Healthy pumpkin spice porridge.

I was inspired to try make a pumpkin porridge after making a very delicious pumpkin pie a couple days ago. I made the pumpkin pie for 'Diversity Week' at college - I was in charge of the USA table and decided to make the pie as it was Thanksgiving the day after the event. Anyways, the porridge didn't taste as sweet as I expected it to, but I think that's because I should have added some brown sugar into the spice mix I created, to give it some sweetness - will definitely do this next time I make it (added it into the recipe, although I didn't do it myself)! I enjoyed my pumpkin spice porridge with a "Nescafé Gingerbread Latte" - yuuuuuum! :)

Ingredients:
- 150ml water

- 150ml almond milk
- 30g oats
- 70g tinned pumpkin purée
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- agave syrup, golden syrup, brown sugar or granulated sweetener to taste

Method:
1. Pour the water and milk into a saucepan and place on a high heat.

2. Meanwhile, create your spice mix by combining the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger together in a little bowl.

3. Once the water/milk is boiling, add in the oats, pumpkin, spice mix and cook until the oats are cooked (approx. 10 minutes).

4. Pour into a bowl and top with the agave syrup, golden syrup, brown sugar or granulated sweetener to taste (I used agave syrup).

Banana coffee smoothie.

 As you know from previous recipes, I love a good smoothie for breakfast in the mornings. I also love sipping a coffee or two in the mornings too. Yesterday whilst making my smoothie, I thought why not just combine the two? And I'm glad I did, as it was absolutely delicious! I just wish I used a little more ice cubes or used a frozen banana to make it even colder. I used half a cup of my favourite instant coffee inside of my smoothie, which is Douwe Egberts The Flavour Collective, Enticing Chocolate flavour. It smells very chocolaty and has a subtle chocolaty taste. Although it's chocolate flavoured, each cup, black, is only about 2 calories! You could use any instant coffee though, it'd be just as delicious.

Ingredients:
- 200ml unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup of your favourite instant coffee, black
- 1 banana, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp low-fat peanut butter
- Big handful of ice cubes

Method:
1. Place the almond milk, coffee, banana and peanut butter into the blender. Whizz until smooth and well combined.
2. Now add in the ice cubes and blend again, until smooth. Pour into a pint glass and enjoy!

Homemade gooseberry jam.

Using the gooseberries I picked at Bake Farm (click here for blog post), I decided to use part of my day off to make some gooseberry jam. I have never made any kind of preserve before, so this was very new to me. It was so much simpler than I ever imagined. I thought you'd need lots of fancy equipment, but I was wrong. Do you own an empty jar, funnel, saucepan, saucers, cooker and a wooden spoon? Yes? Well you can make this jam!

This recipe makes about 1 jar of jam. Each tablespoon of this jam is approx. 50 kcal.

Ingredients:

- 320g gooseberries, 

- 320g granulated sugar

- juice of 1/3 of a lemon

- 200ml water

Method:

1. Although this recipe fills about one jar completely, I would sterilize two, just in case. To sterilize the jars and their lids, wash them with hot, soapy water and then rinse them off with very hot water. Now place them on a tray lined with baking paper and put into a cold oven. Once in, turn the oven on to 120°c. Place two saucers in the freezer, which you'll use to test the jam later.

2.  In a medium saucepan on a high heat, put the gooseberries, water and lemon juice in and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 minutes until it turns pulpy.

3. Now, on a very low heat, pour in all of the sugar and stir until it dissolves completely. Once dissolved, turn the heat up high and bring to a hard boil. Boil for about 7 minutes. The jam mixture should start to turn a reddy/pinky colour.

4. To test if the jam is ready, take out one of the chilled saucers and put a little blob of the jam mixture onto it. Leave it to cool slightly. Run your finger through it, if it wrinkles, it's ready. If it doesn't, boil the mixture for a further 3-5 minutes and test again. Keep repeating this until it's ready.

5. Take the jars out of oven and leave to cool slightly. Using the funnel, pour the jam mixture from the saucepan into the sterilized jar(s). I managed to only fill one jar perfectly to the top. Remove the funnel and screw the lid on tight and leave to cool overnight. This jam should keep for about 6 months.

Enjoy your yummy, sweet, homemade gooseberry jam spread on toast, ricecakes or crackers. :)

Trip to Bake Farm & smoothie recipe!

