When it comes to creating wholesome meals which feed the eyes as much as they nourish the body, it’s easy to be mislead by popular bloggers and Instagramers promoting the latest health food fad. In reality there’s no need to seek out these expensive superfoods when our grocery stores and local markets provide the best fresh produce on our doorstep at a fraction of the price. Living here in Australia away from the luxury of my mum’s well stocked kitchen cupboards, I’ve learnt to keep it more simple and take things back to basics.

For brekky or a snack anytime of the day, you can’t go wrong with a classic yoghurt bowl.  Take a dollop of Greek set yoghurt, frozen berries warmed in a little water, pear slices baked in honey, a crunchy granola laden with nuts and a generous dash of cinnamon – simple, fast and cheap. Baking the pears turns their flesh into golden sweetness and with the crunch of granola on top of the fruit, this combination is like a healthy take on crumble desert!

A night in cooking for myself means taking what odds and ends I have leftover and getting creative with the flavours I can put together. This colourful bowl of goodness was a mix of salad, paprika roasted veggies including cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, onion and whole garlic cloves, fajita quorn strips, sticky white rice, sprouts, pepitas, a squeeze of lemon and that all important drizzle of hot sauce. The addition of pineapple wedges and touch of paprika on the veggies complimented the Mexican theme and really vamped up this dinner.

Once again oats prove to be the most economical of wholesome ingredients and provide endless possibilities with all the different cooking methods. I most often use rolled oats and choose to cook on the stovetop, however I baked this bowl of oatmeal in the oven to achieve a super creamy consistency. No need for fancy powders or seed mixes, simply take a cup of rolled oats, a cup of soy milk, a cup of water, mix together in a bowl and leave in the oven for 25 minutes or so. I stirred in grated apple half way through and left to stand for 10 minutes before topping with warmed berries and cinnamon. I’ve experimented a lot with methods for cooking oats and lavish toppings to decorate, but this basic recipe was perfect and just as worthy of a photo. I enjoyed my bowl sat in the garden soaking up the first few rays of Australian spring; sometimes its the simple pleasures that warm the soul.

With a bit of time on my hands I decided to have a play in the kitchen and create something different for my brekky this morning. You’ve probably heard of zoats which are made using courgette (or zucchini if your Australian) to bulk out the volume of your porridge bowl and get in those extra micronutrients. However with some left over carrots and dates knocking about, I chose to create my own carrot cake oatmeal recipe.

I kept it very simple and the result was so delicious it was like eating desert for breakfast! My new obsession with rice milk really topped the dish off like the whipped cream to accompany a carrot cake. If I had gone to the supermarket and shopped for this recipe I probably would’ve over complicated it, but by just using what I had to hand, I discovered the perfect combination of ingredients – Sometimes less is more!

Method:

1. Cook a cup of oats with 2 cups of water over the stove.
2. Add most of the grated carrot and chopped dates leaving a little for topping, and continue to simmer gently.
3. Once the oats are thickening up, add a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. You may want to add more honey at this stage if a sweeter taste is required, but the dates should sweeten the mix enough.
4. Dish up in a bowl and decorate with the leftover grated carrot, dates, cinnamon and drizzle of honey. Serve with a side of heated rice milk to pour over just before enjoying in the sunshine 🙂