Keen on quinoa

Harvest is well underway around our glorious State and with that in mind, I welcome you to the first recipe in my series designed to celebrate local WA products and producers.

This month, I’ve decided to focus on a product that I’ve had my eye on for a while and now that I’ve mastered how to pronounce it, it’s the perfect time to share.

Three Farmers Quinoa is exactly as the name suggests, a brand of quinoa grown and packaged by three innovative WA farmers – Ashley Wiese, Megan Gooding and Garren Knell.  

The Three Farmers have spent years refining the growing process of quinoa, injecting a burst of red into a landscape traditionally dominated by paddocks of golden hues.

They’ve trailed different varieties to find the one best suited to local conditions and to ensure what they were harvesting was a premium product before releasing it to the wider market.

So what exactly is quinoa?

Well, firstly you say keen-wa – which is really important to know if you’re going to boast about incorporating the gluten-free superfood into your diet to your hipster mates, or order it in one of those ultra-cool, bearded barista-type cafes with milk crates as chairs.

On top of being a trendy superfood, quinoa is actually a seed rather than a grain and is packed with nutritional benefits (including being high in protein, low GI, plenty of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory).

Being low GI also means it’s good for filling tummies, which is a very handy attribute to have when you’re trying to feed three little lads who always seem to be hungry. Always.

It’s also a versatile little number in the kitchen and can weave its way into dishes both sweet and savoury, from breakfast right through dinner.

I’ve tried it in various dishes and there are a range of recipes on the Three Farmers Quinoa website, but my favourite for this time of year has to be a roasted vegetable salad.

Change it up according to whatever you have on hand, but the roasted garlic works well and not to boast, but I actually harvested the garlic from my own garden (we’re an emerging River Cottage over here).

If you want to share a favourite locally grown or made product with me, so I can give it a whirl in the Everyday Baker kitchen, please do!

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

1.5 cups quinoa

1 bulb of garlic

Variety of vegetables for roasting (I used mushrooms, red onion, cherry tomatoes and capsicum)

150g soft fetta (Persian is great)

Half a broccoli

¼ cup pepitas

Fresh parsley and thyme

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Cook your quinoa according to the instructions on the packet, allow to cool slightly and add to your salad bowl.

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

Roughly chop your vegetables and place on a tray lined with baking paper (except the broccoli), drizzle with olive oil.

For the garlic, don’t bother pealing but chop the top off to reveal the cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Place on the tray and bake for about 30 minutes.

Chop and steam your broccoli. Add to the salad bowl with the roasted vegetables and gently mix through.

Squeeze the cloves of garlic out of their skin and straight into the salad, along with the chopped parsley, thyme and pepitas, tossing gently to combine.

Crumble the fetta over the salad.

For the dressing, combine your ingredients and whisk to combine before drizzling over the salad.   

Add any meat if you desire, I added some sliced, roasted chicken thighs which were sprinkled with some herbs and served as a main meal.

Enjoy!

What's for dinner?

If you have ever had trouble getting the skin on a fillet of salmon nice and crispy, then this recipe is the one for you.

There’s no tips about achieving crispy skin, not this time sorry, I’m basically abandoning that method altogether and encouraging you to try something easier.

It’s so simple, but importantly tastes flipping amazing.

I love salmon, which is why I use it in this recipe but it would also probably work well with any good fish if salmon doesn’t tantalise your tastebuds.

You can change it up according to whatever you’ve got in the fridge (within reason, let’s not get too crazy – leave the cheese alone), although I would suggest that the ginger is a good staple to stick to if you can.

Mushrooms may sound like a strange addition, but trust me, it works really well.

Baked Salmon Parcels

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets (skin-off or on)

2 spring onions

Thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated or chopped finely

2-4 field mushrooms, sliced

Parsley or coriander, roughly chopped

1 lemon, sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Drizzle of sesame oil

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190C.

Grab an oven tray and line with two big pieces of alfoil, one running horizontally and the other vertically (but the same size).

