Breakfast or dessert or a midday treat? You choose. We can eat french toast any time of the day. You can find brioche in the supermarket now – it’s not the real thing but it is an airy and light bread that makes good French toast. Serve it with a fruit compote, dust with icing sugar and a spoon of sour cream and you are ready to go. It takes minutes to make.
You’ll need a waffle iron or an electric waffle maker to make proper waffles but if you don’t have one, you can still make pancakes from the same batter.
Make them into bars or roll into balls! The ratio is 1:1, one part dates and one part cashews. If you use 200g of dates, use 200g of cashews. Switch the nuts to brazil nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts or any other nut you like.
Halloumi is a cheese which takes on other flavours brilliantly. It can be served at breakfast too, with an egg and a fried tomato.
These crunchy little potato pancakes with their raggedy frizzled edges look a picture on the plate. Ugly can be beautiful! Make them when you want to use up those last few potatoes in the bag.
Overnight oats are the new big thing in healthy eating. A modern take on porridge, if you are time-poor make a batch a few days in advance, store them in the fridge ready for breakfast, add a few simple toppings to add goodness and crunch and you are ready to go.
Make up a jug of this berry smoothie, pour it into clean jam jars, screw on the lid and keep them in the fridge for breakfast. They will keep for 3-4 days if you use freshly opened yogurt or kefir. You can also serve it as a healthy dessert – in that case don’t add the milk and garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Play around with this basic recipe: change the fresh blueberries to dried sliced apricots; substitute cashews with chopped pistachios and use a flavoured honey or maple syrup instead of runny honey. Spice it up with a pinch of cinnamon or a few crushed cardamom seeds.
Fruit and oatmeal go together so well that it is a pity not to add them to that well-loved standard, porridge.
Some people like to cook their omelettes so they are golden on all sides. The classic French method is to keep them a soft buttery yellow on the outside. Fill them with smoked salmon and Parmesan and they can be served for breakfast, as a light lunch or starter.