Last Monday, my best friend, Emily, and I went fruit picking together at Bake Farm. I had never heard of this little place before, but Emily goes quite regularly and I asked if she'd come with me one day. The weather was perfect - nice and hot. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place, tucked away from busy main roads and houses. There are rows upon rows of strawberry plants and sooo many different varieties of strawberries to pick from! There's also gooseberries and raspberries to pick too (there's a couple other plants too, blueberries and runner beans I think, but they weren't ready for picking quite yet). It is surprisingly cheap. Coming to the till, I was expecting the fruit I picked to cost at least £10 or more... I picked a whole punnet of strawberries (mixed varieties) and about half a punnet each of raspberries and gooseberries for under £8! I will definitely be getting all of my strawberries and raspberries from here in the future - they are just too delicious to go anywhere else for them now! I have made mini lunchbox fruit salads and smoothies from the strawberries and raspberries (plus a few other ingredients from elsewhere), and I'll hopefully be making either some jam or maybe a tart with the gooseberries, if I get time to do it.

Here's the recipe for one of the smoothies I've made using the fruit I picked. I've called it 'Bake Farm Smoothie':

This recipe makes 1 smoothie (roughly a pint glass worth) at approx. 250 kcal.

Ingredients:

- 200ml almond milk

- 1 banana

- 80g strawberries

- 35g raspberries

- 25g porridge oats

- handful of icecubes

Method:

1. Put the almond milk, banana, strawberries, raspberries and porridge oats into the blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Now put all of the icecubes in and blend again until smooth. Pour into a glass, serve immediately and enjoy!

I made another smoothie, very similar to this one, using more of the strawberries and raspberries I picked from Bake Farm. I used the same recipe as above, but I removed all of the porridge oats and added in 1 small avocado. It was delicious, very smooth and creamy! Just in case you want to give this a go, this smoothie serves 1 (roughly a pint glass worth) and is approx. 300 kcal.

Graze's 'Good Breakfast Club' (plus FREE code).

I was pleasantly surprised after checking my emails the other day, as I received a code from Graze, inviting me to their 'Good Breakfast Club'! I have been on their waiting list for what feels like ages, and now I'm finally in the club! :) To add to the nice surprise, my first delivery was free!

I tried my first porridge from Graze yesterday. It was the blackcurrant & cranberry porridge with honey and it was absolutely delicious! I've never had honey in porridge before, as I'm not overly keen on honey, but it was really nice and really complimented the flavour of the porridge.  If you have a sweet tooth, this would be perfect for you as the honey makes it VERY sweet. There isn't a lot of porridge once it's all made up, but the tastes definitely makes up for the lack of food! The bigger porridge punnets would probably make a more satisfying amount of porridge, but it doesn't come with honey. I am quite tempted to keep paying to receive these. I'm probably going to have to move around how often I receive both of the different Graze boxes though, otherwise I am going to be so poor!

The porridge is really simple to make. The instructions are in the leaflet you receive with them, but in case you misplace it, all you do is:

1. Pull the lid off the top of the oats (keep the lid sealed over the honey if you can) and pour the oats into a bowl.
2. Fill up the part of the punnet that had the oats in one and a half times with your choice of milk (I used Alrpo unsweetened almond milk), and pour into the bowl with the oats. If you're having the bigger punnet of porridge, without the honey on the side, fill it up twice with your choice of milk and pour it in.
3. Now pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
4. Take it out and give it a stir. If you're going to use the honey, just take the lid off of the honey, and pour as much as you want of it into the porridge and give it a good stir.

Simple as that!

You can only join the Good Breakfast Club if you're an existing Graze customer. But don't worry, I have codes for everyone:

If you're already a Graze customer, here's a code to get your first Good Breakfast Club box for FREE:

ZL5YKHL

If you're not already a Graze customer, get yourself your first regular Graze box for FREE by using this code:

N6JMVCHD

You need to live in the UK to be able to receive Graze Boxes. When you sign up they do ask for payment details - don't panic! This is only in case you decide to continue to receive boxes after you get your free one. If you only want the free box and no more or if you receive your first box and decide you really don't like Graze, cancelling with them is very simple and fuss free - it's a very trustworthy site and I know people who have cancelled with them before with no issues whatsoever. If you do continue to receive them, you can decide how often you receive boxes. You can also book holidays so they don't come on a week you know you won't be there for and you can also postpone boxes too. Don't forget to go through all of the punnets/porridges on their website and rate all of them with either 'Try', 'Like', 'Love' or 'Bin' and you can also select 'Send Soon'. 'Bin' insures that you will never receive that punnet - great if your allergic to anything, have specially dietary needs or just know you don't like a certain food, like me with coconut. This can be a little time consuming, but it's worth doing, especially if you're planning to continue to pay for boxes.

