apple, blueberry & cinnamon breakfast bars

This is the autumn remix of one of my most popular recipes. My Blueberry & Raspberry Breakfast Bars have gone down so well that I gave them a seasonal tweak, swapping the raspberries for apple and cinnamon.

They’re soft, slightly chewy, and easy to make ahead, so there’s a healthy breakfast ready in the fridge for busy mornings.

Why they’re a good way to start the day

A nutritious breakfast is a good start for anyone. It can be especially helpful during perimenopause and menopause, when many women find it harder to balance energy, appetite and weight. These bars give you:

• A balanced mix: fibre, healthy fats and protein, which together can help keep blood glucose more balanced than a breakfast that’s mostly sugar.

• Magnesium: this contributes to a reduction in tiredness and fatigue, and to normal bone and muscle function.

• Six plants in one bar: oats, banana, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, blueberries, and apple. All of these count towards the 30 different plants a week I often suggest to support gut health.

How to serve them

Each bar has around 10g protein on its own. To boost the protein, serve one warm with a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt. Around 150g of a high-protein yoghurt takes it to roughly 25g of protein. Try Fage, Yeo Valley Greek Recipe or Coconut Collab’s vegan protein yogurt.

Top with toasted nuts, seeds (hemp seeds are especially good) or a drizzle of nut butter for a little more protein, fibre and healthy fats. Finish with extra berries, apple slices or a sprinkle of cacao nibs.

Ingredients

Makes 6 bars

• 300g ripe banana (peeled weight)

• 160g rolled oats

• 50g toasted pumpkin (or sunflower) seeds* (40g mixed in, 10g for the top)

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 75g peanut (or almond) butter

• 80ml plant milk

• 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)

• Pinch of salt

• 90g frozen blueberries (I like organic Pack’d)

• 75g peeled apple (about 1 small apple), cut into roughly ½cm dice

*Toast the seeds in a dry frying pan for around 6-8 minutes, tossing regularly.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Line a 20 x 12cm baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, mash the banana until fairly smooth (some lumps are fine). Add the oats, 40g of the seeds, the cinnamon, baking powder, and salt, and mix well.

3. Stir in the nut butter, plant milk and honey.

4. Gently fold through the blueberries (from frozen) and the chopped apple.

5. Scrape the mixture into the dish, even out the top and scatter over the remaining 10g of seeds.

6. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden around the edges and set through the centre.

7. Cool completely before cutting into 6 bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

8. To serve warm, microwave for about 30-45 seconds.

raspberry & blueberry breakfast bars

Busy mornings are much easier with something ready in the fridge - no decisions, just grab and go. These Raspberry & Blueberry Breakfast Bars are made with oats, banana, peanut butter, berries, and pumpkin seeds, so they provide a healthy mix of fibre, protein, wholegrains, good fats, and plant nutrients in something easy to take with you.

Each bar provides around 10g protein and 6.4g fibre. I usually suggest aiming for around 30g protein at each meal and 30g fibre across the day, so a bar on its own won't get you all the way there, but on a busy morning it can be a much better start than skipping breakfast altogether.

They're soft and slightly chewy, but firm enough to wrap up and take to work, school or eat on the go. If you're eating at home, they're delicious warmed through and served with Greek yoghurt, fruit compote, a few chopped almonds or other nuts, or both. For an extra protein boost, you could stir a scoop of protein powder into the yoghurt.

They also work well as an afternoon snack.

Fresh raspberries are lovely while they're in season, but you can experiment with other fruit like grated apple or pears, berries, nuts, seeds and nut butters depending on what you have.

Ingredients

Makes 6 bars

• 50g pumpkin seeds (40g mixed in, 10g for the top)

• 300g ripe banana

• 75g peanut butter

• 80ml plant or cow’s milk

• 2 tbsp honey

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 160g rolled oats

• ½ tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

• 75g fresh raspberries

• 75g fresh blueberries

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan. Line a 20 × 12cm dish with baking parchment.

