Breakfast ideas

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The most common theme when I speak with customers is that they are time poor. Breakfast is one of those things that is simply missed because people are not prepared and simply don’t know how the thermomix can be used to make breakfast easier. Here are lots of ideas to inspire you to lift your breakfast game.

All of these recipes you will find on Cookidoo.

Here are some ideas to help you make breakfast a breeze.

Eggs

  1. Firstly Egg Boiler mode is so easy for eggs cooked in their shell. Select how hard or soft you would like them and set the mode in action. While your eggs are cooking, prepare toast or your morning cup of coffee.
  2. Another great option is the Green egg white and Ham omelette. find the recipe here

Muesli/Granola

  1. Cada- this is a fresh muesli made with four ingredients, Coconut, almond, dates and apple and is a great snack at any time of day. Find the recipe here
  2. Toasted Muesli. My favourite is the Vanilla and Honey toasted muesli , recipe here I switch out the dried fruit for what I have on my cupboard and often increase the amount of nuts and reduce the sweetener. Adjust the recipes to suit yourself but this is always my go to.
  3. For a gluten free toasted option I love the Rise and shine cereal clusters, recipe here The recipe is quite high in protein and you won’t need too much

Porridge- all the porridge recipes can be used with your milk of choice. the best thing about the TM6 is using pre clean function afterwards to make clean up a breeze.

  1. In winter we love the basic recipe, find it here The recipe makes white a lot and feeds our family of 5. check out the tips for adjusting the quantity.
  2. Apple sultana and Cinnamon Porridge is delicious and sweetened with fruit. This recipe serves 2-3 and is great to use up apples that are not quite as crispy for eating fresh. Find the recipe here
  3. Warming Porridge- is a fabulous gluten free option. Check out the recipe here

Smoothies and Shakes

  1. Protein shake- this is a great easy recipe, find the recipe here
  2. Green Smoothie- I love this for a great veggie hit, recipe here My tip is the cup up all the ingredients the night before while preparing dinner and store in a container ready for the morning.
  3. Rosy glow smoothie, find the recipe here If you have been following my socials for awhile you will know this one is a favourite. Use blood oranges in season for an extra Vit C kick.
  4. Breakfast on the go smoothie, recipe here option to add in some coffee for a breakfast caffeine hit.

Breakfast Bars

  1. These are perfect for when you need to grab something and go, find the recipe here Bake them on the weekend for a quick weekday breakfast

Yoghurt

Make sue of the fermentation mode in your thermomix. If you are dairy free there is also recipes for cashew yoghurt and coconut yoghurt. Making your own yoghurt is a big cost saver

  1. We love the berry coulis and yoghurt jars made in individual serves, find the recipe here
  2. Vanilla yoghurt is another great option, find the recipe here

For something a little more fancy try out

Bacon and Cheese scones with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce

Layered jars with your choice of granola and berries

Frozen breakfast bowls

Basic Green Smoothie
Egg Boiler mode options
Rose and Shine cereal Clusters
Poached eggs on Cheese and Bacon scones with Hollandaise sauce
Frozen breakfast Bowls
Cada

Macadamia Nut Tartlets

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This recipe has been a favourite of mine for many years. One of those recipes I saved from the weekend papers many years ago. Where it came from I can’t quite remember but I have adapted it to make it super simple in my Thermomix

Ingredients

  • 170g Plain flour
  • 110g Raw Sugar
  • 125g Butter, cubed
  • 15g cold water or 1 tbsp
  • 1 cup macadamias
  • 20g Butter
  • 90g Brown Sugar
  • 20g golden syrup
  • 1 egg

Method

Place sugar in Thermomix, 10 seconds speed 8

Add Flour and cubed butter 5 seconds Speed 6

Add water, Mix 10 seconds speed 6 or until the pastry forms a ball. Clean and dry Thermomix bowl.

Lightly grease a 24 mini muffin pan. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Press each piece into the muffin pan and use your finger tips to make tartlet cases. Rest in the fridge for 30 mins.

Divide macadamia nuts between tartlet cases.

Preheat oven 180 degrees.

Add 20g butter to Thermomix and melt 1 minute 60 degrees speed 2 or until melted. Add brown sugar, egg and golden syrup and mix 5 seconds speed 5.

Pour mix over nuts in tart shells and bake for 25mins. Cool 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Tips

Substitute other nuts as you prefer- pecans would also be a good choice.

Have not got a Thermomix, reach me here to join on of my classes or direct you to the Mix shop

Raw Chocolate- Turkish Delight

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I absolutely love Chocolate. Even more I love the process of making it myself. Knowing what goes into the final product is important for me too. Chocolate can be highly nourishing with lots of naturally occurring minerals.

Making chocolate is super easy if you have a thermomix. You can easily weigh all the ingredients, control the temperature, mix and stir and get an amazing final product that is glossy and just delicious. No thermomix? Don’t worry you simply need a saucepan with a glass bowl and you can make it this way too.

One of my favourite combinations is Turkish delight. As a child I remember eating soft gelatinous pieces of very sweet Turkish delight as a treat from specialty delicatessens. These days I use one of my not so secret ingredients to get the Turkish delight flavour, Geranium essential oil from Young Living that is FSANZ approved. This is exactly what some Chocolate companies use to flavour their chocolate and you can do this in your very own kitchen.

