HOMEMADE GRANOLA RECIPE & OTHER HEALTHY BREAKFAST IDEAS

It's finally weekend so I finally have some time to write the promised (first) post about food. Today it's all about breakfast so grab your late Saturday morning oatmeal or whatever you need after a long Friday night and enjoy!

I love breakfast so much, and I could seriously have it for every meal. I would say I am a real oatmeal addict, even when I go on holiday or on a weekend trip I make sure I take some emergency oats. (Yes. Everyone got their quirks right?) Anyways, I usually start my day with a huge breakfast and would rather get up 20 minutes earlier than missing my morning routine. I started having a glass of lemon infused water after waking up while getting ready, apparently it strengthens your immune system and helps clearing your skin and keeping a balanced pH level. I sometimes also have a cup of tea, that is if my budget allows me to stock up on my favourite Clipper teas. Especially the Detox one is sooo good, so sweet and delicious. I then prepare my daily green smoothie. Smoothies are a great way to stuff yourself with fresh fruit and some leafy greens and obviously you can put almost everything in a smoothie but my favourite combination is this one:

MY DAILY GREEN SMOOTHIE

I usually use 1 banana, 1 kiwi, a handful of spinach and some ginger. I add water and sometimes some orange juice (the 100%-oranges one of course, stay away from the one made from concentrate!!) to make it more liquid. That usually makes about 600 ml of smoothie which might sound a lot but since it's a lot of spinach (and I promise, spinach in a smoothies tastes much better than you migth think) it won't give me too much of a sugar rush. But then again, you can never have enough fruit. Some might argue against that but I am a firm believer of the idea that even though fruit contains a lot (a lot) of sugar, it's still the good kind of sugar, and it provides you with loooots of energy and vitamines and nutrients. Ginger is a great antibacterial spice helping you to fight a sore throat or a cold or even a headache and it also boosts your metabolism. 

Next to this huge smoothie I always have my oatmeal in the morning. I usually take some oats, add water and simply put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. The lazy way to prepare oatmeal, I am sure cooking it properly is a lot fancier and better, but microwave is quite a good alternative. On top of my oatmeal I add chia pudding, which I usually prepare the night before. Just put 2 teaspoons of chia seed in a glass and add about twice or three times the amount of water or coconutmilk or whatever you fancy, leave it in the fridge over night and you will have a great gelly-like pudding in the morning. Again, something that tastes better than it looks like..

I then top this creation with whatever I find in my kitchen, sometimes some more fruit or frozen berries, sometimes coconut flakes, most often chocolate sprinkles (the perks of living in Holland) or a bit of my homemade granola. 

HOMEMADE GRANOLA 

You need: oats, dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, goji berries, that is if you can afford this kind of fancy food, plums, banana flakes...), nuts (paranuts, walnuts, peanuts...), coconut oil, mix of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, some cacao. Optional you can also add some sweetener such as honey. I prefer it without, the dried fruit are already sweet enough for me.

Put between 2 and 4 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil in a pan and heat it. Add the oats and roast them  for a few minutes. Chop the dried fruit and nuts and add them and all the other ingredients left to the oats. Roast everything for about 15 to 20 minutes until your kitchen smells good and the granola is crunchy and gold-brownish. If you use coconut flakes add them 5 minutes before taking the granola off the stove, they tend to burn quite quickly.

Let everything cool off and then store it away in a closable container to keep it crunchy and fresh.  Eat the granola within a week or so. I doubt this will be a problem though. Mine usually doesn't last longer than 3 days. If not less.

Realizing it's almost to late for breakfast now (almost!) I should come to an end. I could write books about how much I love breakfast but I suggest just try out my two little recipes (I know, it's nothing special, nothing new but maybe it inspires you to try out your own stuff) and enjoy a great long breakfast in bed. Or grab your smoothie and make your way outside to enjoy the beautiful October sun. 

Source: Mindbodygreen 1 & Mindbodygreen 2