daniel diver

Foyle Pride 2021

In celebration of Foyle Pride 2021. I am sharing one of my favourite breakfast recipes. My super easy & delicious fully loaded scrambled eggs. As the name suggests this is a scrambled egg dish loaded with lots of good thing and it even has its own toast element. I hope if you are celebrating #Pride this weekend that you have a blast. Although the celebrations may be a little different I thoroughly hope you have the most fantastic time.

For more on Foyle pride check it out here: Foyle Pride

Happy & safe pride everyone

kefir pancakes

Kefir Pancakes

These I boldly boast are the best pancakes ever! Light, fluffy and sponge like absolutely ideal for mopping up syrup or any of the butter pat that may have melted and run down the stack pooling at the bottom. I have posted pancake recipes before and I do at times still make those pancakes, but it is usually with kefir these days. It isn’t just because of this fabulous elixirs numerous health benefits but simply because I always have some in the fridge and it really makes the best pancakes ever.

Kefir for anyone not in the know is a fermented milk drink , it’s similar to a thin yoghurt. It originates in Russia and dates back to 1884. It is usually fermented over night with kefir grains giving the drink a sour, tangy slightly carbonated drink. I now use it in place of buttermilk in almost all my recipes as well as drinking every morning. one of my favourite recipes including kefir are my pancakes. I make them almost every weekend.

Granola muffins

Making muffins for breakfast might seem like a lot of work, but it’s really not. These muffins simply require mixing a few wet ingredients into dry and giving them a lazy stir together. As a lumpy mixed muffin batter gives the lightest muffins. They are great as a grab and go breakfast. I most often make them at the weekends when I can have a relaxed breakfast and have several mugs of tea while they are in the oven. This allows me to ease into breakfast awake properly and actually enjoy breakfast rather than just fuelling myself for the day.  

Granola Breakfast Muffins

The muffins are packed with seeds and nuts both within and on top and I do this lazily and easily by using granola. Of course, you need to use a nut and seed granola and you can use one that also contains dried fruits as well if you desire it. Spelt or wholemeal flour gives the muffins body and heft whilst also being incredibly light and moist. Maple syrup imparts a subtle smoky sweetness and I’ve probably said it several times before but maple syrup and nuts are a legendary combo.  

They are best eaten warm from the oven. I can never decide what is my favourite way of eating them. With jam, butter or honey. So naturally of course, since the recipe makes 6 muffins and there are only two of us eating, we get three muffins each so I have one with jam one with butter and one drizzled with honey.  

Below is my recipe check it out and give it a go.  

Croissant Breakfast Bake

I do like something with a bit of sweetness to it for a late breakfast on the weekends and this is one I love. I use stale croissants that I steep in a sweet vanilla eggy mixture and what you get after 35 minutes in the oven is a kitchen full of sweet bready aroma and a croissant bake that has a donut like flavour studded with tart berries and crunchy flaked almonds on top. I also love the bits of croissant that stick out they crisp up in the oven.

This is also a fab make ahead breakfast for a large crowd double or triple the recipe. The night before, make it up and stick in the fridge, next morning pop it into the oven for a no stress breakfast. The only downside I have when it comes to this is when I make it the night before it often ends up a midnight snack. Willpower fails me and I almost always give in. I hope you enjoy.

Croissant Breakfast Bake
Buttermilk Pancakes with maple syrup

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chorizo and guacamole breakfast eggs

Guacamole Eggs – One of my favourite breakfasts

I do love breakfast, especially on those mornings where I can take my time not that you will need much time to make this breakfast.

It consists of soft oozy poached egg on a bed of creamy smashed avocado with a confetti of warm chorizo sprinkled over and drizzled with a chilli butter sauce.

