Bircher Muesli

Happy Friday everyone!

I am so glad it's Friday. Today me and my roommates are having a cute little Christmas celebration. We are aware we are a month early, but in our defence I leave for home in two weeks and Marnie leaves for home a week after me. So we won't be celebrating Christmas together. So today we are having a cute little dinner, going to see Argo and exchanging presents (yay for presents).

But before we do that, the girls have to study for exams which start next week. So to any uni students out there either suffering from mid-term stress of end-of-year stress, I hope it all goes well over the next few weeks and you get a good holiday!

I haven't been doing much, except for writing. NaNoWriMo started yesterday (for me) and so two days in and I have written approximately 5,000 words. I may write some more later today. 10% of the goal word limit reached. I'm really enjoying myself and I find that writing and thinking about my story keeps me busy and I don't eat or snack as much, which was becoming a problem.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the beautiful Sunshine Coast to see my grandparents and relax for five days. Then I'll be back next Wednesday for my last week in this apartment this year!

Now, onto the food. I wasn't going to share this for ages, but it is now a staple in my diet. I love it so.

What I love about this breakfast is how easy it is. After dinner the night before you can simply throw the ingredients in a bowl, pop it in the fridge and then in the morning if you’re in a rush or can’t be bothered, you have breakfast waiting for you. The only negative thing about this is that is requires planning in advance. But if you’re anything like me, who lives for food, I often think about how much time I have in the morning and what I can eat the night before, so this is one easy breakfast that works for me.

The flavours for this change depending on what you put it in – I love the mango Chobani and mango combo, but I’ve also tried peach Chobani and apple, and strawberry Chobani and strawberry. You obviously don’t have to have Chobani but it is my favourite yoghurt at the moment – low in fat and sugar and damn tasty – it’s the first Greek yoghurt I’ve been in love with. I would definitely recommend using natural or Greek yoghurt for this – you need a thick yoghurt for the muesli to be thick. I prefer to use flaked nuts as well simply because whole nuts sometimes annoy me in soft foods – the flaked almonds work very well with this.

There are tons of these recipes out there, so I looked at several and then worked up my own. One of my favourite bircher mueslis is by Antonia at Health Inspirations, so if you’re looking for a different take, try hers! It’s a regular in my breakfast at the moment!

Level of Difficulty: The easiest and quickest breakfast

Average Cost: Very cheap

Main Ingredients: yoghurt, oats, nuts and apple

Occasion: Breakfast, or dinner.

Menu Options: This is, as usual, a very simple recipe to which you can add anything you like. I personally would follow the basic instructions provided here and then go crazy with the flavour of yoghurt you use and the toppings. Now I love fruit that matches the yoghurt as topping, or using the leftover half apple, or adding more nuts and fresh berries. You could be creative though – chocolate chips, coconut, brown sugar, honey, more yoghurt, a splash of milk – anything you want you can add to this. The flavours are yours to play with.

Serves 1

What you need:

½ cup oats

½ cup flaked almonds

¼ - ½ grated apple

¼ cup almond milk (or other milk you chose)

170 g Greek yoghurt (I use Chobani mango)

1 cup water – or enough water to just gently cover the mixture

Toppings: leftover apple, nuts, coconut, mango, berries, honey, more yoghurt, etc

What to do:

In a bowl, combine all of the above ingredients bar the water and toppings. Mix together well.

Pour the water into your bowl slowly – you want the water to just barely cover the top of the muesli mixture so the oats can soak up the water overnight. If you are only planning on leaving the mixture in the fridge for a little bit, do not cover with water, just put a little in.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour but ultimately overnight.

In the morning, or when you chose to eat, drain any excess water from the muesli (there shouldn’t be any water left if you only put a little in). Serve cold topped with whatever you chose – for the pictures here I used mango yoghurt so I topped the muesli with mango, coconut and flaked almonds. Other days I top the yoghurt with the remainder of the apple I grated the night before (if you put a little lemon juice on the apple and cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight, it will not go off), nuts and mixed berries.

Detox Salad

This is one of the quickest posts I will ever write. My Mum and brother have just left and it's pretty lonely around here as my roommates are not home. I'll recap the events of this week another time, as I just wanted to pop in and share this salad with you. Then I'm off to have an early night, catch up on some tv and get some much needed rest before I tackle my last load of assignments for the school year. I've got a hectic few weeks before I finish (4 weeks left of this year).

It's very simple and probably a combination you have seen of or heard before. My salad was definitely inspired by Iowa Girl Eat's Inner Goddess Detox Salad. I absolutely love her. She has fantastic and relatively easy recipes.

The reason why this salad is so great is because it is so simple - you literally toss the ingredients together, throw together a quick, sweet dressing and you are good to go. The ingredients are simple - you probably already have them all. There is nothing more like summer than the combination of sweet strawberries, tart blueberries, and tender chicken, drizzled in honey-esque sauce.

So get your ingredients ready and make yourself this nutritious, healthy and delicious salad. Right now. C'mon, you know you want to.

Level of Difficulty: So simple it’s ridiculous

Average Cost: $

Main Ingredients: Chicken, berries and honey

Occasion: Lunch – definitely a picnic-style meal. This would also make a simple and light dinner.

Menu Options: You could add other summer fruits if you like – apple and pear would make a lovely addition to this meal. You could use other greens – rocket, kale, iceburg or a mix of lettuces would suffice. You could add any other fruits and veggies you like, but remember the dressing has a honey base, so sweeter foods work with this dish.