Place a piece of baking paper on top of the alfoil, running horizontally.

This is your parcel, so you can do individual parcels using the same method if you prefer.

Layer your spring onions, mushrooms and ginger on the baking paper before gently laying the salmon fillets on top.

Drizzle with the sesame oil and soy sauce, before topping with lemon and herbs.

Wrap your parcels up, loosely but ensuring there aren’t any openings.

Bake for 25-35 minutes depending on the size of your fillets and your cooking preferences.

Serve with stir fried vegetables.

Enjoy! 

Harvest time

There is something extremely satisfying about cooking with an ingredient you’ve just harvested from your own vegetable garden.

In this household, just being able to harvest anything before the middle lad gets to it first is worthy of celebration.

So what better way to celebrate the first Everyday Baker beetroot harvest than to make a cake?!

Well, cupcakes to be precise and by “harvest” I’m being a little generous but there was enough for this recipe so that’s the main thing.

These puppies are like the healthy (ish) version of a red velvet cupcake, without the horrid red food colouring that turns my lads into a mob of raving lunatics – I don’t need that in my life, it’s crazy enough here on a good day thank you very much.

Shout out to one of my favourite food blogs for this base recipe, The Nutritionist and the Chef.

The wonderfully earthy flavour of the beetroot pairs very well with almond or hazelnut meal, and the icing is not too sweet, but sweet enough that the lads loved it.

The next crop of veggies have now been planted with excitement, but personally I’ll be very surprised if we manage to pick any strawberries from a plant that’s already had to be replanted five times.    

Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes

Ingredients

85g dark chocolate

3 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup olive oil or melted butter

300g cooked beetroot

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup cocoa

200g almond or hazelnut meal

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

Icing:

1 cup of cream or full fat yoghurt

1 cup cream cheese

½ cup icing sugar

Method

To cook the beetroots, steam for about half an hour or until tender when pricked with a knife.

Wash under cold water and just rub the skin off with your hands, before mashing or blending until you get a rough puree.

Set beetroot aside and pre-heat oven to 180C. Line a cupcake tray with cases.

Melt the dark chocolate.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and oil or butter together.

Add the cooked beetroot, the chocolate and the vanilla to the egg mixture and stir until combined.

Sift in the cocoa and add, with the almond meal, baking powder and salt, folding gently until all mixed through.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the spring to the touch.

Allow to cool before icing.

To make the icing, whip the cream to soft peaks and add the icing sugar and cream cheese, beating until combined.

Spread over cupcakes and if you desire, grate a little extra chocolate on top.

Carrot cupcakes

I whipped these up for a cake stall last week, for a fundraiser at my big lad's school, using pepitas (pumpkin seeds) rather than nuts.

I did 12 of these carrot cupcakes, along with 12 vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting, fully expecting the latter to be the most popular and secretly hoping I would be able to buy back the carrot cupcakes.

That didn't happen.

What did happen, was somewhat of a frenzy for the carrot cupcakes - it seems I'm not the only one who appreciates a good cream cheese icing... I mean let's face it, the cake is purely a vessel but adults (unlike children) know better than to just eat the icing . 

Having said that, the vessel plays an important role in this recipe. It's light and airy, with a nice touch of crunch courtesy of the pepitas, which make them nut-allergy friendly, but walnuts would also work very nicely.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients 
175g brown sugar
200g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarb 
2 teaspoons mixed spice
The zest of one orange
2 eggs
150ml sunflower oil
200g carrots, grated (about 2 medium carrots)
100g pepitas

Icing
100g softened butter
250g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
100g icing sugar

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, bicarb, mixed spice, pepitas and orange zest in a large bowl.

In another bowl, mix the eggs and oil together, before adding to the dry ingredients along with the grated carrot. 

Mix together until it just comes together, being mindful not to over-mix, before spooning into the prepared cases.

Bake for around 20 minutes and allow to cool before icing.

