New Myles - Eating well made easy: deliciously healthy recipes for everyone, every day

Avocado and Poached Egg on Rye with Basil and Sea Salt

Not reinventing the wheel, but this really is my absolute favourite breakfast. It is very filling so to make it a little lighter, simply remove the avocado bit of the dish. When eating this, I find the best bites are the ones that have every element on the fork to get the full impact of this tasty dish.

serves 2

4 free-range eggs

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

4 slices of wholegrain rye bread (that extra dark stuff)

1 perfectly ripe avocado, halved, peeled and de-stoned

Handful of baby spinach (about 50g)

A few fresh basil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the grill to high or have your toaster ready on stand-by.

Bring a wide pan of water to a gentle simmer over a lowmedium heat and add the vinegar. Crack an egg into a ramekin or small jug and carefully pour it into the water. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Leave to cook gently for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the bread under the grill or in the toaster until crisp and golden. Once toasted, place two slices on each serving plate and scoop out half an avocado onto the slices on each plate. Spread it out evenly, season with a little salt and pepper and then top with spinach leaves.

Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the eggs from the water. The whites should be fully cooked but the yolks still quite soft. I like to blot the base of the spoon on kitchen paper so that the eggs are not too wet. Sit an egg on top of each pile of spinach, sprinkle the basil leaves over and serve straight away.

Spelt Flour Bread with Cranberries, Hazelnuts and Thyme

I suspect that you, like me, dont have any time to faff around in the morning making loaves of bread, but there is nothing like both the taste and the smell of a freshly baked loaf, straight from the oven. So the way to an easier breakfast loaf life is to make this in advance, slice it up, lay the slices out on a tray or trays that will fit into your freezer and then once frozen, bag the slices up. In the mornings, simply reach into the freezer for a slice of bread, pop into the toaster and toast away to your liking. Top with poached eggs, scrambled eggs or some smoked salmon for a well-balanced breakfast.

makes 1 loaf

100g self-raising flour

200g wholemeal flour

150g spelt flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tsp baking powder

tsp fine salt

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

50g dried cranberries or raisins

50g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan 180C), 400F, Gas Mark 6. Place a baking sheet in the oven. This will give the bread extra bottom heat when it cooks and the bread will have a nice base crust and a good rise.

Put the flours, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, stir everything together and make a well in the centre. Pour in 225ml water and the extra virgin olive oil. Mix everything together well with a spoon until it starts to come together and then get your (clean) hands in. Squidge the dough together, gathering up all of those stray bits to give a nice ball.

Place a little bit of flour on your work surface and pop the dough down on it. Flatten it out a bit and then put the cranberries, hazelnuts and thyme on top. Bring in all the edges of the dough to cover the fruit and nuts in the middle, flip the whole thing over and knead it a little to get everything nice and uniform within the dough. Shape the dough into a ball about 1520cm across (and about 58cm deep).

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle on some flour and sit the dough on top. Rub some flour on a wooden spoon handle. Hold the handle horizontally just above the dough and push it down onto the ball, all the way through to the bottom until you reach the baking sheet. Then lift the spoon out, giving it a little wiggle to get it out of the dough if need be. Repeat this in the opposite direction to give a cross mark. Sprinkle the bread with a little flour and then bake at the top of the oven for about 35 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when it is tapped underneath. Once cooked, remove from the oven, leave to cool on a wire rack and then serve.

Blackberry and Blueberry Ginger Yogurt Pots

These berries dont need much cooking time to stew down. However, you can change the fruits to apples, pears or even quinces and cook them in the slow cooker on low for about 5 hours. Let the slow cooker revolution continue! Best way forward for this brekky is to cook the fruit (frozen works well, too) and oats in batches so you have enough to last you throughout the week.

serves 4

300g blueberries

300g blackberries

2 tsp ground ginger

1cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

1 tsp sunflower oil or a little spray oil

100g oats

500g natural yogurt

Put the berries in a wide, medium pan with the ground and fresh ginger and 2 teaspoons of water and place over a low heat. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the berries are soft and mushy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely before serving.

Meanwhile, using some kitchen paper, rub a medium non-stick frying pan with the oil or spritz with a little spray oil and set it over a medium heat. Add the oats and cook for 45 minutes, tossing frequently, until just catching colour. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely before serving.

Divide the yogurt, berries and oats among four bowls and serve.

Blueberry and Cinnamon Breakfast Oaty Muffins

I have lots of people asking me to create gluten-free recipes that do not just rely on the gluten-free flour that can be found in the shops. I have experimented with almond flour (ground almonds), but find that the resulting bakes can be quite heavy, which does not suit all baked goods, and also highly calorific. So while I use ground almonds in some things, I do like to use oats in others. Oats are often processed in factories where other products containing gluten are used, so be sure to look for actual gluten-free oats on the label if you are avoiding gluten. I found them in my high street chain health food shop and the supermarkets also. The cinnamon in this recipe adds a lovely taste to the blueberries, as well as helping regulate blood sugar levels.

makes 16

300g gluten-free oats

450ml unsweetened almond milk

125g Medjool dates, pitted

1 free-range egg

2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

150g fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C), 350F, Gas Mark 4. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cases.

Put 275g of the oats into a food processor and blitz them until they form a fine powder. Then add the almond milk, dates, egg, baking powder and cinnamon and blitz together to give a fairly smooth and sloppy mixture.

Tip the mixture into a large bowl and gently stir in the blueberries until well mixed through. Divide the mixture evenly among the 12 muffin cases. I like to use a mechanical ice cream scoop to do this.

Sprinkle over the remaining oats and bake in the oven for 2025 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through.