Crunchy Breakfast Sprinkle
The yummiest kind of self care.
Hello Friends,
What turned into one week away from you quickly escalated to two weeks and a delay in delivering this week’s missive. My apologies, I’m nothing if not predictable in my unpredictability.
I mentioned two weeks ago an exciting project I was squirrelling away at which is now all but finished. I’ll explain more below but needs must and balance was called for. Balance between completing a paid job and the joy of hanging out here with you. Balance isn’t always easy and making tricky choices often challenging but the older I get the more I can make those choices.
But first….
Amongst the head down butt up state of my work days these last weeks was 24 hours of joy in the shape of a beautiful Nordic girl visiting us on her way home to the arctic north. Our son’s partner is heading home in anticipation of him joining her later in the year. She’s poised, intelligent, fun and curious. It was all a little rushed, her flight landing at dinner time and her subsequent departure the following day at lunch time, fleeting but a reminder to soak up the moments available. After a dinner of incredibly delicious Hot Smoked Salmon and Zucchini Tart (you should definitely try this one) her and I remained at the table chatting and solving the problems of the world as it were. Her and my son both enjoy cooking and good food and we often discuss the differences in food culture between her country and ours. Food is one of the very best ways to connect with people and learn about who they are at the point where you meet in life and theirs. I’ve learnt to pickle, and breakfast in a different way and of course an even deeper appreciation for pastries. She’s commented on many of our family favourites and the way I use herbs liberally in most of my cooking. During this last face to face conversation we got to talking about cooking from scratch, her and my son’s habit of batch cooking (a more and more common practice) and the simplicity of looking after yourself simply by taking the time to pull together a meal from simple ingredients. I commented to her the greatest and easiest act of self-care is to take the time to feed yourself well. Not necessarily fancy in construction of ingredients but fresh and home-made. Creating and taking the time to put something together reminds yourself that you matter as much as those you love, a love language for yourself so to speak.
This doesn’t need to be complicated or fancy. A bowl of fresh salad, a can of tuna or some leftover chicken from last night’s dinner, a squeeze of lemon and drizzle of olive oil is delicious, healthy, easy and not expensive.
Now, this is all well and good but we all know how busy life gets. No matter how much this means to me I too have many days where I’m literally throwing things on a plate. Not as organised always, as I’d like to be, sometimes I haven’t popped tubs of purposefully prepared leftover veg to build a salad from or been too tired at night to make an overnight oat something or other for brekky in the fridge. The deep regret when I open the fridge on those bleary mornings knowing I have a busy day ahead is groan inducing. While I like my Greek yoghurt and berries it’s often boring and I do love some sort of crunch and extra flavour.
These last few weeks have dawned with exactly these types of mornings. Too tired after dinner to get off the couch and leave future Sally something for brekky followed by future Sally annoyed with last night Sally for not making her brekky and setting the tone for the morning. Out of frustration and zero inspiration in the cereal aisle at the supermarket I foraged in the pantry. These days I love using up random bits and bobs to create something new after years of binning said random leftover ingredients. I didn’t want a full Granola, as nice as they are, just something to give a little crunch and make things a bit more interesting while making sure I’m fuelled for the morning.
I’ve not only used this at brekky, but on days where that mid arvo craving distracts me and I need something to quieten the tummy rumbles until dinner. It’s fast and tasty, keeps very well, and is a gentle reminder that you care about yourself. Fifteen minutes of your day makes th morning you just a little bit happier about the day ahead for many mornings to come.
Ingredients:
1 c buckwheat groats
1 c raw nuts, use what you have, I’ve used slivered almonds and cashews this time
1/3 c sunflower seeds
1 ½ Tb chia seeds
1 Tb extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ Tb pure maple syrup or honey
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamon
½ tsp fresh nutmeg grated
1/3 c shredded coconut
¼ c goji berries
¼ currants
Method:
Preheat oven to 190 c (fan forced) and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
In a large bowl combine, oil, syrup and spices and whisk to combine and slightly emulsify. To the bowl add buckwheat, nuts, sunflower seeds and chia. Mix thoroughly ensuring all the ingredients are coated with the wet mixture. Spread evenly on the prepared tray so everything is well spread out in a thin layer. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and gently stir and mix around again spreading out to a thin layer. Pop back in the oven for 2 minutes then remove. If you can, slip the baking paper off the tray with the brekky crunch remaining on it, to your kitchen bench or another similar sized tray. This will make the crunch cool faster and arrest its cooking. These types of ingredients retain heat and will keep cooking for a few moments after removing from the oven and we don’t want to overdo that.
Allow to cool completely. Stir through the dried fruit and coconut and store in an airtight jar.
**It’s also good on stewed fruit and ice cream for dessert. You can experiment with the spices, use what you have.
Ok now that project.
Late last year I was invited to create and host a food photography workshop by Australian online photography school Click Love Grow. I love this business, owned by a woman who created her business for women. It’s a supportive community and creates affordable, flexible and accessible education for women wanting to unlock all those buttons and dials on their cameras allowing them to capture memories of their families and nurture a hobby. Whilst thrilled to be asked I was filled with imposter syndrome but jumped at the chance. So after months of work here we are.
While I’ve never used this platform for a sales pitch before I hope you’ll indulge me this time and if you’re even a little bit interested to see what we’ve created maybe take a look. This course is aimed at beginners to the genre and is a wonderful way to get started and perhaps even meet like-minded pals. Whether you’re wanting to capture your family’s food memories, maybe start a blog of your own or you’re a producer who’d to skill up to share images of your offering this course will be the perfect way to get started. There’s an early bird special available at the moment here, we’ll have lots of fun and hopefully learn loads.
Reading:
Nigel Slater’s whimsical collection of essays A Thousand Feasts. A glorious collation of memories all centred around his food adventures from around the world. Transportive and meditative, it’s been the loveliest antidote to the world’s noise, on the couch after dinner instead of the doom scroll.
Eating:
This perfect Soba Salad by Julia Busuttil Nishimura. Our Nordic, guest’s favourite which she’s taken all the way back to the North Pole to share with her family. How great is recipe sharing to share memories of travels. It’s on repeat here with all manner of accompaniments but particularly good with seafood, fish and chicken.
Until next week friends, happy breakfasting,
S x