Making Breakfast Interesting

Breakfast can be one of my favourite meals of the day, especially when you have the right ingredients to make it so. Often breakfast for students is something quick and easy, more often than not it is something most of us skip completely. However, I'm a bit old-fashioned and I think breakfast is something to be enjoyed, something that's going to start your day off in a good way. Here are some of the things I make on an everyday week basis, most of which are quick and easy to make, but taste a bit better than a slightly burnt bit of toast with a scrape of butter.

Idea 1: Yoghurt with a sprinkle of oats and jam. Trust me when I say this is amazing and it's as easy as just putting one thing on top of another. At home, I have a range of homemade plum and cherry jams from our garden (awh), the one I've used here is a cherry and vanilla jam. Jam really isn't that hard to make y'know. 

Idea 2: Stacked American-style mango pancakes with cinnamon vanilla peanut butter, chopped mango, raspberries and crushed walnuts. This was my indulgent breakfast of the week. I made this on a Saturday morning, when I woke up late with a mini-hangover and felt like I deserved a treat. A good tip for making pancakes is making a mix of the dry ingredients and keeping them in a jar, so you only need to add the wet ingredients when doing the final mix. 

Idea 3: Homemade porridge with peanut butter and chopped banana. This is one of my most versatile breakfasts. You can make the oats in so many different ways and with so many flavours. For example, I made these oats the lazy way in the microwave but you can also cook them over the hob. Mixing up the flavours can also be fun, as you can add different fresh, dried fruits and nuts, different types of butter and the flavour of the porridge itself! (Gingerbread porridge is very warming and wintery).

I would be happy to provide any recipes for jams, pancakes and oats that I've used or adapted, but I'm not claiming to be a complete breakfast expert- there are plenty of great recipes out there and looking for them is half the fun...or is that just my idea of fun...? Anyway, I hope this has proved that breakfast doesn't have to be something we regard as a necessity, but something we can look forward to when we wake up. Happy breakfast-ing!