Serves one.

What you need:

For the salad:

-          1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded into thin strips

-          1 cup mixed berries – I used strawberries and blueberries

-          1 cup spinach, torn into smaller bits

-          ½ tomato, diced

-          ¼ carrot, grated

For the dressing:

-          1 tsp honey

-          2 tsp oil

-          ½ tsp balsamic vinegar

-          2 tsp water

To serve:

-          ¼ cup flaked almonds

What to do:

In a bowl, combine chicken, berries, spinach, tomato and carrot.

Make the dressing. In a smaller bowl, combine honey, oil, balsamic vinegar and water until they make a thin dressing. If you want, add more honey for a stronger taste.

Toss the salad in the dressing and top with flaked almonds. Serve cold. 

Roasted Cherry Brownies with Roasted Cherry Ganache

I just want to say something.

You guys are amazing. I had a lot of lovely responses to my last post and I want to thank everyone for your help. I was incredibly worried about that post, but you guys totally made me feel ok about my article idea.

I was also stressing about another article, in which no one I wanted to interview had replied to me, so I went crazy contacting people today and I got a ton of replies. So I'm feeling a lot better about everything. It's been a crazy week. 

Also - why does the conditioner always run out before the shampoo? I mean, why? Now I have to buy one conditioner, but no shampoo.

And I apologize for the insane amount of brownie photos this time. I was in love with them all.

These brownies are amazing. They are fudgy and dense and chewy - everything a good brownie should be. The chocolate is irresistably dark. The cherries add an extra kick. The ganache is delectably thick. I could go on forever. It's just easier for you to make these for yourself. They are also very easy to make - do not be scared by the long ingredient list or the long list of directions. It's very easy - it's pretty much my one bowl brownie mix with some cherries.

Level of Difficulty: Relatively easy – do not be put off by the long directions! I was trying to be very thorough – these are very easy to make – pretty much need two bowls, a brownie pan and a tray. It just involves a bit of switching the oven temperature around.

Average Cost: $

Menu Options: I’m sure you could change the fruit if you want, but I’m not sure how you would roast fruit or for how long. It would be best to stick with the cherries. You could totally change the type and quantity of the chocolate, but I find the dark chocolate the best. And the quantity works well with the cherries and chocolate ganache.

Makes 21 small brownies – this is how I cut them to restrict how many I eat, but you can cut them into however many brownies you want.

No nutritional value this time guys – I’m sure we all know these are not healthy – but they are damn delicious.

What you need:

For brownies:

-          2 cups pitted cherries

-          1 tbsp brown sugar

-          125 g dark chocolate – be sure to use at least 70% cocoa chocolate

-          ¾ cup butter

-          ½ cup brown sugar

-          1 cup sugar

-          3 eggs

-          1 tsp vanilla

-          1 cup flour

-          1 tsp salt

-          ½ cup of dark chocolate bits (unsweetened chocolate bits work best)

For roasted cherry ganache:

-          2 cups pitted cherries

-          1 tbsp brown sugar

-          150 ml light cream

-          100 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Grease a brownie pan and line it with parchment paper. I always advise this because it so easy to remove the brownies from the pan.

Make sure the cherries are pitted correctly. In a small bowl, combine the cherries with the 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Mix well. Place on a baking tray (well oiled) and bake the cherries for approximately 10 minutes. When the cherries are done, juices will be flowing from the fruit and they will look a darker red.

Change the temperature on the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. While the temperature is cooling down, or while the cherries are roasted, prepare the brownie mixture.

Break up the chocolate and place in a large, microwave proof bowl with the butter. Microwave the butter and chocolate in 30 second increments until the butter and chocolate have melted together.

In the same bowl, provided it is large enough, add the sugars. Whisk until the mixture is well combined.

Add the eggs and vanilla at once and whisk until well combined.

Sift the flour and salt into the mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture together. Be careful here not to overmix the brownie batter.

Stir the chocolate bits and roasted cherries into the mixture. Make sure both ingredients are evenly spread throughout the brownie batter.  

Pour the batter, which should be heavy and thick, into a brownie pan. Place in the oven and cook for 20 - 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the brownies after 20 minutes because you don’t want the edge of the brownies to burn.  As there are cherries in the mixture, it may need to cook for at least 25 minutes. This will depend on the oven though. The mixture may seem slightly undercooked when you first take it out of the oven, but once it has cooled the brownies remain fudgy yet firm.

Allow the brownies to cool for 10 minutes, while changing the oven temperature back to 230 degrees Celsius.

While the brownies are cooling, make the roasted cherry ganache. Follow the initial step when making the roasted cherries – combine the pitted cherries and brown sugar in a bowl, and then roast in the oven for approximately 10 minutes.

Once the brownie has cooled slightly – it does not have to be fully cooled – pour the roasted cherries over the brownie mixture. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, whichever is easier, spread the cherries over the entire brownie surface.

Leave this to cool. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, mix the cream and dark chocolate together to make ganache. The ganache will be done when the mixture has turned a dark brown and is really thick. Take the ganache off the heat and allow to cool for a moment.

Then, pour the ganache over the brownie base and roasted cherry. Very carefully spread the ganache so it covers the entire surface of the brownie. It should cover most of the cherries, but some will stick out.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.