To make the icing, whack the cream cheese and butter in a mixer and beat really well, before adding the vanilla and icing sugar. Beat again until nice and smooth.

Spread over the cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy! 

Farewell winter

In preparing to bid farewell to winter, what better send off than a dessert-equivalent of a big, warm cuddle?

Rice pudding is an epic childhood favourite of mine, although I have given it a bit of an update with the assistance of Donna Hay (using Arborio rice is life changing).

I’ll get to the pud in a second, but can we just take a moment to praise the simple brilliance of rhubarb?

If you grow it, bravo, I’m yet to get there but fully intend on adding it into the rotation.

Don’t be tempted to try and use everything with rhubarb, it’s not like celery, the leaves are actually poisonous – that goes for humans and animals.

Once the danger has been removed, it’s so simple to prepare, I like to poach it and store in the fridge when cool.

We’ve been using it not only to adorn rice pudding, but also on porridge in the morning and as a snack with yoghurt.

The combination of sweetness with that lovely tart edge is seriously delicious.

Baked Vanilla Rice Pudding with Poached rhubarb

Ingredients

1 bunch of rhubarb stalks (4-6 pieces)

3 tablespoons caster sugar

1 lemon, rind and some juice (or orange)

4 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

½ cup Arborio rice

1 litre milk

2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

4 pieces lemon peel

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon butter

Method

For the rhubarb, chop stalks into smaller sticks about finger size and place in a small-medium saucepan.

Add the caster sugar, lemon rind and a squeeze of juice, water and vanilla.

Cook over medium heat for about seven minutes, or until the rhubarb is tender.

Set aside to cool.

For the rice pudding, pre-heat your oven to 160C.

Place the rice in an oven-proof dish.

Combine milk, vanilla, sugar and lemon peel, stirring before adding to the rice.

Stir to combine and cover with foil, before placing in the over for one hour.

Remove the foil after an hour, stir and cook for another 30 minutes before adding the butter and a sprinkle of extra sugar.

Cook for a further 10 minutes or until nicely golden.

Serve with a spoonful of poached rhubarb and a dollop of cream of yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Fish tacos

I’m all for a hearty meal on a cold winter’s night, but sometimes it’s also nice to keep things light (and leave more room for desert!)

This recipe has become a weekly favourite in the Everyday Baker household, predominantly for the adults given the spices, but I also dull it down for the lad-friendly version.

I really encourage you to try and make your own flatbread, it is so simple and if you don’t mind a bit of work with the rolling pin then you might find it rather cathartic, as do I.

The fish spice is incredible and another winner from my favourite gourmet farmer, Matthew Evans and his “Summer on Fat Pig Farm” cookbook.

It also works well with chicken and don’t be tempted to forego the salsa – it’s the combination which brings it all together.

Flatbread

2 cups plain flour

Pinch of salt

175ml milk

40g butter

Method

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Warm the milk while melting the butter and add to the dough, either mixing by hand or in a mixer using a dough hook.

Bring together in a ball and cover with cling wrap.

When ready, cut off small pieces and roll out – keeping them small and thin for tacos is the key.

Fry in a hot pan with a small amount of olive oil until slightly golden.

Wrap in foil to keep warm.

Fish Tacos

600g fish fillets, such as flathead

Salsa:

2 garlic cloves, flattened and peeled

1 green capsicum, seeded and finely diced

6 tomatoes, diced

1 small red onion, finely diced

1-2 small chillies, finely chopped

Small bunch of coriander, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons olive oil

Fish spice:

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1-2 teaspoons chilli powder (I use cayenne pepper)

Method

For the salsa, combine all ingredients and drizzle with olive oil. Leave the garlic whole to impart flavour – you can remove to serve so no-one gets a surprise in their wrap.

Make the fish spice by grinding up all your spices in a mortar and pestle, adding some salt, before scarring over the fish.

Cook the fish on a hot barbecue or frying pan, being careful not to overcook.

