SmarterFitter Daily

• 30g pinhead oats (dry weight)
• 1 pear
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 banana
• 5g pears
• milk to serve
• white tea to drink
• awesome on this frosty february morning

It's been months since I've had Bircher Muesli. I went off apples for a while after an unfortunate stomach bug. But the apples are back and so is one of my favourite breakfasts.

I made this Bircher as follows:

1. Soaked the following in enough water to cover overnight: 30g jumbo oats, 8g dried raisins and cherries, 5g flaxseed
2. In the morning: mixed the above with 1/2 grated apple, a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch each of salt and cinnamon
3. Topped with natural yogurt, sliced bananas and - the best part - toasted pecans

To me this is a perfect and sustaining way to start the day. 

Recipe: Bircher Muesli

Added turmeric and cinnamon again (1/8 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cinnamon for 30g oats). With a splash of milk, mmmm.

Turmeric in oats? Yeah, I was skeptical too. But someone recommended it on Twitter so I had to give it a try. The result? A porridge win! 

I used 30g pinhead oats cooked in water with 1 very small pear, scant 1/8 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Served topped with pecans and a splash of milk. 

The pear was perfect with the turmeric and cinnamon. A nice breakfast for cold dark winters.

I like cold porridge, especially when it involves barley. It becomes sort of a rice pudding. 

This was soooo incredibly delicious. I soaked the barley the night before, so they only took about 15 minutes to cook in the morning. I cooked them in water with raisins and a pinch of cinnamon and allspice. Meanwhile, I baked some apples and pears - it didn't take long for them to soften enough to be mashed into a nice chunky compote. The creme fraiche and pecans take it all to a new level.

On a completely different note, I dropped my iPhone into the bowl while taking this photo.