We Love Cooking!:
porridge

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.

Eating porridge in the morning is one of the most perfect ways to set your body up for the rest of the day. It is high in complex carbohydrates and provides the body with slow releasing energy. In the last few years porridge has slowly become one of the hottest super foods, and understandably so, the oats have so many health benefits that they are often linked to long and healthy lifestyles.

Here are just a few benefits of porridge, it can help dieting, prevents childhood obesity, helps concentration, heals the skin, improves sex life, and can even beat depression!

I'm going to write a bit about my thoughts on milk and the whole dairy industry issue, but for now let me just recommend that you make your porridge with water and if you can't avoid milk, at least try goats, or soya.

Apple and Cinnamon Porridge

1. 1 Cup of porridge oats
2. 2 and a half cups of water
3. 1 Large apple grated
4. A good sprinkling of Cinnamon powder
5. A quick drizzle of honey

I know some of you may be thinking this is hardly rocket science, but porridge can get a bit boring to eat so, I always try and experiment a little to make it that bit more interesting. You can do this in the microwave or on a stove.

Microwave: Combine the oats and water and place in microwave for about 4 minutes or until you get the desired consistency. Then add the grated apple, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle the honey and serve straight away.

Pot: Combine the water and the oats int he pot and place over heat, stir continuously usually takes about ten mins to get the right consistency, Then add the grated apple, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle the honey and serve straight away.

A pretty simple and easy breakie with an interesting texture from the apple.

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.