Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

While it can be tempting to just bolt down a bowl of cereal before dashing out the door in the morning. Or even to forget breakfast altogether. Having a decent, low GI, nutritionally complex breakfast really does set you up for the day. Whatever your normal breakfast, there are a few simple strategies you can use to make it a better meal. h3. What is a good breakfast? Breakfast is your first meal of the day. And number one …

Read more 18 November, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Asparagus & haloumi: A lovely idea from Food Lover’s Journey – asparagus with tomato salsa, haloumi & rocket. And just look at Anh’s photographs. * Olive oil muffins: I’m intrigued by Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for olive oil muffins. They have citrus zest, almonds and balsamic vinegar. I’m going to try these out soon. * Measuring your waist: Here in Australia there’s a new government health campaign, focussed on checking your waist measurement. You can see the advert and …

Read more 14 November, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

It’s been a light blogging week for me. I’m working hard on a writing project for Wellbeing – something interesting they’re releasing early next year. But I shall be back properly next week. For a few days of food made from the pantry. I’ve had some entries already and am going to post a couple of recipes of my own. In the meantime, here’s the usual Friday Quicklinks. Plus a photo of my fridge – which is for Wendy. ...

Read more 26 September, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Soy bomb: It took me two goes to get these little gems right, but it was definitely worth persisting. Soy bombs from Cindy at Where’s the beef? * Trying new foods: In response to the 31 Days to a Better Diet Kada at Through Thick & Thin tries some new foods. Loved this account of her progress. * Simple green beans: A super simple way with green beans from Eating Out Loud. “Crunchy fresh beans with toasted sesame …

Read more 12 September, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet centres around awareness and making your diet work for you. Breakfast is an important meal. It provides your body with fuel and nutrients, after the overnight food free period. A good breakfast can also set you up for the day: stabilising blood sugar levels, and keeping your mood and energy more even-keeled. But I’ve found that different breakfasts work better for different people. You can see this in my …

Read more 22 August, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around getting more variety in your diet. This group is marked by the image to the left. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to increase the variety of foods I eat is to oomph up my breakfast. It seems almost contradictory. You’re rushing around in the morning, trying to get to work and yet it’s relatively easy to increase your nutritional diversity, without too much bother. Some …

Read more 18 August, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• The Great Big Vegetable Challenge: The Great Big Vegetable Challenge has charted one family’s attempt to convert vegie-phobic children into vegetable lovers. They’ve come to the end of the alphabet and are challenging you to make a vegetable face. * Strawberry salad: I love the strawberry salad on this post from Just Braise. Leaves, kohlrabi, fresh herbs, strawberries and goats’ cheese. Light and delicious. * Sustainable food: Interesting debate on The Gobbler about the possible backlash against eating …

Read more 18 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Being healthy at the office: I’ve been really enjoying following The Office Diet blog. It’s one of those rare sites which provides realistic and real advice, grounded in the practicalities of working in an office. I particularly like these five suggestions for making it easier to cook in the evening. * Salad for breakfast: I don’t know many people who eat salad for breakfast, but I really like this suggestion. And thanks to Sophie for pointing it out. ...

Read more 27 June, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Recipe index: This week, while reading On Food & Wine I found out about Food Blog Search. This site allows you to search for recipes in a huge range of food blogs. You can enter ingredients or recipe titles and see what comes up. * Revolting foods: In the YUK category: news from Weighty Matters of bacon in a can. * Another beetroot salad: This week Jul from Stonesoup posted a simple and quick raw beetroot salad ...

Read more 13 June, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Kitchen tips: Three mini tips from Mark Bittman – foods he keeps in the kitchen, to make meal preparation easier. I’ve used parmesan rind in soups and it’s wonderful – but never thought to freeze the stuff. * Quinoa breakfast: I’ve previously linked to some of Ricki’s wonderfully imaginative quinoa recipes, now Heidi at 101 Cookbooks has posted a nutty, cinnamon breakfast quinoa. This looks glorious and a great way to start the day. * *The difficulties of …

Read more 09 May, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Grow your own: Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking has been growing her own micro salad leaves. A tasty, fresh and highly nutritious addition to any salad. * Indian porridge: Porridge is such a good way to start the day. Low GI, filling and guaranteed to keep you going. I was intrigued by A Life (Time) of Cooking’s Indian style porridge. Flavoured with cardamon, cinnamon, nuts and palm sugar – what a delicious combination. * *Easy, healthy …

Read more 02 May, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Butter alternatives: Chew on This has put together a list of six alternatives to using butter. * Simple, simple cooking: Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen has a recipe for a vegetable side dish – beautiful in it’s simplicity: Carrot and turnip kinpira. * Learning to love potatoes: Mallika from Quick Indian Cooking fame has just started blogging at Indiwo. Her latest is a neat piece of writing about whether it’s possible to include potatoes in a healthy diet (and not …