TOP TIP: As the amount of calories in each punnet and it's use-by date is written on the separate leaflet in the box and not on the punnets themselves, use a permanent marker to write them onto the lid of the punnets yourself. That way you don't need to carry the leaflet around with you everywhere and you don't need to worry about losing it.

5-a-day fruit smoothie.

This tasty fruit combination was pot-luck really, as I made up on the spot. I'd picked up some "reduced-price" fruit from the supermarket yesterday that needed using, so I just chose other fruits we already had that I thought would compliment them in taste. I think I chose pretty well, as this smoothie is absolutely delicious! Such a wonderful, refreshing taste and looks very attractive too - a nice colour and it isn't too thick or too smooth. Perfect for a quick, healthy breakfast. I will definitely be making this again. I'm a sucker for a good tasting smoothie!

This smoothie serves 1 and is approx. 369 kcal. (You could make it into 2 smaller servings, at approx. 185 kcal per serving, but this would be more appropriate as a small side to another small breakfast dish, rather than a whole breakfast by itself, like one big serving would be - if that makes sense.. Haha).

Ingredients:
- 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
- 1 clementine, peeled and any seeds removed
- 1 mango, peeled and cubed
- juice from 1/2 a lime
- 1 banana, peeled and sliced
- handful of ice cubes

Method:
1. Place all fruit it the blender and blend until smooth.
2. Once blended, place the ice cubes in and blend again until smooth.
3. Pour into a pint glass and enjoy!

Dairy-free overnight oats.

I have discovered my new favourite breakfast - overnight oats. Once made, it looks quite similar to regular hot porridge, but taste so different - it's really cold, sweeter and makes a lovely change from the norm'. They are fantastic for people who don't have time to make a proper breakfast in the morning, as porridge can be quite time consuming to make. You don't have to worry about making them in the morning as you can make them the night before, so in the morning they become something you can just grab and eat straight away, or even grab and take with you to enjoy when you get to wherever you need to be. They are very versatile - you can make it dairy-free (as I've done in the recipe below) or use proper milk and yoghurt, and you can use any filling you want (such as banana slices, dried fruits, raisins, cinnamon, golden syrup, fresh berries, sliced apple - anything at all). You can either add the filling in the night before, or add it in in the morning - completely your choice. I have made this recipe twice now, and I will definitely be making it again and again!

This recipe is dairy-free, serves 1 and is approx. 270 kcal (if you use a different filling than I did, just add however many calories your filling contains to 160, which will give you an approx. amount of calories your breakfast contains. If you make this with real milk/yoghurt, it'll be slightly more calories).

Ingredients:
- 200ml unsweetened almond milk
- 1 sachet porridge oats
- 60g plain soya yoghurt
- your choice of filling (optional) - I used a raisin, cinnamon and apple cereal topper, which I bought in Tesco.
- 1/2 tbsp of agave syrup (optional)

You'll also need a cup/jar with a lid.

Method:

1. Pour the almond milk into an empty cup/jar. Add in the oats and your choice of filling (if you'd prefer you can leave the filling out and add this in in the morning after the oats have been left to soak).

2. Place the cup/jar onto some digital scales, and set the scales to zero whilst the cups on it. Pour in 60g plain soya yoghurt. Then squirt in a little bit of agave syrup, if you're using it.

3. Give the oats mixture a stir and place the lid on. Place it in the fridge overnight.

4. The next morning, take it out of the fridge, take the lid off and give it a good stir. You can either enjoy it straight out of the cup or pour it into another bowl. Enjoy! :)

Refreshing springtime smoothie.