Ingredients

180g Cacao Butter ( buttons)
50-60g Raw cacao powder
80g maple Syrup
Pinch salt
1-2 drops Geranium Essential Oil from Young Living
1/2 – 1 cup chopped dried figs

Stovetop method

Put glass bowl over saucepan of simmering water
add 140g cacao butter buttons and melt.
remove from heat and stir through remaining cacao until melted
add cacao powder and maple syrup
mix until all combined
add essential oil and figs and mix.
Pour onto lined baking sheet or moulds and set in the fridge

Thermomix method

Add cacao butter to Thermomix, speed 8, 10sec
Scrape bowl and melt 15mins 37 degrees speed 2 (scrape bowl down half way)
Add maple syrup, cacao powder and pinch salt
Mix 5 min 37 degrees speed 2
Mix 5sec speed 5 .
Add Geranium essential oil and mix 3 sec speed 3
Finally stir through chopped figs

Pour onto a lined baking sheet or silicon mould and set in fridge

I like to pour onto a sheet and then chop into bite sized pieces

Adding pistachios, rose petals and/or freeze dried raspberries takes this recipe to the next level.

I like to buy my whole ingredients from The Source Bulk Foods. You can buy exactly what you need by weight.

Sometimes we simply want all the flavour without the hassle. You can also use 200g of good quality dark chocolate and get a great result. Simply melt the chocolate before adding the figs and essential oil. My chocolate of choice for this would be Green and Blacks 70% Organic dark chocolate

To get the Geranium Essential Oil, go straight to Young Living To simply get started I recommend  the basic culinary kit (AUD$69- you will find it under specialty kits) that includes food standard oils of lemon and orange in addition to my favourite relaxation perfume blend Stress away. Then you can simply add Geranium to your order! Once you are done send me a quick email or message through the blog and I will email you a copy of my complete chocolate workshop! Then you can start more delicous combinations, think Orange and almond and Rocky road like the picture below. You will be whipping up these amazing treats in no time.

A note on the essential Oils. They are potent and I always recommend using 1 drop initially, 2 might be too strong for you.

Hope you love this recipe!!

Belinda xx

Homemade Granola

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For some time I have been experimenting with making my own granola. Since ditching cereal out of a box, I wanted an alternative breakfast cereal that tasted delicious and was whole food based.

Making your own is easier than you think

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Oats (quinoa flakes for gluten free)
  • 1 cup Almonds chopped
  • 1/2 cup Pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup Sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup Cashews or any other nut of choice chopped
  • 2 cups Flaked coconut
  • 1 cup Currents
  • 1 cup Ningxia Wolfberries
  • 1/4- 1/3 cup Coconut oil (melted)
  • 1-2 drops Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil

Wholefood Collective has bulk wholefoods at great prices! (aff link)

Method

In a bowl combine oats, coconut, nuts, seeds.

Drizzle dry ingredients with coconut oil and roast on trays for 60mins at 120 degrees. A long slow roast will produce lovely crispy granola.

Once done return granola in mixing bowl add cinnamon bark essential oil and dried fruit. Mix well. Cool and store in glass jars.

For a plain granola omit the coconut oil and add dried fruit and you are done!

Store in Glass jars in the pantry and enjoy with your preferred milk and yoghurt.

This is a large batch and lasts our family of 5 at least a week. The great thing is that you can adjust the ingredients to your liking. Pecans and 1/2 tsp vanilla powder make a great addition too. It would however make a lovely gift!

Note

Ningxia Wolfberries (Lycium barbarum)

The wolfberries sourced for NingXia Red hail from the Ningxia province in Northern China. This superfruit has one of the highest percentages of fiber of any whole food and contains zeaxanthin—a carotenoid important to maintaining healthy vision. It also contains polysaccharides, amino acids, and symbiotic vitamin mineral pairs that when present together promote optimum internal absorption.1

There are a number of studies 2, 3 demonstrating the positive effects of the Ningxia wolfberry. Delaying optic nerve degeneration and reducing ischaemic brain injury by maintaining mitochondrial balance both confirm the long standing thought of the people from the Ninxia province in China for supporting our health

Young Living also produce a Ningxia infused drink Ningxia red, that is not only delicious but a easy method for the whole family to enjoy. A 60ml daily dose for adults and 30ml for children to provide an array of health promoting anti-oxidants.

Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil

Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil a registered culinary oil. It is important you only use a very small amount as it is strong. 1-2drops are plenty. It has a delicous flavour and aroma when added to dishes. It should always be added at the end of cooking. For more great ideas using Essential oils in your cooking visit Young Living blog for a fabulous apple cinnamon chip recipe and Flavour of Joy website and follow Chef kate McAloon use these delicous oils in her recipes.

 

Get started with Young Living with a Culinary Essential Oil starter kit (basic $69 premium $244)  here

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Sources

  1. http://ningxiared.com/benefits/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28807155
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28808422

Nut free Lemon Balls

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Lunch box friendly snacks are something that I always need to have on hand. I like these as they fit the bill and my kids like them. They are easy and economical.  Sunflower seeds are high in Vitamin E, folate, copper, zinc, iron and fiber. They provide energy, maintain the immune system, stabilize blood glucose and prevent constipation. [source]

Ingredients

250g sunflower seeds, 60g coconut oil, 80g desiccated coconut, 80g pure maple syrup, 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, zest and juice of 1 lemon. Optional 5-6 drops of Young Living Lemon Essential oil for that extra lemon zing! Add more or less of the ingredients to your liking!

Method

Blend seeds and zest in a blender on high until mixture is fine. Add remaining ingredients and blend again. Add 1 tsp water if mixture is dry.

Roll mixture into balls and then coat in extra dessicated coconut. Refrigerate or freeze.

As a mum being organised makes a big diffference to your day and ultimately how I feel at the end of the day too.  Feeling organised is much better than the alternative. I try and source organic when I can and buy in bulk. I love shopping at Bulk Wholefoods  for nuts, seeds, all things coconut and lots more. They deliver Australia wide with a flat rate delivery fee.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/343568-what-are-the-benefits-of-eating-sunflower-seeds/