Can you be ready for a test?

Double pineapple, mango and coconut

Today is the day of my driving test. I've been driving for 8 months, with 28 hrs of lessons and have been driving with my mum so i should be OK. However I'm still a bit nervous. So I wanted a brilliant, bright and tasty breakfast. Whats brighter then a tropical bowl? Yesterday my brothers had pineapple and ham pizza (the veggie had an egg Florentine pizza-nom!!), so I used the ring of pineapple that was left over. This wasn't enough for 1 portion, so used my little mix of dried mango and pineapple and sprinkled with shavings of coconut. If you don't have dried mango and pineapple, chopped apricot or dates would work nicely too.





Recipe-Serves 1

• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 ring (or more) fresh/canned pineapple
• Dried mango and pineapple
• Dried/Dessicated coconut

Method

1. Chop up the pineapple
2. Mix together fresh pineapple, oats and milk.
3. Top with dried fruit.
4. Microwave for 2-3 mins
5. Enjoy!!

And If your wondering, this lovely breakfast worked!! I passed my test with 3 minors and did a three point turn I'm extremely proud of! I'm yet to drive unaccompanied on the road, but hopefully will try it out soon, before I loose my nerve. For now I feel so elated its amazing!

Feeling better Porridge?

Banana and blueberry porridge

Yesterdays post wasn't completely honest, and I've been feeling a little bad since posting! I didn't really lie, I just didn't eat it yesterday  I have been unwell with Norovirus (I'll spare you the details) so haven't eaten a proper breakfast for a few days. This morning I still feel sick but thought I ought to try and eat properly. I went for a nice healthy mix of blueberries, banana and seeds. I've been living on lemon aid  white bread, jam and crisps (all I felt like eating!) so really need to get back on to a healthy diet again! I added some of my failed coconut butter-which just turned into dried out coconut mush.

Recipe-serves 1

• 1/2 banana
• 1/3 cup blueberries
• 1 serving oats
• 1 serving milk
• Seeds/nuts/coconut

Method

The failed coconut butter :/

1. Mash banana and microwave for 20 secs to caramelize.
2. Add berries, oats and milk and mix.
3. Microwave for 2-2.5 mins
4. Add seeds/nuts/ coconut, mix in or leave.
5. Enjoy! (more the me hopefully!)

Please note my lovely 'get well soon' Winnie the pooh bowl "They sang the outdoor song for snowy weather all the way home" :)

"Roasted" nectarine

Dry fried nectarine porridge

Today the nectarines we bought where finally ripe! I really wanted to roast a few, but ran out of time and waiting 30 mins in the morning just wasn't going to work! I still had more time then normal though as its half term (the last day though..) So I sliced up the fruit and dry fried them in a hot pan. The smell is amazing-like fruity caramel! You can add sugar but it isn't really necessary at all. If you think my porridge looks a little brown, I used almond milk which makes it lovely and creamy and is lactose free :)
This isn't the quickest breakfast, is defiantly worth while-perhaps a Sunday morning treat?

Recipe--for 1

• 1 nectarine or peach
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Nuts (I used cashews)
• yogurt (I added alpro soya after pics)

Method

1. Chop nectarine or peach into slices
2. Heat up a non-stick frying pan, add the slices and wait until they start to sizzle a little.
3. When they are a little brown on one side, flip (I found using a blunt knife is the easiest!)
4. Put oats and milk in a bowl. Heat for 2-3 mins
5. Add the fruit and either leave on top, or mix in with the oats.
6. Top with nuts and/or yogurt
7. Enjoy!

Finally browning up!

And after all, we can all just pretend they are roasted, they still taste great!

Doubly fruity!

Blueberry and Shannon fruit porridge

This is the result of the Shannon fruit left over from the other day, turns out I used slightly more then half, so I chucked in some lovely blueberries from the freezer. Add some coconut and the result was this lovely sweet porridge, with bursts of hot berries every few mouthfuls! If you don't like coconut try sprinkling with ground almonds or seeds.

Recipe—serves 1

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup milk
• small handful blueberries
• 1/4-1/2 shannon fruit (peeled and chopped)
• 15(ish)g coconut

Method

1. Pour milk over the oats
2. Top with fruit.
3. Microwave for 2-3 mins
4. Top with coconut
5. Mix in the fruit and coconut or enjoy in layers!

