Tag Archives: Breakfast

Hot Cross Bun French Toast

Posted on March 28, 2013 by | Leave a comment

hot cross bun french toast

These sound like a bit of a novelty ‘just-for-the-sake-of-it’ food, but I assure you they’re beautiful. The spice of the bread lends a grown-up air to breakfast, tasting like something much more complicated – sort of like a beignet. 

The factory I work at is open on Good Friday, so it’s not quite my holiday yet, but happy Easter break to those of you who have time off! If you’re observing passover, you can have these on Tuesday. If you’re like my mum, and have given up bread for lent, maybe someone will treat you to these on Sunday morning (ahem).

The white flour in these means that they’re not an everyday food, but that’s the point of seasonal foods – you wouldn’t live on mince pies and brandy butter either. I made mine with almond milk but regular would be great too.

A four-day weekend is basically two extra Sundays – are you going to do more long runs this weekend? 

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Orange and Earl Grey Winter Fruit Salad

Posted on February 17, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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This Orange and Earl Grey Winter Fruit Salad is easy and economical but it tastes like a million dollars. If a million dollars were delicious, which it is probably not, unless you have a very vivid imagination and/or fruit for money. But you know what we mean.

It’s multi-talented too and can be served in a whole host of different ways. It’s great warm or cold for a healthy but fancy-looking dessert, it’s fab with porridge and it’s good served with breakfast cereal. It makes plenty, which is fortuitous because it’s so tasty you’ll probably want it with lunch and dinner too. Served as suggested, it provides a good balance of carbs, protein and fibre, as well as a whole heap of vitamins and minerals (especially Vitamin K, calcium, potassium and iron). It tastes like you’re spoiling yourself rotten but is actually incredibly good for you.

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Huevos Rancheros

Posted on January 18, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Huevos Racheros

A protein-rich brunch is the perfect treat for after a long Sunday run. When Mum and I lived in Victoria, Canada, we took fantastic brunch for granted. We’d nip down to Lady Marmalade, Pagliacci’s or Rebar any time we fancied*. We didn’t know how spoiled we were!

While there is some brunching in the UK, it’s not quite as exciting as Canadian elevenses. My favourite brunch taken from there has a distinctly Mexican twist, sure to wake you up first thing on a morning.

Between the protein and good fats from the egg, avocado and refried beans, it’s pretty much the perfect post-race refueller. I didn’t run for a bus when I lived in Canada, but it’s definitely good to know now. We ate the one in the picture after a river path 10K one Sunday morning recently. Continue reading →

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Savoury Breakfast Muffins – Two Recipes in One!

Posted on September 28, 2012 by | 2 Comments

So, you need breakfast in a hurry. You don’t fancy cereal or porridge and you’re not quite in the mood for toast. Oh, noooooooo, whaddya gonna do?! ‘s ok, we’re here to save the day. Our marvellous breakfast muffins are that rare breakfast treat that you can make the night before.

I took a basic savoury muffins recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and played around with it to suit my palette, and hopefully yours. I made two batches in the end; I didn’t put carrot or courgette in the first and, though they were delicious, they dried out within 48 hours. The veg in the second batch added extra moisture and kept them springy for longer (or would have done if we hadn’t eaten them so quickly!)

These two versions – Black Olive & Italian Cheese and Toasted Seeds & Cheddar – provide a great balance of carbs, protein and fibre. Have a glass of juice with them for the perfect start to fuelling your day right.

I like these with butter and more cheese for breakfast. They also go well with Marmite – *runs for cover from the Marmite haters of the world!* My good friend, Clancy, very generously did a taste test (she’s good like that) and reckons they’d well with soup too. Only one way to find out, I suppose…

(Remember that Parmesan is by definition not vegetarian – use an Italian hard cheese with the Vegetarian logo).

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Mushroom and Sweet Potato Frittata

Posted on September 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

It being Better Breakfast Week in the UK, and maybe elsewhere in the world too, the best meal of the day has been on our minds a great deal. In truth, breakfast is on our minds a lot. We never go to bed without making sure that we have something good ready for breakfast in the morning.

Sadly, we don’t have staff to prepare our dishes for us, nor do we always have time to cook first thing on a morning. What we do have though is good planning skillz (yes, with a ‘z’ – skills with an ‘s’ are so old skool). The best thing to do when we know we’re going to be short of time is to make something that you can have warm for dinner at night and cold for breakfast the next morning.

This Mushroom and Sweet Potato Fritatta fits the bill perfectly. It’s great with a salad for supper and also fantastic on toast or in a hunk of baguette in the morning. Sweet potatoes are low calorie source of beta-carotene, which helps keep your eyes, skin and immune system in good form.

