How to make a healthy layered breakfast pot

By Emily Morgan

Shop-bought breakfast pots are an enticing option when you’re on the move, but they’re quick and easy to make at home. Once you’ve chosen you’re fruits – I went for mango, strawberries and blueberries – and your container, the layers stack up as pretty as a picture. They taste delicious, too…

Nutrition low-down

- Fruit is an excellent source of vitamin C and fibre.

- Fat-free Greek yogurt is a good source of protein, which helps to keep hunger pangs at bay.

- Oats are a slow-release carbohydrate, so you’re less likely to suffer from a mid-morning energy crash

The ingredients (to make 2 pots)

4tbsp oats (if you want to use muesli or granola instead of oats, or a mixture, look for one that’s free from added sugar)

6tbsp fat-free Greek yogurt

1 mango, thinly sliced

6 strawberries, thinly sliced

2tbsp no-added-sugar granola

1 handful blueberries

Fresh mint sprigs to decorate (optional)

The method

Combine the oats and yogurt in a small bowl, then divide half the mixture between 2 tumblers (or lidded containers if you plan to have breakfast on the go). Top with half the sliced mango slices, then all of the strawberries. Repeat the oat mixture and mango layers, then sprinkle over the granola and top with the blueberries. Cover with clingfilm (or the lids) and chill in the fridge overnight. The next day, decorate with a mint sprig, if you like, before serving.

How did I rate it?

Leaving the oats to soak overnight gives them time to soften and absorb the flavours of the yogurt and fruit. Delicious. I would definitely recommend trying this recipe if you struggle to find the time to make a healthy breakfast in the morning. All you need to do is take it out the fridge and dig in, which is definitely more nutritious – not to mention cheaper – than grabbing something unhealthy on the go!

Per pot

298kcal

17.3g protein

4.5g fat

0.7g saturates

46.2g carbs

25.3g sugar

6.9g fibre

0.1g salt

174mg calcium

2.1mg iron

LOW CAL

LOW FAT

LOW SAT FAT

LOW SALT

The London Porridge Championships

Last Friday saw HFG recipe consultant Phil Mundy go pan to pan with fellow porridge pros in the London Porridge Championships, hosted by Rude Health. His tasty offering was awarded 8 out of 10 for innovation – and here's the recipe for you to try at home…

Almond porridge with warm figs and pear

PREP 2 MIN COOK 10 MIN SERVES 4

125g rolled porridge oats

A few pinches of ground cinnamon

600ml almond milk

2tbsp almond butter

1 tsp oil

4 baby figs, quartered

1 ripe conference pear, sliced

Drizzle of honey

Flaked almonds, to serve

1 In a large pan, combine the oats and cinnamon with the almond milk and 150ml water. Bring to the boil, stirring now and then, over a high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, for 5–6 min until thick.

2 Remove the porridge from the heat, then stir in the almond butter and keep warm.

3 Heat the oil in a frying pan, then lightly cook the pear slices until tender and golden. Add the figs and a splash of water and cook for 1 min. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon, to taste.

4 Divide the porridge among 4 bowls. Spoon over the figs and pear, then drizzle lightly with honey and top with a few flaked almonds.

Phil Mundy is the recipe consultant for Healthy Food Guide magazine. For each issue, he creates healthy, nutritious dishes that are full of flavour yet easy to make. His new website eatcleandrinkdirty.com, which includes recipes, healthy eating, fitness and lifestyle advice for men, launches today.

Juliette Kellow, registered dietitian and Healthy Food Guide’s nutrition consultant, says: ‘This is a great recipe for getting your day off to a warming, tasty and nutritious start. Each serving has just 300 calories and is low in saturated fat, so it’s a great choice for waistlines and a healthy heart. Unlike many other breakfast choices, such as toast, croissants or a bacon sandwich, it’s also low in salt, so a good option if you need to lower your blood pressure. This breakfast also provides fibre to help fill you up and keep you going until lunchtime, which can help prevent the desire to snack on sugary foods mid-morning. Better still, oats are packed with a soluble fibre called beta-glucan, that’s been shown to help lower blood cholesterol. Finally, this is a great choice if you need to follow a dairy-free diet because it includes almond milk rather than regular cow’s milk.

For more porridge recipes, pick up a copy of the Winter issue of Healthy Food Guide.

Get ahead for breakfast

By Melanie Leyshon

You’re either a morning person or you’re not. I’m a late riser. For me, 7.30am is early – if I’m up before 6am it’s because I’m off to the airport.

This leaves me no time for breakfast prep in the morning, which is why I’m so enthusiastic about my simple oats discovery: Bircher muesli. It’s not new, of course – Swiss physician Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner invented it as a nutritional pick-me-up for his sanatorium patients in the 1900s. You can buy a ready-made pot of Bircher muesli from Pret A Manger or Eat, but a quick calculation of cost + time + effort shows making your own batch at home is a no-brainer. 

Oats are wholegrains so make up an important part of a healthy diet; they’re a great source of soluble fibre and are effective in lowering cholesterol. But instead of stirring oats and milk together in a pan in the morning to make porridge, simply leave them to soak overnight. Then when you get up in the morning, it’s a quick assembly job that can be done with your eyes shut – and that suits me perfectly. 

I'm using a basic recipe from cereal company Rude Health. You soak 100g oats in 150–200ml brown rice milk overnight, which serves 2 hungry people. The next day, stir 150ml natural yogurt into the oaty base, then add your choice of toppings. When I first started making this recipe, I added a sprinkling of cinnamon and 1tbsp grated apple per serving. Now I'm experimenting with berries, bananas, rhubarb purée – you can see where I’m going with this – working my way around the fruit bowl and allotment and using up whatever’s in season. But you don’t have to stop at fruit – a sprinkling of chopped nuts or seeds, or a spoonful of Manuka honey go down a treat, too.

HFG nutrition consultant Juliette Kellow worked out the nutrition count per portion of my apple and cinnamon version: 320kcal, 10g protein, 5.1g fibre, 330mg calcium and 2.2mg iron. It's 5 min prep and 20 min longer in bed, which adds up to a nice and easy, wholesome start to the day.

Rude Health’s new range of dairy-free organic drinks are available in oat, brown rice and almond flavours, which are nicely sweet but with no added sugar. Buy them at Waitrose from 24 June.