Baked Blackberry, Blueberry & Coconut Crunch Oatmeal

Baked Blueberry, Blackberry & Coconut Oatmeal

Reading this blog, you’d be forgiven for thinking my husband and I live on sweet treats alone. The occasional loaf of bread maybe, but mostly cookies, cakes, brownies, pies and pastry. Looking at the recipes I post, people have been known to ask why neither of us is the size of a house with all this available on a daily basis. The answer, I’m afraid, is that it isn’t.

I bake for special occasions, birthdays and celebrations. The food we eat on the weekend, on holiday and when friends come over is indulgent – these are the recipes I post and which, of course, we eat every last bit of – but during the working week it’s mostly about health in the little loaf household. Green smoothies, eggs and oats are on regular breakfast rotation, I make up fresh batches of salads for our packed lunch each day and our evening meal is always made from scratch with a good balance of protein, vegetables and grains.
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Apple Syrup Sweetened Pumpkin Spice Granola

Pumpkin granolaTowards the end of last week, autumn arrived in earnest. Until then, it felt a little like we were living on borrowed time: sunny days and warmth that extended into the evenings even after darkness had fallen (and did so increasingly earlier every day). In my inbox, however, autumn arrived about a month earlier: it’s easy to define the seasons by what fellow food bloggers are raving about and on arrival back from honeymoon my virtual world was a veritable celebration of all things pumpkin. Continue reading

Wild Rice, Coconut & Mango Breakfast Bowls

Wild rice mango & coconut bircher muesli

My most memorable experience of eating mango for breakfast was on a night bus in South America.

If you’ve never travelled by bus in a developing country, you’re in for an eye-opening experience. Setting aside aspects like safety (seatbelts being pretty much unheard of) and toilet stops (this being the operative word for the glamorous task of squatting behind said bus), the most vivid memory I have of my South American journeys is the arrival the indomitable food hawkers. Continue reading

Seeded Rye with Salmon, Sesame & Avocado

Seeded rye smoked salmon

When I was a much littler loaf and unable to be left on my own in the house, I used to accompany my Mum on the weekly supermarket shop. Just small enough to sit in the seat at the front of the trolley, I found it so exciting cruising up and down the aisles, deciphering illegible words from a scrawled shopping list and begging for exotic items that we’d never normally be allowed Continue reading

Bircher Muesli Bowls with Nuts, Seeds & Berries

Bircher muesli

Amongst her many talents in life, my Mum is an excellent Easter bunny.

Discovering colourful, foil-wrapped eggs in unexpected places is an annual occurrence in the little loaf household. Despite the fact that my brother and I are adults (with our own flats and jobs and lives outside of our family home), my Mum still manages to sneak us a bounty of chocolate treats when we least expect it. In fact, the bigger the challenge, the more I think she relishes it. Continue reading

Naturally Sweetened Sesame Tahini Granola

Tahini Granola

Naturally sweetened granola made with apple juice & tahini

On 31st March 1979, my parents got married. One year later they returned home from work, tired and late, to discover a small pile of envelopes inside the front door. It was their first year anniversary and, while a few friends and family had posted little notes and celebratory letters, the pair of them had completely forgotten.

Until today, I thought this was unlikely to ever happen to me. I’m organised and I’m excitable, two traits which mean that when it comes to birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations, I’m always in there early. You know the girl who complains that her boyfriend completely forgot her birthday/Valentine’s Day/insert any other day designed to make our men look bad? Not me. I’m the one reminding him at least three weeks in advance then gleefully (and noisily) counting down to the celebrations day by day. Continue reading

Chunky Homemade Granola

Homemade granola

Chunky homemade granola

Happy Valentine’s Day!

All around the world, in every corner of the internet, people are posting or googling recipes for things like chocolate fondants and profiteroles, planning in what they will eat with their other half this evening and exactly what it is that constitutes the ultimate romantic dessert.

So today I’m bringing you breakfast in the form of my favourite chunky granola . . . Continue reading

Sesame Milk Loaf

white loaf

Soft & golden: the perfect breakfast loaf

Let’s imagine it’s Sunday morning. You’re in bed. The curtains are still drawn where you left them last night but a little chink is letting in just enough light to make you stir. Cocooned in a warm envelope of covers, your eyes and nose peek out over the top and, as you begin to wake, the salty, smoky smell of sizzling meat wafts in under the door. Someone – probably someone who loves you very, very much – is making you a bacon sandwich.
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