We Love Cooking!:
breakfast

We have guests staying with us in our new place this week and one of my favourite things that happens when people stay over is that breakfast time becomes a bit more of an occasion. While most mornings are spent rushing around desperately trying to shove a piece of toast into your gob while you struggle to put on your shoes, the beauty of guests means there is a bit more pressure to entertain in the morning. I don't mean firing up the hob and pulling out a full Irish brekkie, as tempting as that is, I'm talking about being a little more creative. This week we had blueberry pancakes (batter easily thrown together the night before and popped in the fridge), fruit salad and these delicious and highly addictive Caramel Apple Granola Pots. At this time of year, with its dark, miserable mornings there is even more reason to go all out and make a big deal of your first meal of the day. I find the key to making sure you eat well in the morning is a little bit of preparation just before you go to bed; decide what you want to eat and lay out the ingredients you need, so you can switch to autopilot in the AM! These little granola pots will make the perfect little weekend breakfast so get cooking!

Caramel Apple Granola Pots
I admit that this is quite a sweet breakfast but it is quite filling with the addition of granola. You can buy premade granola or else toast some rolled oats with some honey, cinnamon, and raisins in the oven until golden. It will store quite nicely in an airtight jar for use throughout the week so I often make a double batch.

Serves 4
For the caramel apples:
75g of butter
5 tablespoons of golden syrup
3 golden delicious apples, peeled and cored
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder

To serve:
Handful of Granola per person
2 tablespoons of Vanilla yoghurt per person

In a small sauce pan bring the butter and golden syrup to the boil. Allow to simmer and bubble for approximately 4-5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
Chop the apples into chunky slices. Melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the apples slices. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and caster sugar, toss to combine. Fry the apples, tossing every now and then until you get a nice golden colour on all sides and they have become soft (About 3-4 minutes either side). When the apples are ready, add them to the butter and golden syrup sauce and stir gently to combine.
Layer the caramel apples with granola and yoghurt in small glasses and serve straight away.

Ok so I'm kind of playing catch up at the moment and unfortunately when things get busy the blog is what suffers. Here is a piece I wrote for my column in the Cork News on the last day of shooting the photography for the new cookbook last week.

It was been an absolute pleasure to have been able to see the whole process of creating a cookbook from start to finish.
Over the last few months I have been over and back to London for meetings three times but haven’t actually had the chance to experience the London lifestyle or see anything much of interest. However this all changed last weekend, when we immersed ourselves in all the foodie sights and sounds with visits to Brixton Market, Portobello Market, Spitalfield Market, all nicely rounded off by a lunch in both Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen on Saturday and the highly praised River Café on Sunday. Both meals were absolutely delicious, however I felt Jamie’s place was definitely better value, with hearty dishes full of flavour which left you satisfyingly stuffed! I started with a savoury homecured Bresola and Beetroot salad full of earthy flavour and for mains a really rustic dish of Italian Sausage and green lentils. Don’t get me wrong our meal at the River Café was stunning, with a mouth watering menu, and beautiful surroundings with an air of Mediterranean elegance which probably can’t be matched anywhere else in London, I just felt it was a little pricey for the lunchtime trade. I had a delicious main course of summer Lamb and roast seasonal vegetables which was beautifully cooked. It really is one of those places that as someone with an interest in food, I think you just have to visit for the experience, and I am glad I did!

One of the places I had been looking forward to eating at was Rosie’s Café Deli at Brixton market run by Rosie Lovell, after receiving her saucily titled book “Spooning with Rosie” as a birthday present from my pal Aoife N earlier this year. Her writing style is fantastic which makes the book not only full of quirky recipes but also a compelling read. The café is full of home comfort and for a quick Saturday morning breakfast we gobbled down a cheese toastie with real cheese and tomato and these amazing scrambled eggs with Chilli Jam which I have I have officially decided is now the only way to serve scrambled eggs. Click on the link below for my recipe for chilli jam which appeared on the blog a year or two ago!

My Perfect Scrambled Eggs with Chilli Jam
The perfect scrambled eggs are most definitely down to personal taste, for me they have to be creamy so that they slide smoothly off the back of a wooden spoon. The eggs will continue to cook after you remove them from the heat so I think the key is to err on the side of them being underdone rather than ending up with chunky rubbery scrambled eggs.

