I made this granola for a very special girl who I was lucky enough to meet this year through my work...she loves muesli and granola so I thought for Christmas this was the perfect gift for her. Unfortunately, I wrote the recipe down on a scrap of paper and...well I have to admit I lost it somewhere. I do have a list of the ingredients, but not the quantities. However, to make up for it I have found some other delicious looking granola recipes for you to try!

I use a fantastic all natural protein isolate powder called Vital Protein. It's made from golden peas and has the most balance amino acid profile of any plant based protein and is highly bio-available. It is 88% protein and vegetarian, vegan, certified kosher, lactose and gluten free. It also has a high alkalinity level (Ph 7.5) which is quite unusual for any protein powder. My favourite things about this protein powder is that it has no artificial sweeteners or flavours or anything and still tastes delicious.

I use it daily in my green smoothie and also after training. I have also recently started experimenting with some baking recipes as it is not altered at all by heat or cooking, again another plus. So for our recent road trip I wanted to take some muesli bars as they are easy, healthy snacks when made right. Adding in the protein powder just helps to boost the protein content so you are getting a more balanced nutritional profile as well as feeling fuller for longer, without too much of a carbohydrate spike.

Now don't be put off by the long list of ingredients - I just like to cram in as many different nuts, seeds and dried fruit for fun. It is so simple to make that once you measure everything out it is super quick. You can always just keep the ratios of nuts, seeds and dried fruit the same and use less types too.

Just in case you have been living under a rock or have just discovered the online food blogging world...then I'm sure you would have come across The Green Smoothie once or twice...or fifty-two times before. Well, yes I am totally on the green band wagon and enjoy my vibrant coloured drink every day, sometimes twice a day.

So I thought I would share my typical green breakfast smoothie. Since they are pretty straightforward to make i.e. leafy greens + fruit + water + extras; and don't really require precise measurements or a recipe - I thought a green smoothie video would probably just do the trick!

This is one of my favourite ways to have porridge in the morning. It's got all my favourite flavours in it and is a fantastic way to get in an extra serve of vegetables - before the day has even started you're ahead!

If you used a microplane or very finely grate the carrot, the kiddies wouldn't even know they are eating veggies for breakfast. Evil I know. I'm totally mature though and prefer my to julienne my carrot.

We had a naughty breakfast the other morning. We ate half of this each (i.e. 2 serves) but 1 serve with some fruit and yoghurt makes it a better brekkie choice. But it was so good that we just ate it all haha I felt better with myself after going to the gym!

I got this idea of an apple pancake, but baked in the oven and found a delicious recipe at Taste and Tell which I modified to suit what I had at hand. It didn't puff up, but I can't say I was surprised after I changed so much of the recipe. It was still so amazingly delicious for breakfast though; the natural yoghurt cut through the brown sugar sweetness too.

Back to porridge, muesli or green smoothies though - I couldn't handle this much indulgence every morning!!

This is a very nice little recipe for corn bread that a work colleague gave to me (from his wife). I haven't had corn bread before, and didn't know what to expect but it was quite delicious. The recipe has quite a few ingredients, but the process is really very simple. My lovely friend Pip and I, who visited this past weekend from Melbourne,) enjoyed this on Saturday afternoon with some honey and apricot marmalade.

I have to say though, I would call this more of cake really...it is not overly sweet, but it is definitely more cake like in texture, melts in your mouth a bit. Yum!

Just wanted to share some photographs from our lovely, heavenly, beautiful weekend away at the Mount View lodges, (highly recommend these.) It is hard to describe just how serene this place is, or how vast and never ending the view is.
Imagine seeing as far as the eye can see and hearing nothing but a few little birds, some leaves rustling and just....silence. It was unbelievable to fall asleep to total silence. In fact I actually woke up a few times the first night and couldn't work out why it was so QUIET. Waking in the morning to the sun rising...drifting off to sleep again...then waking and feeling refreshed and ready to meet the difficult day ahead of reading, chatting, eating and resting.

Isn't Sunday just the best day for pancakes? I haven't had pancakes in ages though, been way too obsessed with my porridge. I'm glad I resisted porridge this morning though, because these were just so delicious and satisfying...

You know what I LOVE about winter? Even when I am sick of the cold mornings and yearning for the beach and a sun tan and salt in my hair and sand between my toes and icy poles and....I digress...
The thing I love about winter is Porridge EVERY morning, (yes with a capital 'P'.) I do count myself as a bit of a Porridge Expert and love to create different flavours each day.

These use the entire orange through the mixture, so they are beautifully fragrant and dense. I love orange poppyseed cakes so the zest and some juice just isn't enough for me! I love that you get little bits of zippy zest through this and it is so dense and soft in texture.

Not baking for over a week makes me feel rather restless and...just yuck! I need to bake.

So today, I wanted to bake something a bit healthier and more nutritious, since I would be most likely eating it through the week. I had some frozen berries so decided that some muffins would be perfect.

The recipe from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook, replacing half the butter with ricotta cheese (high protein, lower fat) and half the castor sugar with brown sugar and wholemeal instead of white flour. Nothing major, and these still taste delicious!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love porridge?
I think it is the best breakfast in the world actually and endless options of variations.
In fact I just had porridge this morning. Ok I have porridge every morning, so nothing new there.

A quick and easy little fritatta, perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.