Whilst I was in my local Tesco store, I picked up their free magazine "Tesco Magazine, For Real Living". It's always an interesting read and usually includes some pretty good recipes. Well, I was flicking through the "January - February 2013" issue and came across their 'Perfect Blend' recipes (page 115). They all look so colourful and appetising - I just had to give one a go. I chose to try the 'refreshing kiwi fruit, apple, grape and lime' smoothie, firstly because it sounds delicious, and secondly because I already had most of the ingredients at home and if I didn't do something with them soon, they'd probably get chucked away. The sun was out this morning (for a change) - this smoothie felt perfect to enjoy in this wonderful weather. It's got a sharp citrusy taste to it that literally tickles the taste buds! A great start to my morning - I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the day!

This smoothie serves 2 and is approx. 138 kcal per serving. (The two servings are very small though, so if you like a big smoothie, like me, this would only serve one). The only things I did differently are using a Gala apple instead of the ones they suggested, as it's all we have in our house at the moment. I also used plain soya yoghurt instead of vanilla yoghurt.. But I'm sure these tiny changes wouldn't have made much of a difference to the taste of the finished smoothie.

Ingredients:

- 3 kiwi fruit, pealed and cut into pieces

- 1 apple (such as Cox or Golden Delicious), cored and cut into pieces

- Large handful of green grapes

- 1 lime, juiced

- 100g low-fat vanilla yoghurt

- Large handful of ice

Method:

1. Put the fruit into a blender, then add the lime juice, yoghurt and ice. Whizz for about 1 minute until smooth, then pour into glasses and serve.

Oatmeal pancakes with agave syrup.

I dragged myself out of bed at stupid o'clock this morning so I could make breakfast for myself and my family. I say stupid o'clock because my sister leaves for school before 8am and my Mum cycles to work every morning.. I work evenings, so I can usually have a long lie in. But I didn't mind too much, because I finally got to try out the recipe I have been eyeing up this past week - oatmeal pancakes! I found this recipe in a new magazine called "Eat Smart Stay Slim" (volume 1, page 50) (I'm not sure how long it'll be between each volume of this magazine, as I can't actually find a page saying when the next one's out.. It could be a one off? I'm not sure). On Instagram I follow some people who are all about fitness and eating clean, and a lot of them post pictures of their homemade "protein pancakes" and I've always wanted to try them, but of course I don't drink protein shakes of any kind, so I don't own the protein powder needed in their recipes.. So I'm really happy I've found this! I've tweaked the ingredients a little (as I often do) to make it a bit less calorific, and still taste amazing! Everybody loved them and thought they were delicious. I ate them over 3 hours ago now, and I'm still feeling relatively full, so I think they're a complete success! Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
- 75g porridge oats
- 150g wholemeal flour
- 1.2tsp cinnamon
- 0.5tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 275ml almond milk (the original recipe used skimmed milk)
- low-kcal cooking spray (such as 'Fry Light')

Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the egg and 2tbsp of the almond milk, then slowly add the remaining milk until the mixture becomes a smooth batter (like thick yoghurt). If it's still too thick, add a touch more milk.

2. Heat a large frying pan and spray with the low-kcal cooking spray. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of the batter into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden.

3. Keep the pancakes warm in a low-heat oven until ready to serve.

You can serve these pancakes with whatever you fancy. We used agave nectar syrup on ours, but alternatively you could use: the traditional sugar and lemon juice; granulated sweetener; honey with fresh berries and fromage frais (as the magazine suggests); golden syrup with banana slices; maple syrup - the possibilities are endless!

Merry Christmas everyone!

"T'is the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la laaaa!"

Today's the day! It's finally here. How exciting?! :D

I'm a little nervous about how much I might pig out on (any dieter would be).. I don't intend to pig out, but Christmas Day is always so hard compared to every other day in the festive period.. With the sweet, homemade breakfast, the big lunch roast dinner with homemade dessert for afterwards, the buffet-style tea and alcohol flowing throughout - it's going to be difficult! But I won't not let myself enjoy it all.. If I want something, I'll have it. But I just won't go stupid and stuff my face to the point where I'll feel I'll need a fork lift to move me afterwards! Then tomorrow, I shall start a fresh. I can't wait for New Year, as it always helps me get back to my healthy eating, a bit more strictly, and gets me motivated to lose more weight!

