Smooth talking

I recently decided that my diet could be improved. Not that I don't enjoy what I eat, far from it, and indeed I am healthy, but I realised how many days I go without the full range of vitamins and nutrients I should be having daily. In a bid to fix this, I started making myself breakfast smoothies.

Here are some of the recipes that have worked for me (and some tips about what doesn't work for me!). Bear in mind I'm not a nutritionist and have applied the standard "make it up as you go along" principle to my recipes as I do for anything else...

I've been having my smoothies where possible with a coffee by its side, and the combination is dynamite for brain power and motivation (with no slump when the caffeine wears off, wow!).

Glorious greenie

1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
4 strawberries
Big handful of kale
About 200ml almond or soya milk (but eyeball it to the right consistency - you can always add more but you can't take it away!)

Blueberry delight

1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
1/4 cup blueberries
Big handful of kale
200ml almond or soya milk (as above)

Fruity Popeye 

(pictured above)
1/2 cup pineapple (from the freezer)
1/2 a banana (frozen or fresh)
4 or 5 strawberries
Big handful of spinach
200ml almond or soya milk (as above)

I've been preparing all of these with my hand blender. I put the fruit into a plastic beaker (the one that came with the hand blender) and then have just used the blend attachment to mix everything together. It's not a perfectly smooth end result but the texture is really pleasant, and makes you feel like you haven't been diddled out of a "proper" breakfast.

Tips

Freeze as much fruit and veg as you can, chopped and ready to use. I freeze pineapple in chunks (makes a 75p pineapple last weeks), bananas are amazing peeled, sliced and frozen, and spinach and kale work as well from the freezer as they do fresh. I've also used frozen berries on occasion but while they're in season I've been adding fresh ones from the fridge. I tend to put the frozen fruits in my mixer jug as soon as I get up, then shower, dress etc and go back to make the smoothie at least half an hour later, allowing some defrosting to take place. Oh and keep the prepared fruit in freezer bags, not a box; significantly aids retrieving as much as you want without breaking your fingers.

Make sure you add enough liquid. One day I didn't add very much and the the smoothie coagulated before my eyes. Hard to suck up through the straw and the gelatinous concoction nearly put me off the whole affair. I've been alternating between almond and soya milk - based on availability and nothing else. I prefer almond milk but soya is no hardship and my local Co-op stocks it.

Lob in a bit of what you fancy. Trusting your taste instincts is underrated. If you think it'll work it probably will.

Greens make the smoothie richer. Don't know why, they just seem to. None of my smoothies have tasted green or veggie either. Weird.

Don't leave the smoothie alone for too long. Another coagulation issue could arise. Or the dog could steal it.

Use a straw. Not only does it give you something to stir it with as you get down it, it makes it feel like you're at a kids party too!

Banana & oat pancakes

I've done a classic "Lucy". Tried out a new recipe and forgotten to take photos. In all fairness, there aren't a lot of photos you can take in 4 minutes without it overtaking what you're doing.

Today's breakfast was banana and oat pancakes. Health food, if you will.

1/2 cup oats (I've gone all American, sorry)
1/2 a banana, ripe
2 egg whites - and frankly a bit of yolk because it slipped in

I whizzed these simple bits in my hand blender, and then poured the "batter" in 3-inch discs onto a hot dry non-stick pan. Simple as that. They take about a minute on each side - you can lift up the edge and see if the underside is golden, before flipping it onto the other side for the same treatment. It made 4 little pancakes which were plenty filling, let me tell you.

They are fat free and flour free and all that healthy-what-not. Which means they don't taste like normal pancakes, however... if you're trying to be a bit healthy and you want a full tummy without the guilt, they are really very agreeable. I will admit to adding a tablespoon of golden syrup to them after serving, as they don't have much "pep" - but I might try adding some fruit to the mixture next time (after I've been to the shops) for a healthier topping.

Comfort food for breakfast

I love porridge. Especially the jumbo oat variety, but porridge in general is my go-to breakfast. I fancied trying something different with my oats this morning, so this is what I did.

1/2 cup porridge oats

1/2 cup milk

Just less than 1/2 cup water

Handful sultanas

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 manky old green apple (you can use a nice one, I only had manky ones left)

Put the oats, milk, water, sultanas and cinnamon in a pan and bring to the boil slowly, stirring a little. Let everything cook through until you've got pretty much the texture you want, and the oats are cooked (about 2 to 3 minutes). 

Grate in the apple and stir. Heat the mixture through - I just left it while I cleared up the mess of grating a juicy apple - et voila! Breakfast is served. 

It did look a little bit funky because of the colour of the cinnamon, but it tasted lovely. Putting the sultanas in at the beginning means that by the time the porridge has come together they're juicy, fat and bursting with sweetness. 

No need for sugar when there's sultanas and cinnamon!