To serve, whack all your ingredients on the table with the flatbread/tacos and let everyone assemble themselves – we like to add some avocado or natural yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Orange Almond Caramel Slice

There's been a lot of family input into this recipe.

Let’s start with the idea of mine to create a caramel slice with a difference.

Version one was just okay in my opinion, but was very well-received by the crowd at Mr Everyday Baker’s office (though I suspect they were just hungry).

I toyed with a few changes and called my culinary mentor to see if she could try version two, thankfully, Mum happily agreed.

Version two was good, but still needed some tweaking.

Now we have to talk about the middle lad, who is a passionate collector of anything that takes his fancy, particularly if it’s ripe (or not, he’s not fussy) for the plucking.

For that reason, the main vegetables to thrive in our garden are the ones that work the magic under the soil, such as beetroot and carrots. 

So we visited our beloved Nanna Joyce recently, who has an orange tree stocked with beautiful plump, ripe oranges.

They beckoned to middle lad and he stripped that tree like a crazed goat at a full washing line, so we ended up with an abundance of oranges.

We’re all dosed up on vitamin C and also, version three of this recipe is an absolute winner… do try it.

Orange Almond Caramel Slice

Ingredients

Base:

1 cup plain flour

½ cup coconut

½ cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

¼ cup golden syrup

1 egg

150g butter, melted

Zest and juice of 1 orange

Caramel:

1 can condensed milk

2 tablespoons golden syrup

100g butter

Topping:

80g almonds, toasted and roughly chopped

80-100g (up to you!) dark chocolate, melted

Orange zest, extra

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180C and line a slice tray with baking paper.

Combine the flour, coconut, brown sugar and oats in a large bowl. Stir to combine and add orange zest.

In a jug, place golden syrup, melted butter, orange juice and egg. Whisk to combine.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until well combined.

Press firmly into tray.

For the caramel, place the condensed milk, golden syrup and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted and it’s a nice smooth consistency.

Pour the caramel onto the base and place in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Remove from oven and set aside, but leave the oven on.

For the topping, place nuts on a baking tray and pop in the oven for a few minutes until golden brown.

Sprinkle them over the caramel, pushing down on them slightly before drizzling the whole lot with melted chocolate.

Grate a little extra orange zest over the top and allow to set.

Cut into squares and enjoy! 

A comfortable korma

When it comes to chilli, sign me up for mild.

I can’t do ridiculously hot; sweating profusely through a meal just to get to the end without my tastebuds being aware of what I’ve actually eaten? No thanks.

Subsequently I have a distrust of shop-bought curry pastes, they tend to be somewhat inconsistent in their heat claims and I’m yet to find one I can really rave about.

So I decided to make my own and this korma paste (a great mild choice for the chilli-inept) is bursting with flavour and made with ingredients that are easily found.

It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, is nice and simple and you should get at least two meals from this amount of paste – once you start making your own paste, it’s difficult to go back to shop-bought.

This chicken korma is a perfect meal for a chilly night, but if you do find you end up with a korma that’s still a little sweat-inducing, a nice dollop of natural yoghurt should soothe the fire!

Chicken Korma Curry

Ingredients

Paste:

2 cloves garlic

1 piece of ginger, thumb-sized

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garam masala

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons peanut oil (or similar)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 fresh chillies

3 tablespoons desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons ground almonds

1 bunch fresh coriander

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Curry:

500g chicken thighs, chopped

1 can coconut milk

1 zucchini, chopped

1 handful snow peas

Method

In a dry frying pan (no oil), place all the spices, ground almonds and coconut and brown lightly or until fragrant.

Place all your ingredients in a processor or Thermomix and whiz together until a smooth paste forms.

Place the curry paste in a jar and store in the fridge until needed.

To make your chicken korma, brown chicken thighs in a hot frying pan with a dash of peanut oil.

Reduce heat and add about two tablespoons of korma paste (or to taste), frying until fragrant.

Add coconut milk, zucchini and snow peas and simmer until chicken is cooked through.