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Strawberry, Tahini and Mint Smoothie

Posted on September 26, 2012 by | 3 Comments

We Veggie Runners are decent people. At least, we think we’re relatively OK; nobody ever tells us otherwise, but maybe that’s because we’re so not OK that they daren’t… Anyway, for the purposes of this post let’s just assume that we are relatively nice.

So, relatively nice people like us care about the environment and try to recycle, waste nothing, shop locally etc. But what are we supposed to do when it comes to strawberries, which are clearly not in season in the UK anymore but are very cheap in the market right now? We get visions of little children picking them in LEDCs instead of going to school. Then we think about their future children doing the same, oppressed by a system they can’t escape from, perpetuating the vicious circle. Then we read that Spain is actually the world’s largest exporter of strawberries and that the Spanish economy needs all the help it can get at the moment. Our consciences salved, we buy some and make a strawberry smoothie…

Strawberries contain a healthy dose of potassium and are a great source of Vitamin C – 160% of your RDA in this baby; you can’t say we shortchange you! The tahini is easy to digest – your body starts to absorb nutrients from it about 30 minutes after eating – and it’s a good source of B vitamins and calcium, making this an all-round feels-good, does-you-good, hell-it-is-good smoothie if ever there was one.

Note: substitute the yoghurt for a banana if you’d prefer a vegan shake.

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Scrambled Eggs with Basil and Black Pepper

Posted on September 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

 Some dishes are much, much more than the sum of their parts and this is one of them. It seems simple enough – eggs on toast for breakfast, how tasty could you possibly make it without spending hours prepping and cooking? Well, this tasty, actually! This takes as long as making ordinary scrambled eggs – i.e. roundabout the blink of an eye – but it propels that simple dish into a whole new realm.

Nutritionally, it’s great for runners – it has protein, calcium, Vitamins A and D and is easy to digest too. Eggs are also a fair source of iron, which is particularly important for long distance runners; Lance Armstrong may have been stripped of his titles but his Livestrong site is great on why iron depletion can be a problem for runners.

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Nasi Goreng

Posted on August 12, 2012 by | 7 Comments

This post is part of Meatless Mondays, a movement hoping to reduce our meat consumption, and environmental footprint. If you’re not veggie, it’s great to step out of your usual patterns, even if only to experience some great new food.

Nasi Goreng

Malaysian Breakfast food.

 

My friend Mollie first introduced me to this Malaysian breakfast dish. I was instantly hooked – it’s convenient if you have leftover rice, uses up the veg in the bottom of the fridge drawer and most importantly is ridiculously tasty .

Some people make a little one-or-two egg omelette at first, remove it from the pan, cut it into slices, to be added later when the veg has cooked through. If that sounds nice to you, give it a go. I do it my way, with a fried egg on top, for two reasons
a) I love the mixture of the unctuous yolk mixing with the sharp and salty sauce at the bottom of my bowl
b) that’s how Mollie taught me it.
You can do whatever you like best – isn’t that nice?

I like mine to be very gingery & spicy, as it means I need less of the salty soy sauce, but you know your own palette, so adjust the first ingredients accordingly. Use whatever veg you have on hand, chopped very small and evenly so it cooks at the same time. My favourites are frozen peas, cooked in the microwave first, tenderstem broccoli or julienned carrots.

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Recovery Breakfast – Poached Egg & Curried Chick Peas

Posted on July 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Poached Eggs and Curried Chick Peas

I did the Eccup 10 mile race recently, a gorgeous, undulating run through the glorious Yorkshire countryside. The weather was breezy but bright, all adding up to a fabulous jaunt on a Sunday morning. Typically, though, I was starving after I’d showered and prettified myself up a bit. So there I was, fresh and lovely with my insides eating themselves. What to eat, what to eat…?

It said in Runner’s World that chickpeas and eggs make the perfect recovery breakfast because ‘Vitamin B2 works with iron in the formation of red blood cells, giving muscles a more efficient delivery system of nutrients and oxygen. Eggs are a great source of B2, while chickpeas will help you meet your daily iron quota.’

Which all sounded great but, erm, chick peas for brunch…? Didn’t quite work for me until I remembered that eggs work pretty well with curry, which in turn works splendidly with chickpeas. Hmm, inspiration struck me like a hammer on a gong…

Here it is – my curried chickpea sensation (and v easy to make when you’re ravenous, as it takes 15 minutes max). Runner’s World were right; this was perfect and set me up for the rest of the day. Continue reading →

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