have it - little breads made for toasting. Topped with butter, cheese, poached eggs or even jam they are hard to resist. And if you are partial to a bacon sandwich, look no further - these make the best bacon butties ever!

I had never made these muffins before and was surprised to learn that they are actually baked in a pan on top of the stove.  The dough is a yeast one which needs to rise and the cooking/baking method is really quick and simple.  I took the recipe from the River Cottage Bread Handbook and was very pleased with the result.  The dough yielded 12 muffins rather than the 9 stated in the book but you won't see me complaining :-)  A batch has already gone into the freezer - each muffin cut in half, so that we can just toast them from frozen when we feel like having "fresh" muffins for breakfast.  And in the meantime, I have enjoyed one with cottage cheese and homemade strawberry jam.  These will definitely become a firm favourite in the Happy Larder household!

On a roll...

When Mr Happy Larder and I first got married, we fulfilled one of our dreams and went to Africa on honeymoon.  We did a safari in a less touristy part of Tanzania and stayed on the beautiful spice island of Zanzibar.  We saw nature at its most beautiful, made fabulous friends and ate stunning food.  It still amazes me how the cooks in camp were able to create the delicious food we ate with hardly any equipment to speak of..  When bread is baked in a hole in the ground, you know you are somewhere quite remote :-)  One of the things we had for breakfast were the most incredible cinnamon rolls we have ever eaten.  In fact, on arrival at the camp the handful of other guests did not mention the wildlife first but these cinnamon rolls - that's saying something.

Well, cut a long story short - ever since that trip I have been trying to find a recipe for something resembling these rolls at least in taste.  EUREKA!  Yesterday, feeling better, I went up and down the internet and stumbled across a recipe that looked straightforward enough to give it a go.  What can I say?  Not only did I make a small batch (I usually make half the quantity when I first try out a new recipe), we loved this so much that I had to make another batch straight after :-)  If you have enjoyed the cinnamon rock cakes recipe, then you will love these (Pigsmightfly, this should go down a treat in your household)!
I amended the recipe slightly and I hope you like what I have done with it.  It just uses slightly less fat and sugar and I left out the cream cheese icing, drizzling mine just lightly with a mix of icing sugar & lemon juice (totally optional - the second batch was made completely without and that was just as nice).  These freeze really well as well - perfect for a little treat later in the week.

I reckon these will also work really well as savory rolls - maybe filled with pesto instead of the butter/sugar/cinnamon mix... mhm, might have to give that a go...

Have a good start to your week!

A good start to the day

There are many people who quite happily skip breakfast, going about their business on an empty stomach. I'm definitely not one of them!  I love porridge, breadrolls with cheese or jam or the latest favourite: homemade granola! For some reason I always thought that something this tasty must inevitably be very difficult to make...wrong! This version is easy to make and once you've tried it, breakfast will be firmly on the menu!

Oats ready for toasting in the oven

Seeds & fruit mix for granola

I usually replace the vanilla extract with cinnamon and leave out the oil - the nice thing is that you can play with it and make it exactly how you like by adding different types of dried fruit, nuts & seeds etc.  It is lovely eaten with just milk (of any type - nut or soya milk would definitely also work instead of cow's milk) or topped with fresh fruit and yogurt.  Yummy - here is to a good start to the day!