Serve on a bed of rice with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Comfortable korma

When it comes to chilli, sign me up for mild.

I can’t do ridiculously hot; sweating profusely through a meal just to get to the end without my tastebuds being aware of what I’ve actually eaten? No thanks.

Subsequently I have a distrust of shop-bought curry pastes, they tend to be somewhat inconsistent in their heat claims and I’m yet to find one I can really rave about.

So I decided to make my own and this korma paste (a great mild choice for the chilli-inept) is bursting with flavour and made with ingredients that are easily found.

It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, is nice and simple and you should get at least two meals from this amount of paste – once you start making your own paste, it’s difficult to go back to shop-bought.

This chicken korma is a perfect meal for a chilly night, but if you do find you end up with a korma that’s still a little sweat-inducing, a nice dollop of natural yoghurt should soothe the fire!

Chicken Korma Curry

Ingredients

Paste:

2 cloves garlic

1 piece of ginger, thumb-sized

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon garam masala

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons peanut oil (or similar)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 fresh chillies

3 tablespoons desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons ground almonds

1 bunch fresh coriander

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Curry:

500g chicken thighs, chopped

1 can coconut milk

1 zucchini, chopped

1 handful snow peas

Method

In a dry frying pan (no oil), place all the spices, ground almonds and coconut and brown lightly or until fragrant.

Place all your ingredients in a processor or Thermomix and whiz together until a smooth paste forms.

Place the curry paste in a jar and store in the fridge until needed.

To make your chicken korma, brown chicken thighs in a hot frying pan with a dash of peanut oil.

Reduce heat and add about two tablespoons of korma paste (or to taste), frying until fragrant.

Add coconut milk, zucchini and snow peas and simmer until chicken is cooked through.

Serve on a bed of rice with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon scrolls

I’m taking great pleasure in a good dough of late, and am finding whole process is really quite therapeutic.

We’ve been having flatbread on a weekly basis and I’ve been quite enjoying watching the dough come together before laying into it.

You have to like dough to attempt cinnamon scrolls, if you don’t then I think you’ll find them quite a pain to make.

You also have to have a bit of time on your hands, in the way that you need to make the dough the night before you want to eat the scrolls.

If you ticked both of those boxes, then please proceed, because these scrolls are ridiculously tasty – and I implore you not to leave off the honey glaze, trust me, it’s worthwhile and you’ve come too far to skimp on the details now.

The last important thing to note is that these are really best to eat as soon as you’ve made them (not really an issue in this house), nice and warm and oozing with buttery, honey goodness.

Cinnamon scrolls with a honey glaze

Ingredients

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1 tablespoon caster sugar

70ml warm water

200g plain flour

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

40g butter, softened

1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon

¾ cup sultanas

Glaze

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons cream

1 cup icing sugar

2 tablespoons honey (I used mallee)

½ teaspoon vanilla

Method

For the dough, start by making a pre-dough by mixing the yeast, caster sugar and water in a bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Mix in half the flour and leave aside for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Add the remaining flour, along with one egg and mix until it forms a dough (which you can do in a mixer with a dough hook).

Add the butter and knead until it’s all mixed in, then rest for 10 minutes.

Knead again and rest for a further 10 minutes, repeating the process a few times until the dough is firm and smooth.

Wrap dough and place in fridge overnight.

The next day, knock the dough back and turn out on a floured surface, before rolling into a rectangle (about 25 x12cm).

Brush with beaten egg, before sprinkling with brown sugar, cinnamon and sultanas.

Roll up the dough, before cutting into slices about 2cm thick and nestle them into a cake tin (about 22cm or similar).

Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for about an hour and a half.

Pre-heat oven to 200C and place a bowl on the bottom shelf of the oven.

Put the scrolls on the top shelf of the oven and pour a cup of water into the bowl before shutting the door and reducing the temperature to 180C.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a mixer until smooth. Spread over the scrolls while they’re warm.

Enjoy!

Lunchboxes...

