Back home to reality. Being on holiday is great but so is having our veganly stocked kitchen. This is our final week living in our beloved flat before we move to a cheaper one outside of the city in preparation for baby.
When I first became lactose intolerant my initial panic was, but what about breakfast?! I was so used to having milky cereal or yogurty musli. I like a sweet breakfast and try to limit the amount of gluten I have in a day so I don't like to rely on toast for breakfast.
Here is my super easy protein packed recipe for vegan musli. Well... almost vegan, I still use honey. I only use organic, sustainable honey, from what I've been told these bee keepers are doing lots for the conservation of bees. No one has been able to explain to me why consuming honey is bad as of yet, and every vegan I know still eats it. If you have any links to explain why honey is against vegan beliefs please share them in the comments.
If you have the right ingredients this shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes from start to serving!
Heat coconut oil in a pan. Turn down the heat to lightly toast the oats and desiccated coconut.
I try my best to use organic ingredients but I only have cheap, non-organic oats in my cupboard right now.
Add whatever sweetner you would like, as explainded I use the non-vegan ingredient of honey. You might use maple or agave syrup instead. Make sure you do this while the pan is still hot (be careful not to burn the oats), or else it won't melt and spread evenly throughout the mixture.
A pinch of salt really makes a difference, don't forget to do it and DON'T add too much!
I love cinnamon, I don't use too much while pregnant because it's not advised, but usually I add copious amounts. If you don't already know the health benifits of cinnamon, look it up. It also works as a natural sweetner for anyone with diabetes.
Lastly add your dried fruit and nuts with the pan off the heat. I used to hand chop dates, figs and raisins, I even de-stoned dates when we lived in India and had no other choice. Now I've discovered pre chopped dates, it saves soooo much time! I keep it simple with only dates because that goes best with the yogurt I use but you can add all the dried fruits you like.
The only nuts I had left were brazil nuts, walnuts cashews. I chose not to use the cashews as I wanted to save them for a cheese substitute for lunch. Using my mini food processor I gave the nuts a quick wizz so they became a nut crumble. I added that and the dates to my cooling mixture and.. ta da, all finished!
Now here is my miracle ingredients! This companies coconut yogurt is a vegan life saver. It is so rich and creamy. It's all natural and contains good bacteria. Best of all it is soya free, I like to avoid soya wherever possible, otherwise it creeps into my every meal and that's not good for me, the baby or the environment.
This yogurt was on special offer £1, rather than £1.50. I discovered that half a pot was the perfect amount for my breakfast. My husband will happily polish off a whole tub in seconds!
This recipe really does take a matter of minutes, especially if you have a food processor and pre chopped fruit. I make a huge batch and box it up. The ingredients are dry so you don't have to worry about it going off any time soon. The size of my pan and the frequency I eat this for breakfast means that my batch usually lasts 2-3 weeks. If I run out it really is that quick that I can make it fresh in the morning.