Banana Apple Sultanas bread – quick in the bread machine

Im sooooooo sorry I havent been here in so long. I’ve just been so busy at work, plus I am doing a diet (A serious one this time) and so is Ben so cooking has been a little bit out of the loop.

Anyways, Ben likes to go cycling, and he does…pretty much every tuesday and thursday he wakes up at 5:30 and goes out for hour and half or more.
So usually they go to a cafe place and have banana bread, but since we started a diet I’ve been making him some, a much lighter version.
This version is 4 PROPOINTS (New Weight watchers system) per slice and here is the recipe:

You will need
2 cups of flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp apple sauce – no sugar
30g sultanas
1 banana large
1 apple or pear in small pieces, no skin

Method:
put everything in the bread maker and turn it on and let it stir for 5 minutes. you will get a sticky mixture. you dont really need more than 5 minutes.

Get a spatula and fix the top.

Choose the baking option from your machine and let it bake for around 1 hour (You will need to check if its cooked or need another 10 minutes in the end) and Ta dahhhh

If you slice it in 15 portions, 4 points each

BON APPETITE.

Christmas treat- Pancakes for breakfast

ohh, I love Jamie Oliver. 

I love his recipes, I love the way he cooks, i love his carisma.

This week they had this show, Jamie christmas family on the tv every evening at 6:30. Did you watch? I watched and recorded the 5 episodes, and got so inspired that cooked some of the stuff the day after (even tho he is in the frozen winter and we are in boiling (not so boiling) summer.
One night he made left overs turkey “Chili con carne” so I made chili con carne vegetarian style. other day he showed how to make those amazing roasted potatoes. I adapted on my own way obviously but made with balsamic glaze, was just amazing. 

And one of the days the thought how to cook breakfast pancakes.I made them this morning and they were so good we ate them all (even tho would have been enough for 3 or 4 people).

I must say you will see the ingredients, the are not too bad at all (Until you put toppings heheheh).

So here we go:

easy easy pancakes (For 3 ou 4 people)

1 cup of regular flour  (Jamie oliver recipe uses self raising flour and no baking powder)

1 cup of milk

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Some fruit (optional but advisable) –  I put strawberries. In Jamie recipe he uses pear.

Butter (if you want the fat version) or olive oil spray (little bit lighter, and is what I used) for cooking them

Method

In a large bowl put flour, milk, egg, salt and baking powder and whisk it until gets soft. Then grate or chop the fruit inside and mix with a spoon

Heat up a large frying pan with the butter or oil. You will need to cook them batches. Put 3or 4  tbsp of the batch and it will set in one pancake.  you can make 2 or 3 at the same time depending on the size of your frying pan. Leave it for a couple of minutes than turn and leave the other side to cook for a couple of minutes.

if you want them to look very very nice you can sprinkle icing sugar on the top.

Voila.

Suggestions of toppings.

Ricotta, Banana, Cinamon and honey

Mapple syrup

Strawberries, banana and yogurt

Just honey and yogurt

whatever else comes to your mind.

Ps.: We were hungry so I ended up forgetting to take a photo of the final result. heheheh

Merry xmas.

Easy Bircher Muesli Recipe

Good Moooorning!
What is better than waking up for a healthy and delicious breakfast?
The other day, I explained here the difference between Muesli and Granola, and how easy it was to make it yourself.

So here it goes, an easy Bircher Muesli Recipe that is even better if made in advance (also because it takes a few hours to prepare it anyway)

• ingredients for 4 portions:
• 
  
• 2 cups rolled oats (regular, not quick cooking)
• 1  cups unsweetened apple juice
• 1 granny smith apple medium or small, coarsely grated
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 small limes, juiced
• 3/4 cup thick, plain yoghurt (Find one without gelatine, to keep it vegetarian / kosher)
• 3/4 cup mixed fresh berries (we used blackberries, strawberries, raspberries)
• 1.5 tablespoons honey

Method

Place the  oats in a large bowl. Pour over apple juice to cover. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Just before serving, stir in apple, almonds, 1/4 cup lime juice, 80%  of the yogurt and 80% of the mixed berries.

Spoon muesli into bowls. Top with remaining yoghurt and mixed berries. Drizzle with honey. Serve immediately.