Double Pom Power Porridge

Double pomegranate porridge

I still had half a pomegranate left over from the other day, and decided to spice it up  little compared to just a plain old porridge. I don't really know any spices which work well with pomegranate, but I do have some pomegranate tea bags! They only contain 5% real pomegranate (the rest is orange peel and cranberries) but they taste lovely and fruity! I also added some yogurt, which helps make the creamyness you loose when using what if effectively water and also some calories and calcium to make this a more complete breakfast! I only had Greek yogurt, but coconut would be great! Now I cant eat yogurt, and soy stuff makes me sick so I hope others will enjoy this!!

Recipe--serves 1

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup pomegranate tea, brewed and left to cool
• 1/2 pomegranate, seeds removed
• 3 tbsp  greek/natural yogurt (or way more if your like me!)

Method

1. Pour the tea over the oats and leave to soak in over night
2. Top with pomegranate seeds.(You can do this in the morning or get prepared and do it the night before also!)
3. Microwave for 2 mins (seems to take less when left to soak)
4. Top with yogurt and honey if you like
5. Enjoy something a bit different!

Fancy a look at these tea bags?

Click here (a bit if free advertising for asda)

Shannon fruit porridge

Shannon Fruit porridge

Remember a few days ago I said my Dad bought me a strange orange fruit like a tomato? Well he told me it was a summer fruit-only 50p in ASDA. But after much googling it turns out it was a Sharon fruit! Some people said it tastes like a sweeter tomato others like plum, so I thought I’d give it a go in porridge.

I added pumpkin seeds for protein and also because they look rather nice against the yellow don't you think? Dates give sweetness and make it all a bit more tropical!

To prep the fruit you have to peel it (I used a potato peeler) then just chop it up. The flesh is a nice orangy yellow-and I think it actually tastes rather like melon. Anyhow it is still in season right now and worth a try if you can find it.

Recipe--for 1

• 1/2 cup oats (or 1 serving)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 shannon fruit (peeled and chopped)
• 20g *ish pumpkin seeds
• A few dates, chopped

Method

1.   Pour the milk over the oats
2. Mix in the fruit and pumpkin seeds
3.  Cook in microwave for 2-3 mins
4. Top with dates and enjoy!
5. 
   

Ruby Jeweled porridge

Ruby Jeweled Porridge

Don't they just look like ruby's?!

Yesterday I came home to find my Dad had been shopping, and actually bought me something great! He presented me with a pomegranate and a strange fruit that looked like a giant tomato (more about that tomorrow!) .As I'm still fighting off a cold I went for the antioxidant packed pomegranate for today's breakfast.

I love pomegranate but they are so fiddly to prepare. I have read about the spoon method, where you chop the fruit in half, then whack with a spoon until all the seeds fall out. I have tried this method but always just end up pulling the whole thing apart, which is effective if time consuming. Sprinkled
on top of the porridge they look like juicy little jewels.

Recipe

• 1 serving of oats
• 1 serving of milk/water
• Small handful (20ish grams) sunflower seeds
• The seeds of 1/2 a pomegranate

Method

1. Pour the milk over the oats
2. Mix in 3/4 of the pomegranate seeds, save the rest. Also stir in the sunflower seeds
3. Cook for 2-3 mins
4. Add the remainder of the pomegranate seeds.
5. Enjoy!

Has anyone got a better way to prepare pomegranate?

Sunny Mango Porridge

Sunny Mango Porridge

Not feeling well for 5 days reached its peak this morning and what better than a lovely mango to give a vitamin C hit and shine through the illness!

I decided to make it all tropical with Brazil nuts (what else!) and a sprinkling of coconut. After I tucked in I remembered I don’t really like Brazil nuts (they taste like grass) but despite this it was still unbelievably yummy and just looking at the sunny bright mango made me feel better. If you chop half the mango, and slice half it adds a bit more interest and I think they actually taste different!

Recipe--for 1

• ½ Mango (80g and you have 1 of your five a day)
• 25g Brazil nuts
• 1 Serving of porridge oats
• 1 portion of  Milk
• A little desiccated Coconut

Method

1. Chop 3/4 of the mango into cubes and slice the rest.
2. Chop the nuts, then mix the mango, oats and nuts together
3. Pour over the milk, and then arrange slices of mango on top.
4. Sprinkle with coconut
5. Pop in the microwave for 2-3mins (or longer if you have lots of milk)
6. Enjoy!