Half term eats

Poached eggs, with balsamic vinegar, asparagus and avocado.

It’s half term!  Which means I get to watch dole-TV, catch up with my besties and best of all COOK!  I made plenty of yummy food on Saturday- with poached eggs, avocado and asparagus for lunch, then gammon in cider with roasties (recipe here) and a Gizzi Erskine Victoria sponge (clickhere) for dinner since my in-laws came to visit.  So the bank holiday weekend has been a mix of eating well with the odd treats thrown in too.

Gizzi Erskine Victoria Sponge- works every time!

Family roast dinner- good times.

This morning started with bacon and maple syrup pancakes (recipe here) and they were even better today than last time, mainly because I let the pancakes sit on the pan and fry before I started poking them with a fish slice! 

I also experimented today with quinoa porridge after seeing a lot of photos of it on Instagram!  I’m a quinoa fan but only really cook the one recipe I know which is veggie korma quinoa (recipe here).  Porridge, so long as it’s not a packet mix loaded with sugar and additives, is such a good breakfast.  Oatmeal is delicious hot or cold, but the added benefits of using quinoa instead of oatmeal is that it contains more protein and every type of amino acid your body needs for healthy tissue and a tip-top immunity system. It's also gluten free too!

Quinoa Porridge (makes 2 large bowls or 3-4 smaller servings):

250g quinoa (rinsed, otherwise it can taste bitter)

1 cup (8 fl ounces) of either coconut milk, lactose free milk, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk ( I used coconut milk for my first attempt and it was tasty, but I’ll probably use my lactose free milk next time and add more flavour through the toppings).

250ml water

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp sea salt

Method:

1.        Pour you chosen milk, water, vanilla extract and sea salt into a pan.  Add the quinoa.

2.       Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, until the liquid has reduced, the contents have thickened and the quinoa is soft.

3.       Serve immediately with any of the toppings below!  You may need to add an extra splash of milk to the finished dish if you find it too thick.  This porridge can also be made the day before too.  To re-heat, loosen the mix with some milk and warm up in either a pan or microwave.

Serving suggestions and toppings:

·         Mango would work well if you make the porridge with coconut milk- it tastes like mango sticky rice for any of you who have tried this dish in Thailand....pure, utter taste bud bliss!

·         Strawberries and blueberries are a porridge staple!

·         My NEW FAVE....sea salt and maple syrup, it’s a healthier equivalent of sea salt and caramel flavour!

·         Dried cranberries.

·         Banana.....the list of toppings is endless!

Happy, healthy eating!