Breakfast is THE most important meal of the day and often the most difficult to organise in the morning rush. Breakfast not only breaks your overnight fast, it refuels you for a busy day, it gets your metabolism going and it provides you with energy. It is really critical to get into a habit of having a healthy breakfast to avoid that starving moment later in the day where you reach for anything and everything to curb your sudden appetite. Your body then responds by grabbing the macro nutrients and storing them as fat! A constant flow of good nutrients essentially teaches your body that it can release the fat and glycogen for energy and not store it for the next famine!
What constitutes a healthy breakfast?
For me, it is a breakfast which includes a fairly high level of protein. As a vegan, I get this protein in a variety of ways. My favourite breakfast is a smoothie (not one loaded with 10 fruits), but half a banana + plant milk + fermented rice/soy protein. This can then be bulked up with a handful of nuts and a variety of seeds. I find that eating protein in the morning sustains me for longer and I don’t find myself hitting a mid morning slump and reaching for the caffeine. I must be honest, the cereal isles are seriously a let down. Most of the breakfast cereals (including the muesli’s) are loaded with carbs and sugar. Next time you are searching for a cereal, check the nutritional table!
This recipe is just another one of my plant based, high in protein brekki creations.
- high in protein
- gluten free
- no added sugar
- good fats
- loads of minerals and micro-nutrients
Happy eating~~
Quinoa, Coconut & Pear Bircher Muesli
VEGAN/Gluten Free/No added sugar
10 min prep time – serves 1-2
Ingredients:
1 pear, grated
1 cups quinoa flakes
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup apple juice (make your own if you can)
1 tbsp pepita seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 fig
1 tbsp deshelled raw pistachios
Pomegranate seeds
Method:
Combine pear, quinoa, coconut milk and juice in a bowl.
Toast the seeds and coconut in a pan with a little coconut oil.
Add the toasted seeds and coconut to the muesli.
Serve with sliced fig, pistachios and fresh pomegranate seeds.
You can also make the night or the week before and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
For benefits on Quinoa, see
https://www.cookingdetective.com/27-surprising-health-benefits-of-quinoa/