• First, toast the pumpkin seeds for around 5 minutes in a dry frying pan on a medium heat. Set aside to cool a little.

• In a large bowl, mash the banana until fairly smooth, then stir in the peanut butter, plant milk, honey and vanilla.

• Mix in the oats, 40g of the pumpkin seeds, the baking powder and the salt.

• Gently fold through the raspberries and blueberries.

• Scrape the mixture into the dish, smooth the top and scatter over the remaining 10g of pumpkin seeds.

• Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden around the edges and set through the centre.

• Cool completely before cutting into 6 bars.

• Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

• Approximate nutrition per bar: 306 kcal | 10g protein | 6.4g fibre

• Serving suggestion: high-protein Greek or coconut yoghurt, fruit compote, chopped nuts/seeds, cacao nibs, desiccated coconut, nut butter

Date & peanut bark

As I don’t really drink much these days (alcohol gives me awful migraines), Dry January isn’t much of a challenge. So I decided to give up refined sugar and clothes shopping this year—my two main vices! So I jumped on board the viral date bark train (to be honest, I think it departed a few months ago, but never mind) and made this healthier version of a Snickers bar.

Good quality, high-percentage dark chocolate is pretty nutritious and can be a healthy part of your diet (in moderation!). It is high in fibre and antioxidants such as polyphenols that feed your gut microbes, plus iron, copper (support nerve cells and the immune system), manganese (anti-inflammatory, blood sugar regulation, bone formation, and blood clotting), and small amounts (around 45g per week) may reduce LDL cholesterol levels and help to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Dates contain a fair bit of natural sugar but also provide a significant number of nutrients, so they aren’t empty calories like confectionary. They are high in antioxidants (which reduce cell-damaging free radicals and the harmful effects of LDL cholesterol on arteries), fiber, and minerals that support bone health, such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Peanut butter is high in fat, but half is monounsaturated in the form of oleic acid, which may support insulin sensitivity and help regulate blood sugar levels.

Peanuts are a good source of plant protein (22% protein, but lower in methionine and cysteine than animal sources), relatively low in carbohydrates (20%), and high in vitamin E (an antioxidant) and B3 or niacin (which supports healthy skin, digestion, and nervous system).

Ingredients

·      200g 100% dark chocolate

·      400g medjool dates

·      4-5 heaped tbps crunchy peanut butter (no added sugar )

·      Sprinkle of desiccated coconut (optional)

·      Sprinkle of sea salt (optional)

Method

·      Lay out a piece of baking parchment on a large tray (approx 30x25cm).

·      Pit the dates.

·      Melt the chocolate gently in a glass bowl either over a pan with an inch of boiling water, or as I did, in the microwave on a medium setting for one minute at a time – stirring each time.

·      Pour a thin layer of dark chocolate in a rectangular shape on to the baking parchment and even out with a palette knife (approx. 22x26cm).

·      Press the dates as flat as you can into the chocolate ‘face down’ / skin up.

·      Sprinkle over a small pinch of sea salt now if you’re using it.

·      Spread out a layer of peanut butter onto the dates using a knife to make it as even as possible – you can add more if you want a thicker later.

·      Put the chocolate in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to heat it up before pouring over the peanut butter and spreading as evenly as possible with a palette knife.

·      Sprinkle over the desiccated coconut if you’re using it.

·      Put in freezer to harden for a minimum of 30 minutes and chop in uneven pieces or break with your hands!

·      Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Banana & peanut butter smoothie

I love this kind of combination for breakfast - creamy bananas and nuts are where I’m at in the morning! This smoothie tastes really good and is full of protein so it keeps you going all morning.

