Dairy Free

Vegan option

Vegetarian

Vegetarian option

Gluten Free

Vegan

Paleo

Wow oh wow, it's been a while! I must confess, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I shared an actual recipe on this blog. It might even be years, dare I say it. So I knew when I finally reappeared with a recipe, I'd have to come back with a bang. 

And I know what you're saying... "Oh Anna... why are sharing an oatmeal recipe in summer?!"  

Now while this was an absolute nightmare to make look nice in photographs, because let's face it, it's basically stodge (the good kind of stodge.) I can promise it tastes 100% better than it looks.

Since stumbling upon Madeleine Olivia's Baked Banana Oats recipe, I've been hooked. I tweaked this recipe slightly by adding blueberries and flaxseed, and let me tell you, it's addictive. These baked oats are like eating warm blueberry muffins, straight from the oven! But the best part? You can eat this for breakfast without the guilt.

I've been eating these baked banana & blueberry oats non-stop for months now and let me tell you, I'm still not sick of them. Which is why I knew I had to share this recipe with you. I've also found it's a nice and easy way to cook your oats, without having to stand by and stir continuously. Stick it in the oven, put on a timer, and go snuggle under a blanket!

Most of us are aware of the power of blueberries these days, often known as the king of antioxidants, they are an amazing way to start your day. However, flaxseed is an incredible superfood that often gets overlooked. Good in porridge, bread or smoothies, flaxseed is high in Omega-3 fatty acids. So if you're a vegan or vegetarian, flaxseeds are a great addition to your diet. Not only that, the ground flaxseed in this dish really helps to bind the oats and make them extra cakey. 

And if all that deliciousness wasn't enough, once warm and golden from the oven, you can top with whatever you like! I like to top mine with lashings of almond butter and an extra drizzle of honey/maple syrup. It doesn't get much better than that.

These Baked Banana & Blueberry Oats taste like warm blueberry muffins, straight from the oven! Perfect for a winters day, it makes a delicious, warming breakfast or even a cosy dessert. You wouldn't believe it's gluten/dairy free - and vegan too!

Baked Banana & Blueberry Oats

Three guesses what I’ve been eating a bucket load of lately?

Chocolate chia pudding. A hella lot of chocolate chia pudding.

No seriously, it’s scary how much I’ve been eating this. Pretty darn addicted. I am warning you now, because it could happen to any of you. Get out whilst you still can! Go on, go!!! Or, y’know… continue reading. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Also, don’t be deceived by the term ‘pudding’, because this is so damn healthy, you can eat it for breakfast as well as dessert!

One of the great things about it is that you can make it the night before, which only takes a matter of minutes, and then it’s ready to go first thing in the morning. Knowing I’ve got a jar of this prepped in the fridge, gives me that extra motivation to get out of bed in the morning!  So bewitched under it’s sweet, sweet spell…

Chia seeds have been considered a superfood for a while now. That’s because they are high in fibre + protein, and are packed with calcium, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.  A tablespoon of chia seeds contains more calcium than a glass of milk, more omega 3 than salmon and more antioxidants than blueberries! Wowzah. I’ve used 8 tablespoons in this recipe alone. That’s a lot of good stuff.

As chia seeds are so high in protein, this pudding keeps you fuller for longer, and is great for boosting energy – so it really does make the perfect breakfast! Not only that, it’s also gluten, dairy and refined-sugar free.

When soaked in milk, chia seeds absorb the liquid and swell up to become gel-like. The result is rich, smooth and creamy! Once you’ve soaked the seeds overnight, all you have to do is give it a good stir, and add your desired toppings.

I’ve gone with some banoffee-style toppings, but you can top with your choice of fruit, nuts and seeds!

Good luck making this Chocolate Chia Pudding! Remember to tag your creations #heartandbowl or leave me a message in the comments below.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

This week I’ve been pimpin’ up porridge; combining quinoa and chia seeds to make some sort of crazy-ass supercharged porridge, that just so happens to be really good for you too.

To give you an idea of just how supercharged I mean, let me tell you about the first time I had this for breakfast. At first, it seemed like any normal Friday morning. I got up. I got dressed for work. I had my usual cup of English Breakfast tea. I checked my Instagram feed. I watch the regional news…

…and then, at 8.25 am, I ate this porridge.