There are a few things to keep in mind when poaching eggs. Make sure you use the freshest eggs you can, or they will have lots of stringy fluffy bits (not that, that is the end of the world). Use a fridge cold egg and use either lemon juice or vinegar in the water to help the whites set. It is also a good idea to swirl the water before you slip in the egg which will make the egg while swirl around the yolk giving you a rounder poached egg. Make sure the water doesn’t boil as this can break the egg up and will cook the yolk very quickly and make it hard and, in my opinion, make it a disappointment. Finally, if you are after a perfect poached egg it is worth cracking your egg into a tea strainer and allowing the water part to drip through the strainer. It is this watery part that goes stringy and fluffy.

What are your favourite breakfast recipes? Comment below and let me know.

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Sausage and sweet potato hash
Sausage & Sweet Potato Hash
Eggs in Purgatory

Eggs in Purgatory

Eggs in Purgatory

Eggs in Purgatory are as you might have guessed from the photo and name are eggs that are poached in a fiery tomato sauce. These aren’t the most photographic eggs in the world but what they lack in appearance they certainly make up for in flavour. As a quick shortcut here, I use spicy Chorizo sausage to impart a lot of flavour with very little work. You can if you want things a lot milder use a sweet smoky paprika chorizo instead of a spicy one and adjust heat level with dried chilli flakes and you can also cut out the meat factor altogether by removing the sausage and using just the chilli, garlic, tomatoes and sea salt which is tasty enough.

 I most often make these when I get in and am famished and need something quick. The whole dish from beginning to end only take about 8 minutes. It is so good with hunks of good bread to dip in and scoop out the fiery sauce and runny eggs with. Sourdough, flatbreads or any other favourite will do.

Sausage and sweet potato hash

Breakfast Hash

Below is my breakfast hash recipe it is what I do most often when having hash. It means that I can make breakfast for two with just a few meager sausages. This is a basic blueprint recipe and you can adjust and change to suit what you have available in your kitchen. If you have white potatoes that need using up by all means use these instead or if you have no potatoes, why not substitute them for some fried bread and add a few halved cherry tomatoes to the mix.

The Best Buttermilk Pancakes

This is exactly what weekend breakfasts are all about.

These are fluffy and spongy American style pancakes and the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. I can already see the barrage of comments about those Japanese style pancakes and how light and fluffy they are but in truth I don’t see them as pancakes more as souffle and yes, they take as much work as a souffle to get right. I do love them, but they require as much work and attention as a new born baby. These pancakes are simple and delicious just a matter of stirring wet ingredients into dry and dolloping into a greased pan for a few minutes. To get even sized pancakes I would recommend using a quarter cup measure it makes the perfect sized pancakes. Enjoy warm from the pan with an ooze of maple syrup, crispy bacon or with lemon juice and sugar.

I believe it is also very important not to use a whisk to combine the batter as this over works the batter making a tough pancakes. Instead, simply fold the ingredients together with a rubber spatula until just combined you want to remove most lumps but if the odd one remains it will not affect the pancakes.

Breakfast on the go – Overnight Oats

Overnight oats were ubiquitous across the web. Every time I was online, I came across pictures of these oats in mason jars topped with fresh berries. Beautiful, as these images are, I thought I would never enjoy them, cold raw oats, no thanks. now however I am so happy that I did I love the flavour, creaminess and the simplicity. The night before it is just a matter of mixing a few ingredients together or adding all ingredients to a mason jar and shaking them together. Pop into the fridge and breakfast is good to go. The real appeal to me was that it meant I had breakfast ready to go and they do keep you full up for a long time. If I’m eating them at home, I just remove them from the fridge 20 – 30 minutes before eating. If on the go they will probably have reached room temperature by the time you have reached your destination. These are perfectly good straight from the fridge, but you can give them a blast in the microwave to take the chill out of them.

There is an unending amount of flavour variations for these oats. Below is my favourite or at least my favourite so far, apple and cinnamon I add a little maple to sweet and any eating apple for crunch I prefer Pink Ladies as they are both crunchy and sweet. Here are some other variations I do regularly banana, peanut butter and cocoa, strawberry and kiwi and orange and rose water. You can also add a variety of nuts and seeds to top these toasted flaked almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflowers seeds, chopped hazelnuts etc.