Ingredients

Protein: ~24–27 g
Fibre: ~7–8 g

Serves 1

• ½ frozen banana

• 2 heaped tbsp whey or pea protein (or =20g protein)

• 1 tbsp peanut butter

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

• ½ tbsp flax seeds

• 250ml nut milk or organic whole

• 1 medjool date, optional

method

• Blitz!

superseedy overnight oats

I always think that overnight oats are a nice alternative to porridge as I don’t always fancy a hot breakfast, and they have the bonus of being ready straight away in the morning. You just need to do a little prep the night before. Today I topped with blueberry compote, peanut butter and banana, but there are lots of other options you could try: any kind of fruit compote, chopped nuts or seeds, fresh or dried fruit, desiccated coconut, nut butter or yoghurt.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

• 200g oats

• 680ml nut milk or organic whole

• 25g flax seeds

• 25g chia seeds

• 25g sunflower seeds

• 25g pumpkin seeds

Blueberry compote

• 200g frozen blueberries

• 1 tsp honey or maple syrup (optional)

Method

• Mix all the ingredients in a lidded tub and leave in the fridge overnight.

• Gently warm the frozen fruit in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly so the heat is distributed evenly, then add the honey if using. Allow to cool.

• Top with compote, peanut butter, banana and a sprinkle of extra sunflower seeds.

Pumpkin soup with chilli & ginger

It wouldn’t be Halloween without the obligatory pumpkin soup post would it?! Like Lockdown without banana bread...
My recipe this year took a slightly unexpected, but interesting, turn with the addition of coconut milk, chilli, lime and my latest discovery: dark roast peanut butter (linked in the ingredients). If you’ve never tried it you need to, it’s umami heaven! So good on toast too.
I’d originally planned to make more of a classic pumpkin soup with white wine and cream, but I went in a different direction and ended up using more Thai style flavours, which makes sense of the peanuts, right? They bring a deep savoury back note rather than being an obvious addition, I don’t think many people would be able to guess they were there, but they add a lovely subtle umami richness.
There’s also fresh ginger, a little chilli heat and a zing of lime - a bright note to counteract the sweetness of the roasted vegetables - essential in most dishes imo.

This recipe is for a big pan of soup so halve it if you prefer, but I always like to make extra for the freezer.

Ingredients

Makes 2.8l or 8 servings

• 1 medium sized pumpkin

• 1 squash, chopped weight approx 800g ex seeds

• 2 large onions, diced

• 30g fresh ginger, grated

• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

• 1 stock cube

• 1l water

• 400ml coco milk

• 1 tbsp dark roast peanut butter

• 2.5 tsp sea salt

• Handful of toasted pumpkin seeds

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

• Peel and chop the squash into wedges; place on a large tray with 1.5 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and mix well to coat. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, turn and repeat; the squash should be browned on at least a couple of sides. Remove from the oven and set aside.

• Chop the pumpkin in half, you might want to cut off the stalk at the top first though. Then put on a large roasting tray, covering the cut sides loosely with foil and place in the oven for approx 1 hour. Test by sticking a knife in at this stage and see if it is soft all the way through, if not put back in the oven for 30 minutes and repeat if necessary. Set aside to cool a little while you chop the onions.

• Heat 1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil in a large pan and add the onions, cooking for about 15-20 mins on low.

• Once the pumpkin has cooled enough to touch it, cut out and throw away the seeds, then scrape the flesh out of the skin and put in a bowl. Keep the water that has been released from the pumpkin while cooking as this will go into the soup to add extra flavour.

• Once the onions are softened add the ginger, mix well and warm for 1 minute. Then add the squash, pumpkin and pumpkin water, chilli, crumbled stock cube, 1l of water, peanut butter and coconut milk; simmer for 15- 20 minutes.

• Blitz with a stick blender; you may need to add 100-200ml of water to get the right consistency, just do it gradually and then add the sea salt one tsp at a time. The quantity of extra water needed and salt will vary slightly depending on the size and how watery your pumpkin was.

• Serve with sourdough and a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds.

Tip

• Cook the squash or pumpkin on the previous day to save time when making the soup as they take awhile too cook and use a lot of oven space.

• If it’s not pumpkin season then just use another butternut squash instead.