If we ate the same thing for supper every evening, week in week out, I would find it boring beyond belief, yet I’m content to have the same breakfast every weekday with a little variation at the weekends. Strange then, that on holiday breakfast is sometimes my favourite meal of the day with fresh fruit, smoked meats, cheese and wonderful breads. The best breakfasts I’ve eaten were at Stranraer Homestead on Kangaroo Island. The first morning, having feasted on beautifully laid out bowls of fresh fruit, compote, yoghurt, granola, pastries and buttermilk pancakes we were amazed when the “cooked” option then appeared. We managed to eat toasted muffin with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon but the next morning we paced ourselves!

When we’re away walking, I happily eat a cooked breakfast; maybe not the “full English” but certainly some of the sausage, bacon, black pudding, tomato, mushrooms, fried bread and egg.  We’ve found that, having eaten a farmhouse breakfast like this, we don’t get hungry again until well into the afternoon even though we may have walked fifteen miles or more. In contrast, after a breakfast of toast and marmalade, the biscuit tin looks very tempting by eleven o’clock. Maybe there is something in the old adage that we should breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper.

In the spirit of Farmhouse Breakfast Week*, which runs until Saturday 1st February, I’m trying to be a little more inventive with our breakfast. These are some of the things we’re eating for breakfast, based on porridge oats.

Winter Baked Oats

I’ve made a batch of Winter Baked Oats  [click for the recipe] with dried fruits and seeds, cut them into bars and put them in the freezer, so all I need to do each morning is take out the requisite number, give them a whirl in the microwave oven for thirty seconds and breakfast is ready. They’re also good to pack for  Breakfast on the Go.

Fruity Oats

Half a cup of porridge oats mixed with half a cup of apple juice, left to soak overnight and then topped in the morning with yoghurt and fruit compote. A variation on last year’s banana, honey and walnut topping. If I had fresh fruit I’d mix a little fruit puree with the yoghurt and top it with fresh fruit.

Porridge

Porridge with apple puree, yoghurt and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Sometimes I eat it with milk and a little brown sugar or I add some dried fruit when it’s cooking to sweeten the porridge.

Are you content to eat the same thing every day or do you like more variety? Or are you one of the many who skip breakfast altogether?

*Farmhouse Breakfast Week is run by HGCA on behalf of arable farmers who grow crops such as wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape.  The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and demonstrate the wealth of wonderful breakfast produce available around the country. [Read more about Farmhouse Breakfast Week.]

You might like to try these recipes:

• Winter Baked Oats
• Breakfast In a Jar
• Oats with Banana
• Porridge for One
• Raspberry Baked Oats