Read more 28 March, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Chickpea soup: Pinch My Salt has turned a hummous accident into a beautiful chickpea, ginger and coriander soup. It’s an excellent kitchen recovery and a delicious looking recipe. * Spot the difference: Just Bento has posted pictures of two bento boxes. One of them has twice the kilojoules of the other – can you spot the difference? * Beautiful coleslaw: I woke up this morning to find a winter coleslaw recipe on Mostly Eating. Crunchy vegetables, bound together …

Read more 15 February, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• More summer drinks: Last week I linked to green apple tea and this week A Life (Time) of Cooking has posted some more gorgeous summer drink recipes. * The chicken you eat: There’s been some interesting debate in the UK about chicken – the ethics and cost of what we eat. Sophie from Mostly Eating has written an excellent post on this subject. * Muffin recipe: I’m hoping to make a batch of Wendy’s moist bran muffins this …

Read more 18 January, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

Since Cassie posted two breakfast bar recipes over at Veggie Meal Plans, I knew I had to try them. They’re full of nuts, dried fruit and wholegrains – no additional oil or sugar. Which makes them a low GI, sustaining and easy breakfast. I’ve tweaked the recipe slightly, to fit what I had in the pantry. Plus, I thought they’d work well with tahini, so I used this to replace the flaxseeds. h3. Fruit, nut and tahini breakfast bars …

Read more 26 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Breakfast on the run: Did you know you can cook porridge oats in a thermos flask? This is one for the people who “don’t have time” for breakfast. According to Cassie from Veggie Meal Plans make it up in the evening, add your flavourings and then just grab the thermos as you run out the door in the morning. * Cauliflower mash: one of the strategies for switching to low GI foods is to make your mash potato with …

Read more 09 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Gluten-free cooking: I was asked a couple of weeks ago about guidelines for cooking without wheat flour. At the time I posted some links and then this week I saw Gluten-Free girl has written a guide to using gluten free flours. * Ethical eating can be a minefield. Full of complex decisions about the value of food miles vs local eating vs fair trade vs organic. It’s hard to shop ethically and still stay within a budget. This week …

Read more 02 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Refrigerator Raid has posted a beginner’s strength training programme. It’s a simple 30 minute programme, covering both upper body and lower body strength. If you have less time try the 15 minute home fitness circuit I posted last month. * A woman after my own heart, over at Veggie Chic, Jul asks is it really so hard to eat vegetables?. Confused about how many vegies you should be eating each day? Take a look at my post on …

Read more 21 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

• Overseas action on junk food advertising to kids: tomorrow the UK parliament is having its second reading of a bill aimed at preventing the advertising on TV of foods high in fat, sugar and sodium before 9pm (when in theory young children have stopped watching and gone to bed). * According to Rudd Sound Bites, Starbucks in the US is about to make reduced fat milk the standard in a lot of its drinks. * I like this breakfast …

Read more 08 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

A couple of weeks back I made some more muffins. This time I had two little helpers – a two and a four year old who were staying with us. The four-year-old only liked apples, so I adapted my usual recipe and this time I used tinned Baker’s Apple. SPC Ardmona make a variety that is 100% apple – no sweetener and no juice. It’s like using chunky stewed apple, but quicker and easier than making your own. I didn’t …

Read more 17 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

I’ve had a lot of deadlines recently, which has made it hard to blog with my usual regularity. I’ve been writing articles, recipes, sending out newsletters and finalising details of a new monthly column. In amongst this I’ve been seeing clients and been putting together two new seminars ( here and here ) at the clinic. On top of that, Richard and I are beavering away on a new project. It’s very exciting, but not due for release until later …

Read more 07 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

After posting my date and walnut muffin recipe , I’ve recently adapted it, for using fresh fruit. I’ve cooked these muffins all summer, using peaches, nectarines, apricots and even mangoes, but I keep on forgetting to photograph them, hence the delay in posting this recipe. These muffins are really good. They’re low in kilojoules, have no added fat, as well as being low in sugar . . . and yet they taste great. Moreover, most of the fat comes …

Read more 15 February, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

I’ve been slowly working away at this muffin recipe for about 6 weeks now, tweaking, testing then re-tweaking, until there was a huge eureka yesterday when I finally cracked it. There are a gazillion muffin recipes out there, so why all the bother? Well I had certain requirements for my muffins. I wanted each one to contain at least one serving of fruit, to contain walnuts, to taste really good and to have no added fat and very little …

Read more 24 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Breakfast

As promised, here is the recipe for my home-made muesli. h3. Why have muesli for breakfast? This muesli is a great way to start the day: * the combination of grains contain potassium, magnesium, iron, fibre and protein * the nuts and seeds add more protein, potassium and magnesium, as well as zinc, folate and Omega 3 essential fatty acids * the dried fruit provides iron, yet more potassium and fibre, while fruits like apricots and cranberries also add …

Read more 07 September, 2006