During my working week, I would always meet up with friends and colleagues, at our regular spot, for a debrief over breakfast; a large paddle-tennis-sized slice of rustic toast, scraped with a garlic clove and spread with grated tomato and olive oil. Swiftly followed by a cafe con leche or two.  Mid-morning I’d desperately need to raid the staff break room biscuit tin in the hope that there would be a custard cream or chocolate hob-nob and not just the depressing crumbs of rich tea biscuit or a solitarily-sad Bounty-mini from a leftover chocolate tub, or worse, a soft strawberry cream-centred chocolate from a box of Milk-Tray.  

Weekends were the moment to have a luxurious sweet french toast breakfast drizzled with maple flavoured golden syrup and dotted with some berry or other to claim its health benefits.  Or embracing the time and ceremony,  elevating breakfast to a decadent brunch with smashed avo on granary toast, poached/scrambled eggs sprinkled with pumpkin seeds.  Maybe even some supportive coral pink slithers of smoked salmon on the side. 

Sweet or savoury, I could enjoy these out and about with friends or greedily enjoyed at home.

With changes to my work-morning routine, my morning meal routine also changed.  I no longer want a slab of toast before getting to work.  Habits change.  So for over two years now, my breakfast has been a bowl of homemade granola with a couple of snow-white dollops of greek yoghurt or kefir with a sliced banana and berries.  Sprinkled with a pretentious-seed mix or other.  I find that this is a substantial breakfast that fills me and stops me snacking on biscuits or on other mid-morning temptations.

There is a current movement vilifying sweet breakfasts of cereals and grains and fruits loaded with carbs and pushing people towards savoury, protein-filled morning meals.  

The premise is that savoury breakfasts, aka morning meals, are considered to be better on the body.  They don’t spike your blood sugar levels as sweet and starchy breakfasts do.  Savoury breakfasts can (apparently) boost your energy and concentration levels throughout the day, reduce gut inflammation and even improve the appearance of your skin.

Oats, however, even though are carb loaded, they have a low glycemic index and are rich in fibre, nutrients and antioxidants.  They are nutrient-dense providing you with a sustainable energy boost throughout the day.  As they do not spike and crash your blood sugar levels as other high-carb foods do, they contribute to the overall feeling of well-being. Oats are good.  Oats pack a punch.

We are all different so therefore our body responds differently to sweet and savoury breakfasts.  Some people need to have food within 5 mins of waking up and others can’t stomach anything other than a tea/coffee for hours after getting out of bed.  The important message is to have a varied diet so that your body can absorb a variety of nutrients from different sources.

Granola

As mentioned above, my breakfast of choice is now homemade granola, greek yoghurt or kefir and fruit.  Before you decide that you’re going to go with a box of granola picked off a shelf, I can say that shop-bought is not as healthy for us as we are made to believe it is.  You’ll know exactly what you’re putting into your homemade granola, plus, it is very simple to make.  It’s really just playing with cups, stirring a bowl and putting a tray in the oven.

To make your own homemade granola, you’ll need a large bowl, a spatula, cup measures and a baking sheet lined with grease proof paper.

Use the following recipe as a guideline for ratios so that you don’t end up with a slurry that doesn’t quite work or a sludge that burns in the oven!  

I give you licence to use ingredients that you prefer and mix things up.

Easy Homemade Granola

Ingredients: 

4 cups of rolled oats NOT porridge oats 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pecan nuts 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 1 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup dried apricots

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large bowl add the oats, vegetable oil, honey, maple syrup, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon.  Stir this thoroughly so that everything is mixed in well.
3. Add the pecan nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.  Mix well.
4. Pour this mixture out onto the baking sheet and press down to create one even layer.
5. Place in the oven for 12 minutes.
6. After 12 minutes take this out of the oven and mix the oat mixture.  Press down onto the baking sheet as before and place back into the oven for another 12 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Whilst waiting, chop the dried apricots into small pieces.  
8. After the 12 mins, take the baking sheet out of the oven and sprinkle the chopped dried apricots and the dry cranberries onto the baking sheet, pressing these into the oat mixture.
9. Place into the oven for another 5 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to cool completely.  I usually leave this out overnight.  As it cools, the oats take on a deeper golden colour.  Once cool, break pieces of granola and store this into an air tight container.  

This recipe will give you around 10 portions of granola, depending on how much you pour in your breakfast bowl.  The recipe easily bulks up and it is easy to swap flavours around.  Try using different oils such as coconut oil which has a neutral flavour.  Using 1/2 cup of maple syrup will give the oats a darker colour.  Using 1/2 cup of honey will make it sweeter and it will need less time in the oven to turn golden.  Dried fruits and nuts can be as interchangeable as you’d like to make them but make sure to work with combinations that you know will work.  I prefer nuts and dried fruits but I’m sure that toasted coconut flakes and chocolate chips would also work well.  I will sometimes add flaked almonds or walnuts if I have some left in a bag from a previous recipe and I need to use them up.

I imagine that dried mangoes, toasted coconut & macadamia nut granola would make a great summery breakfast.  Definitely need to give that a go this summer.  Summer feels so far away that maybe a bowl of this is exactly what we need right now!

For a special Christmas holiday inspired food gift: homemade granola with dried cranberries, pistachios and white chocolate chips would make a great gift to be enjoyed on Christmas morning.

What do you think?  What would be your favourite flavour combinations?