Let's talk lunchboxes: it’s a novelty that wears off pretty quickly, isn’t it?

Especially when you’ve got to pack it every day during the week – kindy was a breeze compared to this full-time business.

I started off full of enthusiasm, packing with care and love and putting so much thought into what my darling big lad would want to eat during his day.

When the lunchbox continually returned partially full and my big lad came home ravenous to eat whatever I could throw at him, well, it kind of knocked the gleam off the whole experience.  

We had been packing strawberries for shared fruit, either some yoghurt or cheese and crackers, a wrap and some sort of homemade baked good (biscuit, muesli bar, cake, etc.).

It was the homemade baked good that I found was mostly returning uneaten, although he would happily devour it for afternoon tea.

Rather than continue the boomerang pattern, I decided to leave it out and just offer it to him when he got home and started chewing the leg off the chair.

I had been mindful of not sending anything with nuts, so these biscuits are perfect for the arvo tea treat at home – provided there’s no nut allergy of course! Substitute as you please.

This recipe is a cracker from Matthew Evans’ (the Gourmet Farmer), Summer on Fat Pig Farm cookbook and they remind me of the kiss biscuits my Mum and Nan used to make.

Don’t be tempted to eat them without the icing, something magical happens when they’re sandwiched with that bittersweet icing and it’s an experience you, ahem I mean the kids, need to try.

Hazelnut and Chocolate Kiss Biscuits

Ingredients

180g butter, softened

50 brown sugar

1 tablespoon espresso coffee (I left this out for the kiddies)

200g plain flour

50g cornflour

100g hazelnuts, roasted and crushed

Icing:

50g butter, softened

65g icing sugar

3 tablespoons pure cocoa powder

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and coffee (if using) until pale and fluffy.

Add the flour, cornflour and hazelnuts and still with a wooden spoon until just combined.

If the mixture is too soft, pop it in the fridge for a little while to firm it up.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture to make about 20 even-sized balls, pressing them down with a form or your palm.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they start to brown on the bottom and start to colour on top.

Cool.

To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar together with the cocoa until smooth.

Spread on half the biscuits and sandwich together with the other halves.

Enjoy!

Holiday breakfast

There is a certain level of indulgence that comes with the holiday season, and so there should be, we earned it!

As a child, I strongly remember that when we went away on holidays we were allowed to have a certain cereal we were never allowed to have at home.

It was just like a chocolate milkshake, only crunchy, and it was usually all gone within two days and then it was back to our normal breakfast broadcast. Sigh.

I wanted to create a similar experience for my lads, only with a little less of the chocolate milkshake/crazy amount of sugar vibe.

So with the help of my biggest lad, we made a special holiday granola – or canola as he likes to call it (just like Pop and Uncle Ben grow) to take away with us.

Packaged in a nice jar, this also makes for a really lovely gift.

Consider this a base recipe which should be changed to meet your own preferences, add more honey or some brown sugar prior to baking if you’ve got a real sweet tooth, or some dried fruit to the end mix.

I like a crunchy, nutty mix which isn’t too sweet and then add natural yoghurt and fresh fruit – it’s like a holiday indulgence without needing to add “gym membership” to your list of New Year resolutions.

Holiday granola

Ingredients

500g rolled oats

250g nuts (I used almonds and macadamias), roughly chopped

50g sunflower seeds

150ml honey (or maple syrup)

2 tablespoons canola or sunflower oil

1 tablespoon butter

Method

Pre-heat oven to 150C.

In a saucepan, combine the butter, oil and honey over low heat until melted and combined.

Place your oats in a large bowl and pour over the honey mix, stirring well until the oats are all coated.

Grab two trays and line with baking paper, before tipping the oats out on each tray and spreading – it doesn’t matter if there are a few clumps, I encourage it.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then add some nuts to each tray and give it a good shake to mix it around.

Bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned (swap the trays halfway through if you need).

Allow to cool completely which is when it will get nice and crispy, then place in an airtight container ready for breakfast.

Enjoy!