I haven't been feeling overly festive this past week.. Partially because of family stuff and also because I've been working a ridiculous amount of overtime. But I'm sure when the morning comes, I'll feel just as excited as I use to when I was a child! The pile of presents downstairs is huge, under our twinkling, little Christmas tree. I can't wait to hand out the presents I've bought everyone! Giving can be such a great feeling. :)

By the way, I don't normally stay up until 3am on the computer Christmas morning.. I am writing this in the middle of the night because I'm currently in the middle of baking my family a surprise Christmas Day breakfast, of banana baked oatmeal (the smell is lingering through the house and it smells delicious, mmmm!). I hope they all enjoy it. I seem to be the baking fairy in my home - I always like baking in the middle of the night as a surprise for everyone the next day, especially on people's birthdays!

I wish all of you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all get what you wished for. I'll write soon. :)

Low-kcal twist on the traditional English breakfast.

Everyone loves a good traditional English breakfast (also known as a "fry-up"). But they are often very fatty, greasy and full of calories.. So I thought I'd take it upon myself to try and come up with a healthy, filling version of the breakfast, with as few calories as I can possibly make it. So here it is! This breakfast serves 1 person and is approx. 200kcal (if made with the "meat" product I chose).

Ingredients:
- cooking oil spray (such as "Fry Light")
- 2 egg whites
- a dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 60g spinach, washed
- 50g mushrooms, sliced
- 105g baked beans (e.g. 1/4 of a big Heinz baked beans tin)
- pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
- your choice of meat product*

*I chose 1/3 of a pack of "Quorn pepperoni style slices", but you could also use 1 Quorn/meat-free sausage, 1-2 rashers of Quorn/meat-free bacon, 1 lean meat sausage, 1-2 rashers of lean bacon, with the fatty bits cut off.. Whatever you want really, but remember to adjust calories accordingly!

Method:
(You will need to be good at multi-tasking, and own a lot of pans, to get everything timed just right).
1. If using sausages/bacon, stick these in the oven first, at a medium-high heat, for however long the packet says, turning over halfway through cooking.
2. In a sauce pan, pour in the baked beans and place on a low-medium heat. Stir this occasionally to be sure the beans don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
2. Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with the cooking oil spray. Place on a medium-high heat and place in the sliced mushrooms. Keep stirring these often to get them nice and evenly cooked.
3. In another sauce pan, place in a splash of water and all the spinach and put a lid on top, keep an eye on this, as once it's all wilted it will be cooked and ready.
3. In another frying pan, spray all around with the cooking oil spray and place on a high heat. Add in the egg whites and quickly add in a splash of Worcestershire sauce (this is optional, but I just think it gives it that extra something) and season with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. This will cook relatively quick, so be sure to turn it over once it begins to go quite white - don't let it burn!
4. With any luck this should all be cooked and ready to plate up at roughly the same time! Serve immediately with your choice of sauce (although, personally, I don't think it needs it!) and a cuppa on the side. ;)

Enjoy!

Baked banana and raisin oatmeal.

Always remember to eat a healthy, balanced breakfast! People (especially dieters) tend to skip their breakfast in the hope they'll lose weight, or to save calories.. This doesn't tend to work - if anything, skipping breakfast will aid weight-gain, rather than weight-loss. This is because your metabolism slows down whilst you're sleeping and doesn't speed back up again until you eat.. So if you eat breakfast, your metabolism will start up sooner than if you left it until lunchtime to eat, which means you'll burn calories faster! There is loads of research and evidence that can be found online that supports this. So please don't skip breakfast. It really is the most important meal of the day!

I found this yummy baked oatmeal recipe on Mr Breakfast - a whole website dedicated to breakfast! I have adapted the recipe a tiny bit to make it contain a little less calories.. But if I were to make it again, I would definitely cut it up into 8/9 squares, instead of 6 -making each square even less calories than it says below!

This recipe serves 6 people and is 296kcal per serving.

Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg white
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 3 cups/210g rolled oats
- 1.5 cups/330ml unsweetened almond milk
- 0.25 cups/g seedless raisins
- 0.25 cups/55ml oil
- 6 tbsp golden syrup
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract


Method:
1. Preheat the oven to medium-high temp.
2. In a  large bowl, lightly beat the eggs and egg white. Add all the remaining ingredients. Stir until well combined. Now leave the mixture to set for 10 minutes, to allow the oats to absorb up some liquid.
3. Stir the mixture once more, before pouring it into a baking pan (make sure the baking pan in generously covered with a spray-oil, such as "Fry Light").
4. Leave to bake for 35 minutes.
5. Once finished, cut the oatmeal into 6 pieces and serve warm. You could serve it with a little golden syrup drizzled on top (this step is optional) - yum!