Apart from the feeling of sheer satisfaction, that only a good breakfast will give you at that time in the morning, I didn’t feel any different immediately. But by the time I had got to work at 9.10am (yes I was late, and yes it was a Friday), my body and mind felt rocket-powered. Within the first 90 minutes I had already completed all the work that I had planned for the day.

Come lunchtime, I wasn’t even hungry. It got to 2.30pm and I thought: “I suppose I better grab something for lunch.” Juxtaposing to any normal day, where by 11.30am my stomach would quietly be screaming at me: “GIVE ME ALL THE CARBS!” Damnnnn. I knew conventional porridge was good, but this coconut quinoa porridge is on a whole other level.

In the end, I managed to muster the enthusiasm to eat a salad.

So, as well as being porridge-on-steroids, this quinoa porridge is also really healthy and incredibly delicious. Quinoa is naturally an anti-inflammatory complete protein, as it contains all nine essential amino acids which most other grains lack. In your face other grains! With twice the protein content of rice or barley, it is a great source of calcium and magnesium.

Not only that, but this porridge also features chia seeds, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, these can help enhance cognitive performance and reduce high cholesterol.

I have adapted this recipe from one of my favourite go-to foodie websites, BBC Good Food. The original recipe didn’t include any sort of sweetener in the porridge itself, so I’ve decided to add a little bit of honey/maple syrup to sweeten it up a little. I also swapped out the flaked almonds for coconut flakes, to keep the coconut flavours running throughout the whole dish.

You can have loads of fun inventing different toppings for this breakfast bowl. I’ve served it with fresh and seasonal summer berries, but I’ve included some more suggestions in the recipe notes.

I hope you like this Coconut Quinoa Porridge! Don’t forget to #heartandbowl if you make this, and be sure to let me know if it’s supercharged your morning!

Coconut Quinoa Porridge

My Name is Anna and I’m an Avocado on Toast addicted.

Nothing beats getting up in the morning, knowing I’m going to tuck into this for breakfast. It’s wholesome, healthy and super filling. There’s so much beauty in it’s simplicity. Not to mention so much flavour too.

I’ve tried to keep this recipe as easy as possible, so you can realistically make it each morning. (Even if your alarm only went off 10 minutes ago and you’re still half asleep.)

This dish is also a great stress reliever. There’s nothing quite like mashing the crap out of some avocados to get out some pent-up stress.

If you’ve got some extra time, I thoroughly recommend this Avocado with Caramelised Onions on Toast recipe from Quiche n’ Tell. The onions add that special little touch!

I hope you all enjoy this Easy Avocado on Toast recipe! Let me know what you think of it in the comments below, or show me your creations using #heartandbowl.

Easy Avocado on Toast

It hit me the other day that it’s been 18 months since I completely transformed my lifestyle and diet. Before that, I had been pretty sick for a while, and was just getting sicker. After far too many doctors appointments, inconclusive tests and unhelpful medications, I was near the point of giving up on myself.

It was only once I started to take action into my own hands, and take a look at what I was eating, did I start to get my health back on track. I removed things like gluten and dairy from my diet, and my body miraculously started to heal. While I noticed quite a big difference right away, it has taken many, many months for me to feel like myself again. Since then, I’ve come to really love leading a healthy lifestyle, filled with unprocessed, all-natural foods.

18 months on, and ‘being healthy’ means more to me than just soup and salads. I’ve begun to learn that there are so many aspects to eating well. Just recently, I’ve become increasingly conscious about eating seasonally, and it’s something I’ve been growing really passionate about.

So, what are some of the benefits to eating seasonally?

You get to enjoy the produce at it’s prime. Flavour and nutrients are all at their peak.

It’s actually cheaper! When produce is in season, the abundance of the crop makes it less expensive.

You may end up getting a wider variety of foods into your diet.

It encourages you to help support local farmers, markets and businesses in your community.

In light of this, I decided to create a recipe that was completely in keeping with the season. I wanted to make full use of some of the amazing ingredients September has to offer.

There’s one thing I’ve always loved about September, and that’s BLACKBERRIES. As a kid, I couldn’t wait for autumn to hit so that I could go blackberry picking with my mum. We were lucky enough to have many wild blackberry bushes only a few minutes walk from our house. We would trek the muddy lane with our beloved dog Sadie, get picking, and within minutes our basket would be full of beautiful blackberries. Then we would eagerly return home to make a homemade blackberry crumble.