Serves 1
2 large free range eggs
Sea salt and ground black pepper
2 slices of ciabatta toast to serve
2 tablespoons of chilli jam to serve

In a small non stick saucepan, whisk the eggs until they are slightly frothy.
Place the pan over a low heat and allow them to warm through. With a wooden spoon keep the mix on the move, making sure not to let it catch on the sides too much.
Cook until you have creamy scrambled eggs.
Serve the eggs on toasted ciabatta with a good dollop of chilli jam and season with a little sea salt and ground black pepper.

Well hello there! It's been a little quiet around here the last few days, but I have just cleared out all the tumbleweed and I'm back with you! Firstly, a massive, massive thank you to everyone who joined in with the Twinnerparty, we had over 60 participants for the first one, and I will be announcing the dates for the next one very soon, so stay tuned for that. Everyone took fantastic shots of the dishes they cooked so I will post as many of them as I can in the next few days, it was so exciting to see all the dishes as the night unfolded!
I'm pretty sure you have all had one of those week that is just so crazy that you barely have time to think. Well I had one of those rolled into a 10 day cycle, but the one thing I relied on was a really good breakfast, porridge, you are my hero!

Blueberry and Banana Breakfast Porridge
I eat porridge for breakfast most mornings, normally with a bit of honey and cinnamon, but eating the same thing everyday can become extremely boring. This recipe is my solution to jazzing up regular old porridge, it's really filling and super healthy! In the winter months when fresh berries aren't in season, I keep my freezer stocked up with frozen ones which are great to have at hand.

Makes 1 serving
35g of jumbo oats
200ml of water
1 banana
1 teaspoon of honey
A small handful of blueberries

Place the oats and water in a small pot and place over a medium heat. Allow the oats to swell and cook slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon, until they become nice and creamy.
While the porridge is cooking, using the back of a fork, mash together the blueberries and banana until you get a nice smooth paste.
Pour the cooked porridge into a bowl, top with the blueberry and banana mix and stir through with a little bit of honey.
Serve straight away.

Even the most easy going people are always quite particular when it comes to how they like their eggs. Scrambled, fried, over easy, poached, baked, everyone has their favourite. Sorry to get personal but I'm a soft boiled egg kind of guy, who loves nothing more than a drippy yolk and something to dip with. These home fries are a delicious accompaniement to the perfect soft boiled egg. I first tried home fries in Florida where it came as part of the pretty standard American breakfast, and although a little heavy to be eating so early on in the day, they are delicious.

Soft Boiled Egg with Home Fries
Home fries can easily be adapted to whatever you may have in your fridge, add some bacon pieces, some finely chopped red pepper, or even some mushrooms. I generally boil the potatoes ahead of time the night before, as the whole process can seem a little more work for a breakfast meal when done all at once.

Serves 2 people.
3 large potatoes.
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
1 onion, finely chopped.
2 eggs.

Chop the potatoes in half and place in a large pot with a lid. Cover the potatoes in water and bring to the boil over a high heat. When the potatoes come to the boil lower the heat so the water comes to a steady simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the potato is nice and tender when poked with a fork. Drain the potatoes and carefully chop into bitesize chunks. Prepare the onion and gently fry in a large frying pan with a tablespoon of oil over a medium heat for about 2 minutes or until the onion softens and begins to take colour. Add the potato pieces and fry on all sides for about 6-8 minutes or until the pieces are all nicely browned. Place the two eggs into a small pot and cover with water and bring to the boil. When the water begins to boil, set a timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes drain the eggs under cold water and serve alongside a generous portion of home fries.

It's true that there is no better smell wafting around the house than baked bread but I have to challenge that. These cinnamon and raisin bagels will definitely give the traditional sliced pan a run for its money, toasted with a little butter there is nothing that compares.

If you haven't made bagels before it's pretty similar to making a normal bread except just before they go in the oven you pop them in a little boiling water for a few minutes. The finished product has a wonderfully chewy texture with a great crispy crust.

I have a few variations on the traditional bagel recipe to post, but would love to hear your suggestions, what are your favourite types of bagels? Multiseed, Poppyseed, cheese? Let me know!

