I’ve been pretty slack on the breakfast front lately, and have been alternating between a protein smoothie and yoghurt and granola. Both are delicious and high in protein but well, it was all getting a bit samey. Overnight oats are such a favourite of mine as I can chuck it all together the night before and breakfast is there and waiting for me in the morning. This vanilla protein overnight oats is a new addition to my repertoire but it’s definitely one I’ll be adding to the breakfast rota.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder (I use OMG! NO WHEY by Kin – a great tasting vegan protein powder)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 cups oat milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together (I use a big Tupperware container or Kilner jar), cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning, add milk/water to loosen. Top with berries/almonds/granola/whatever you fancy. That’s the beauty of overnight oats. They are just so versatile and you can mix and match depending on what you fancy!

For more overnight oat ideas see here and here!

The post Vanilla Protein Overnight Oats appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

Serves 1:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1.5 cups oat milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 scoop protein powder ( I use the OMG! NO WHEY Vanilla protein powder by Kin)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 heaped teaspoon peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon macca
• Toppings of your choice – I used pomegranate and bee pollen

Directions:

1. Cook oats with oat milk according to packet instructions and add a pinch of salt
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well (you may need to add more milk to loosen)
3. Serve in a bowl and top with whatever you fancy!

This works really well as overnight oats too!

The post Peanut Butter Protein Porridge appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

The beauty of overnight oats is that there’s no exact precision when it comes to making it.  The basic rule of thumb is one part oats to one part liquid.   That aside, you can pretty much add what ever ingredients that take your fancy.

These will keep in the fridge covered for 3 days, although you may need to add some more milk to loosen it.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

The post Raspberry overnight oats appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

Whenever I’m making it, I think ‘why don’t I make this more often?’. And then I remember. Making pancakes is a messy job. 5 minutes to whizz up all the ingredients. And then somehow in the making process I seem to get the batter EVERYWHERE. All over the kitchen, the walls, the surfaces, me.

No fun.

I am in awe of American families who make 10,000 of these for breakfast and make it look so easy. How do they do that? It takes me about 5000 hours hours to cook the entire lot.  If you have any tips for me please do share!

Moving on. These are my favourite pancakes to date. I used my standard recipe and added some peanut butter to the mix – DIVINE! I hope your pancake flipping skills are much better than mine.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 cup gluten free oats
• 2 medium sized ripe bananas
• 2 medium eggs
• 240g cottage cheese
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• Oat milk to thin to desired consistency

Directions:

1. Blitz all the ingredients together (I used my NutriBullet)
2. Melt butter/coconut oil over a medium flame
3. Spoon two tablespoons of batter onto the pan (I use food rings to keep the pancakes contained)
4. Cook for a few minutes then flip over and cook until done.
5. Serve with whatever takes your fancy – bananas and berries work really well or some dark chocolate chips if you’re feeling fancy!

Disclaimer: That makes it sounds SO easy! Don’t be disheartened if yours end up a bit crap, or a bit burnt, or not round. I always ruin the first few until I get into a bit of a groove (yes I still ate them). The main thing is that they will still taste amazing, are full of protein, have no refined sugar and are gluten free. Winner.

The post Peanut Butter Pancakes appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

In the Winter I prefer something warm and comforting – usually eggs, oats and healthy pancakes fit the bill here, however I have been experimenting lately with warm smoothies.

This way I can still get all the benefits that a smoothie provides as well as providing some variety to my breakfasts.

Try this warming smoothie to warm you up first thing.

Directions:

1. Heat the almond milk in a pan until warmed through.
2. Add the oats, banana, almond butter, chia seeds, flaxseeds, cinnamon and the water and approx. one fifth of the almond milk to your blender/nutribullet. Add in an extra splash of cold water if you think the liquid is too warm (see warning above about hot liquids and blenders makers).
3. Blend on high for a minute until smooth.
4. Whilst it’s blending, further heat the rest of the almond milk until hot, but not boiling.
5. Pour the blended oat mix into your cup, stir in the heated almond milk, mix and serve.

The post Warm Winter Smoothie – High Protein Hot Chocolate appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

Most ‘traditional’ breakfast options like cereal contain a lot of gluten, sugar and offer little protein and nutritional value.

So here are a few gluten free breakfast ideas to get you started.

1. Eggs – boiled, omelette, scrambled, poached.  The options are endless. Add some spinach, peppers and avocados for extra nutrients and you can always add some gluten free bread for some extra oomph!
2. Porridge – make with gluten free oats and top with cinnamon, flax seeds, berries and nuts.  I always crave porridge when it’s cold, wet and generally a bit miserable out.
3. Smoothies – Spinach, almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana, handful of berries, flaxseeds, cinnamon and a scoop of protein powder (optional). Or try a green smoothie.
4. Pancakes.
5. Yoghurt – Total greek yogurt topped with a chopped banana, berries, flax and sunflower seeds.
6. Home-made granola.  Easy to make and stores well.  I prefer to make this as the store bought versions tend to have a lot of added sugar.
7. Gluten free bread – Genius do a great range. Top with an egg or peanut butter for an extra protein hit (try the no added salt variety).
8. Frittatas. Make a big batch and eat the left overs for breakfast.  They are portable so easy to take into work.

The post Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.

Mr NS Nutrition was not convinced – ‘this is er, interesting, and don’t throw out the juicer just yet’ was the general consensus after my first (failed) attempt.

I didn’t see how I could go wrong with a classic carrot, apple and ginger combo.  But oh how I did.  The combination was a watery, pulpy mess (note to self – much less water and a lot more blitzing required).

Things have thankfully moved on since then, and this green smoothie is a bit of a winner.

Tropical pineapple and mint gives this a wonderfully light and summery flavour as well as Vitamin C and the spinach adds a whole lot of iron!

Ingredients:

• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 slice of pineapple
• 1/2 frozen banana (I chop up bananas and put them in freezer bags – they make the smoothies so cold and creamy!)
• 2 sticks of celery
• handful of mint
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• Squeeze of lime
• 5 brazil nuts
• 1 tablespoons flaxseeds
• 1 tablespoons chia seeds
• Coconut water (about 1/4 way) – side note, filling up the ‘liquid’ component to the max line has never worked for me, it makes it too watery and you lose a lot of the flavour.  These days I put in enough for about 1/4 of the way up.

Method:

• Mix all together, blitz and enjoy!

The post Green Smoothie Recipe – Nutribullet appeared first on Neema Savvides | Fertility Nutrition.