Yes, blackberries have always had a special place in my heart! So I decided to create this September Smoothie in honour of the super-dooper blackberry. This smoothie also contains a number of other seasonal ingredients, like apples and spinach! These little guys are also at their peak in autumn.

In my opinion, cooking and eating seasonally is all about respecting the ingredients you’re using, and allowing them to shine through at their prime. You want to highlight their goodness, and let them become the star of the dish.

I think I’ve achieved that with this smoothie! The predominate flavours of apple and blackberry marry together so well, to create something that really screams AUTUMN!

I hope you like this September Smoothie! Don’t forget to #heartandbowl if you make this, and let me know your favourite seasonal tips and recipes.

September Smoothie

Greetings from the breakfast table! Excuse me while I finish my mouthful of granola. Ahem. This Chocolate Orange Granola is like a dessert and breakfast all in one, but I don’t feel the least bit guilty. Sorry not sorry.

My granola obsession started just over a month ago, after purchasing Izy Hossack’s debut cookbook: Top with Cinnamon. I’ve been following Izy’s blog Top with Cinnamon for many months now, and instantly became a huge fan of her blog and the recipes. Her cookbook has a big variety of mouthwatering MUST COOK NOW dishes, all beautifully styled and photographed. I encourage anyone with a sweet-tooth to pick up a copy!

Always an admirer of Izy’s breakfast dishes, the first recipe I wanted to recreated from the cookbook, was her 10 Minute Almond Granola. After that – life was never quite the same again. I had to have granola for breakfast every day after that. Then again for brunch. Then maybe again for dessert. Shhhh, don’t judge me.

But seriously, if I’d have known how good homemade granola was (compared to the supermarket varieties) – it would not have taken me 24 years to get to this point. Now I’m eating it by the bucketful, making up for a lifetime deprived of good granola.

So for a few weeks now I’ve been brainstorming ideas for different flavours that I could make for Heart + Bowl. Then I got distracted by a Terry’s Chocolate Orange bar, and it all seemed far too obvious. Lightbulb moment! Chocolate Orange Granola. Scrap that – Spiced Chocolate Orange Granola. Even better.

After a couple of trials, I’m pleased to be able to bring you this recipe. Hopefully it’s something that will encourage you out of bed in the morning! With those dark wintery mornings just around the corner – we’ll be needing that extra bit of encouragement! The alllll newww granola wake-up alarm.

Spiced Chocolate Orange Granola

Ok, ok – can we all just take a quick moment to admire my new chopping board? How friggin’ cute is that!? It was bought for me as a Secret Santa gift this Christmas, and it brings a smile to my face every time I look at it. I’ve been so excited to feature it in some photos on the blog – and today I finally get to show it off!

With it being National Breakfast Week (isn’t every week National Breakfast Week?) I thought I would bring you this Super Green Smoothie Bowl. It’s a great, simple breakfast that’s packed with greens, and takes less than 10 minutes to make. Plus, you can have loads of fun playing around with customisable toppings!

Most conventional breakfast cereals, bars, pastries and even fruit-based smoothies + juices, have way too much sugar for first thing in the morning. Even those claiming to be healthier options can often have hidden sugars. This isn’t a great way to start your day, because you’re already setting yourself up for sugar-crashes later on in the day.

Green smoothies are a great healthy alternative, because the base is made from mostly vegetables, so you get all of their goodness without too much sugar.

My Green Smoothie Bowl is a healthy and easy way to instantly turn a smoothie into a meal. The smoothie is slightly thicker than normal, and has some added blend-in ingredients + toppings, to elevate it from a simple snack, to a substantial breakfast.

The natural sweetness from frozen mango, is balanced with creamy avocado, and nutritient-dense spinach + kale. I’ve also added a pinch of green matcha powder for a little energy boost!

When it comes to the toppings, I have used:

While these are my suggestions, there are tonnes of amazing toppings you could try! Why not sprinkle over some sunflower seeds, or some raw/roasted nuts for an added crunch?

The beauty of this breakfast is that you can make it different every time by mixing up the toppings. The possibilities are endless! Dollop of nut butter? Sure! Slice of Banana? Sure! Go with whatever you fancy, or whatever is in your fridge/pantry!

I hope you enjoy this Green Smoothie Bowl! Remember to tag your creations #heartandbowl or leave me a message in the comments if you make this!

Super Green Smoothie Bowl – #NationalBreakfastWeek