A deliciously nutritious protein packed breakfast bowl

Hello again readers... if anyone's still reading? I hope so! My apologies for neglecting you all for so long. I could give you a million reasons for my lengthy absence but really they just boil down to my now 7 month old baby taking up alllll of my time, which I'm actually not unhappy about!

First up, I should explain that my cooking is taking a new turn this year. Sausage (not his real name) is egg, nut and dairy free. All these things are brand new to us so we're learning what on earth I can eat (breastfeeding) and what he'll eventually be able to eat once solids are better established (it's been slow going).

I've been out shopping for interesting ingredients that seem to pop up regularly when I've googled "nut egg dairy free recipes" on beautifully photographed foodie blogs (this is not one of them I'm sorry, my photography sucks... and I'm always too keen to eat what I've just made). So I now have a pantry full of quinoa, chia seeds, brown rice, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dates, coconut milk, rice four... the list goes on.

Tonight I decided to have a go making a protein rich nutritious breakfast/pudding (always a happy interchangeable meal).  This is a yummy mix of brown rice, quinoa, chia, date, cinnamon and a drizzle of coconut cream.

Breakfast bowl

1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup dates (I used dried but soaked them, you can use fresh if you have them)
3 tablespoons chia seeds
Cinnamon to taste
Coconut cream for drizzling

Cook the brown rice and quinoa according to the packet directions
Soak the dates if using dried by covering with boiling water
Chop the dates into bite sized pieces
Combine rice, quinoa, dates and chia seeds in a bowl.
Sprinkle cinnamon over.
Give everything a good mix.

Serve yourself a portion (I'm greedy so went for 3/4 cup) and top with a drizzle of coconut cream and enjoy!

Recipe - Thai style baked chicken with fragrant rice

One of my latest creations - a Thai style baked chicken which goes perfectly with this fragrant rice I dreamt up. The recipe came from having a whole lot of Thai ingredients in my fridge which were intended for tom kha gai soup but never made it... they were about to turn and I hate wasting expensive herbs. So I chucked them all together and came out with this rather fabulous recipe (if I do say so myself!)

Chicken thighs (boned or bone in - doesn't matter)
A tablespoon or two of good quality (preferably fresh) satay sauce (I used Mouthtraps, available in the chiller at good supermarkets)
A couple of red or green chillies, chopped
A handful (to taste) of coriander with stems, chopped roughly
A stalk of lemongrass, cut into thumb size pieces and bruised
A knob of ginger, grated
A splosh of fish sauce
A splosh of soy sauce
A small amount of palm sugar, grated/crumbled
Lemon

As you can see I don't weigh or measure the majority of my ingredients!

Chuck all the ingredients except the lemon into a large snaplock bag and pop into the fridge to marinate for at least an hour. When you decide the chicken has marinated long enough, turn the oven on to 180 - 200 degrees and bake the chicken in an oven-proof dish until it is done. I usually turn the chicken thighs at least once during cooking.

Whilst the chicken is in the oven get the fragrant rice going. Here's my very simple fragrant rice recipe.

Rice - I use basmati
Water
Cinnamon (powdered or quill)
1 star anise
A few whole cloves
Salt

Follow the usual absorption method but add a dash of salt, a pinch or a quill of cinnamon, a star anise and a few cloves to the water. Remove hard spices before serving. Yum yum.

Apologies for lack of photos, next time I make this (in the next few days I'm sure!) I'll edit and add some.