Cinnamon and Raisin Breakfast Bagels
I first tried these bagels in America and have been hooked ever since. The flavours are perfect for a cosy late morning breakfast. Bagels are really easy to make and if you can master bread you can definitely give them a go.

Makes 12 Bagels.
500g of strong white flour.
350ml of lukewarm water.
1 sachet of active dried yeast.
3 tablespoons of sugar.
1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder.
2 teaspoons of salt.
125g of raisins.
1 beaten egg.

Soak the raisins in a bowl of boiling water for 30 minutes. Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center with the back of a spoon. Pour the water, yeast and sugar into the well and allow to sit for 6-8 minutes or until it becomes thick and frothy. Add the cinnamon and salt and using a spoon slowly incorporate the flour into the yeast and water mix until you form a dough. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead in the raisins. Continue kneading for 4-5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Grease the mixing bowl, place the dough in and cover with a damp cloth. Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down and turnout onto a floured surface. With your hands shape the dough into a long sausage shape and cut into 12 bagel shaped pieces. Poke your finger through the middle and with your fingers form the bagel shape. Place on greaseproof paper and set aside for 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to Gas 5/375oF/190oC.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil, lower the heat to simmer and drop 4 bagels in at a time. Cook the bagels for approximately 1 minute either side, turning with a slotted spoon. Drain the bagels and place on a floured baking sheet. Brush with a little beaten egg and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are golden.
Enjoy toasted with a little butter!

Well I'm back in the land of the living after a very spontaneous visit to the US, I booked the flights last Monday and found myself in LA the following day! It was my first time to visit LA and I had been promised it was the land of healthy eating, I later discovered this was pretty much as far from the truth as you could get. Perhaps it is the land of healthy eating in comparison to the rest of America, and that would be the only way I could believe this statement to be true!

I did finally make my first visit to the wholefoods market, which was an amazing experience and could have kept a foodie like myself entertained for hours! It's just so huge, and has so much produce, I wondered why this sort of supermarket hadn't been opened in Ireland, but I'm not sure we could actually get through the amount of fresh food that is available in the wholefoods markets. If you get a chance make sure to visit, it's really worth the experience.

Apart from that, LA's food, for me, left a lot to be desired, with many dishes coated in oil, however I did get a lovely breakfast at the poolside of the Beverly Hills Hotel, of Granola, soy milk, and mixed berries, now I know it wasn't the most inventive dish in the world but it was definitely refreshing after the other heavy food I had during the week!

In other news I have lots of new recipe's to post here so keep checking back, I'm also in the process of making the blog a bit more accessible, so it will be up and running as soon as possible!

This is what we woke up to this morning. Now if that doesn't get you going on a Monday morning I don't know what will! After a pretty unsettled couple of weeks were back on track with a healthy lifestyle starting with a nice healthy jog last night, unfortunately I know it's going to be broken up yet again when we hit Sweden on Friday!

This is a great breakfast to start the week. So many people forget about breakfast, but when your mother told you to eat it, she was right! When you think about it logically, your body hasn't received any nutrients since the night before and is therefore running practically on empty! When you wait till twelve to nourish your body you have wasted a whole morning, when you could have had your body full of nutrients releasing energy.

As a general rule it is always better to eat something for breakfast rather than nothing. People who are making the time excuse generally aren't being realistic, I made this breakfast and ate it in 20 mins and it was a fairly big one, every person can make the time in the morning, by setting the alarm that little bit earlier.

Getting out of bed is a mental thing, when the alarm goes off I get straight out of bed and don't leave myself time to consider those extra few minutes I could waste by staying there. Try it tomorrow, just get straight up when the alarm rings, it's not that hard and you feel great about yourself too! Well that's what I told the girlfriend when I dragged her out of bed this morning! :)

Mixed Fruit Smoothie

1. 1/2 cup of Mixed Frozen Berries
2. 1 Banana
3. Orange or Apple Juice (not from concentrate)

I always keep some frozen mixed berries (Boylan's) which you can get in most supermarkets these days, as there perfect for smoothies because they last for a long time in the freezer. Throw the Berries in a container with the banana and fill the container up as far as the berries with Orange or Apple juice.

Then blend and serve, it's really quick and really easy.