Quick ideas
Bircher overnight oats
Bircher oats can best be described as a cold, fruity porridge. The oats and apple are steeped in liquid overnight, plumping and softening. It means that breakfast can be pulled, fully formed, from the fridge in the morning. You can add a little extra milk before serving, depending on your preferred consistency. Top with whatever fresh fruit is at its best. If you forget to soak the mix overnight, you can still get a similar result by soaking for 20 mins or so in the morning; it won’t have quite the same texture but will still make a sound start to the day. See below for more ideas.
Ingredients
- 1 large apple, coarsely grated
- 100g oats
- 325ml milk or almond milk
- 1 lemon
- honey or sugar, to taste – optional
- fresh fruit to top e.g. sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries etc.
Method
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Step 1
Mix the apple, oats, and milk in a bowl with 2 tsp of lemon juice. Taste and add a little honey or sugar to sweeten, if you fancy. Cover and transfer to the fridge overnight.
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Step 2
In the morning, give it a quick mix and add a little extra milk if it seems too thick. Top with some fresh fruit to serve.
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Step 3
Variations: Fig, Honey and Almonds: Follow the basic recipe, replacing half the milk with yogurt. Serve topped with an extra blob of yogurt, a sliced fig or two, and swirl of honey. Finish with some chopped and toasted almonds. You could even roast the figs for 5-10 mins, in a medium oven with a drizzle of honey, until warm and jammy – they make a great contrast to the cold oats.
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Step 4
Peanut, Chocolate and Banana: Mix 2 tbsp of cocoa powder and 3 tbsp peanut butter into the mix before soaking overnight. To serve, you can either mash a banana and stir it through the mix or serve it sliced on top - If you have the time you can panfry the banana until golden on each side.
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Step 5
Mango and Pineapple: Switch the milk for coconut milk (a drinking variety rather than tinned, as the fat tends to go solid in the fridge). If you wanted to be very thorough, you could replace the grated apple for about 50g of dried pineapple and mango, roughly chopped. Serve topped with chunks of fresh pineapple and mango, and a dusting of toasted coconut.