Cook with Kirly-Sue

Welcome to ‘Cook with Kirly-Sue’. I hope you will become a regular participant with me in discussing food and drink.

‘Cook with Kirly-Sue’ is a celebration of the foods I like to eat. Simple enough, right? But this is only a start, because I hope you’ll share your favourites with me and all the other Keep The Faith readers! I will always share tasty, easy-to-make recipes and cooking tips with you.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via my social media handles, @KirlySuesKitchen

Welcome to 2023 - new year, new opportunities, and a chance to create a new you. Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day and having a healthy breakfast is a good habit to get into.

10 HEALTHY, QUICK & EASY BREAKFAST IDEAS

1. Raspberry oat bars

These are easy to make and can be eaten hot or cold. The recipe is below, and you can swap the raspberries for any other berry you like.

5. Porridge

There are many different types of porridge - oats, cornmeal, plantain… - so just choose your favourite. All can be made with your preferred non-dairy milk.

6. Pancakes

You can make pancakes with only three ingredients - oats, almond milk and banana - mashed together.

7. Smoothie bowl

This became popular in the USA in the early 2000s. A smoothie bowl is thicker than a normal smoothie. Use 1½ cups frozen fruit, 1 banana, ½ cup vegan yogurt and ½ cup orange juice (plus any more to get it to blend).

8. Vegan full English

This comprises vegan sausage, mushroom, tomato, toast (with vegan butter), carrot, bacon and beans.

9. Scrambled tofu and spinach on toast

10. Fresh fruit salad with vegan yogurt

Raspberry Oat Bars

Oat layers:

• 250g cups oat flour

• 200g oats

• 3-4 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 50g flaxseed meal

• 1-2 tbsp water

• 3 tbsp almond butter (or other nut/ seed butter)

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 400g raspberry (fresh or thawed from frozen)

• 100g date paste

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp arrowroot starch

• ½ tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line an 8-inch baking pan with baking paper and set aside.

2. Avocado on wholemeal toast

This has got to be one of the quickest and healthiest breakfasts to make. You can add a slight sprinkle of salt and a light dusting of cayenne pepper to taste.

3. Granola

This is a great breakfast - consisting of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, raisins, etc. - that is usually baked until crisp, toasted and golden brown (see recipe below).

4. Overnight oats

This popular breakfast offers a range of health benefits, due to its rich fibre and protein content.

Oat layers: In a large bowl, combine oat flour, oats, banana, ground flaxseed, water, almond butter, cinnamon and salt until combined and crumbly.

Filling: In a separate bowl, coarsely crush the raspberries and date paste with a fork. Add arrowroot starch and mix to combine.

Assembly: Firmly press half of the oat mixture into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Then evenly spread with the raspberry mixture on top. Finally, coarsely crumble the remaining oat mixture over the filling.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden. Allow to cool completely, in the pan, on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cut into 16 bars. As an option, drizzle with vanilla icing.

Vanilla icing:

• 150g soaked raw cashews (soaked for 2 hours)

• 100g almond milk

• 3 soft medjool (medjoul) dates

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, and drizzle onto the raspberry oat bars.

This recipe is named after my Aunty Verna, as she taught me to make this lovely and versatile breakfast. Serve with non-dairy milk or use as a topping on non-dairy ice cream. I also use it as a snack. I store portions in small plastic containers and eat with a spoon whenever I’m out and about.

Ingredients

• 500-700 grams rolled oats (the large, old fashioned, grained type)

• ¼ cup coconut (half shredded and half grated)

• 3 tbsp unrefined brown sugar

• juice of 3 large oranges

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• pinch of salt

• 1 tsp almond essence

• 1 tsp rosewater

• ½ cup crushed peanuts

• ½ cup sunflower seeds

• ½ cup sesame seeds

• ¼ cup flax seeds (linseed)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

• Mix together the oats, sugar and coconut.

• In a separate container, add nutmeg, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, almond essence and rosewater to the orange juice.

• Add the orange juice mixture to the oats mixture.

• Stir with clean hands until all the mixture is moist.

• Place onto baking sheets and spread out into one even layer.

• Stir every 10 -15 minutes.

• During the final 10 minutes add the nuts and seeds.

• Allow to cool, then store in airtight containers.

Kirly-Sue (aka Susanne Kirlew) is an award-winning published author, vegan social media influencer and TV presenter. Kirly-Sue was named as one of the Top 100 in the Lift Effects Star Awards. She has a total of 40,000+ followers across her social media. Visit kirlysueskitchen.co.uk for more information.