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Bank Holiday Monday Brunch Cooking

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omelette prepToday is a holiday in Ireland, so most of us weren’t working. A day like today is like an extended weekend, so I was able to to spend a little more time in bed and also to make a more elaborate breakfast than I would do on a “normal” day.

Last night I’d cooked a few potatoes with my grilled chicken breast. Of course there were leftovers, but that was semi-intentional. Adding a couple of potatoes to an omelette is fantastic, but the only way I’d do it is if I have some leftovers ..

So this morning’s omelette had:

  • Onion
  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Chilli (one medium sized one was enough)
  • Mushrooms
  • 3 eggs
  • Leftover potatoes

The end result wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing, as it sort of fell apart, but it was damn good!

Decadent Yoghurt

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Russian fudge yoghurtFrom time to time it’s good to treat yourself to something truly decadent. I like yoghurt, so when I come across new product ranges I like to try them out.

A recent discovery is Russian fudge yoghurt. It’s made by “The Collective“, which originally started in New Zealand, but is now available in Ireland and the UK.

They’re currently available in both Tesco and Dunnes Stores and probably other supermarket chains.

Are they good for you? Probably not too much .. though they’re not the worst thing you could eat. The only downside is that the packages are damn big (500g) – ideal for sharing maybe?

If they came in smaller containers it’d be easier to keep control of portions, but as it is I try to spread one container out over a few days.

Here’s the breakdown, so you can make up your own mind:

Nutritional information
Typical values Per 100g

Energy 618kJ/147Kcal

Protein 4.7g

Carbohydrate 18.6g- of which sugars 17.5g

Fat 5.9g – of which Saturates 3.7g

Fibre Nil

Sodium 0.12g Equivalent as salt 0.3g

 

 

Grilling Vegetables

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Simple, healthy and so so tasty.. Grilled vegetables. This evening I did a red pepper, a few mushrooms and an onion. Grilling them on the George Foreman grill is pretty easy.
You can give them a bit more flavour by adding some mixed herbs.
You don’t need to use any oil, as fresh vegetables have plenty of water and other juices in them naturally. You do, however, need to keep an eye on them and make sure that they don’t get burnt. If you’re careful you’ll get a nice side dish for a steak or some grilled chicken. If you leave them too long you’ll end up with a carbonised mess! 🙂
Grilling

Starting the Day With Omelette

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omelette for breakfastStarting the day “right” is key.

I find that if I’ve had a “proper” breakfast of some kind that things just work better over all.

But ordinarily I wouldn’t go to the trouble of making myself an omelette first thing in the morning. I tend to leave omelettes for when I’m staying in hotels and someone else is doing all the hard work 🙂

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve changed that.

Sure, I’m not going to cook an omelette every single day, but there’s no reason why I can’t make one from time to time. It only takes a few minutes .. assuming you have the right ingredients to hand

Print

Basic Omelette

Omelettes are a wonderful option for breakfast, lunch or even dinner!

Course Breakfast
Cuisine French
Keyword eggs, omelette
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 7 minutes
Servings 1

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp Mixed herbs
  • Filling depends on what you like

Instructions

  1. Beat the eggs with the herbs
  2. Oil (or spray) a small to medium sized frying pan
  3. Heat the pan
  4. Pour the egg mixture in and let it cook. Tilt the pan to let the uncooked mixture spread to cover the pan as much as possible. Use a spatula to move it gently so it doesn't stick.

  5. When the egg is cooked enough for your taste serve!

A filling for an omelette can be as simple as a couple of mushrooms and a bit of onion or it could involve a whole load of other ingredients. It’s really up to you.

Personally I like using a bit of fresh red or green pepper and some onion and tomatoe with a bit of mushroom.

Serving the end result with a bit of brown toast and a nice big mug of coffee gives my morning a nice “kick”. It also means I’m not quite as hungry at lunchtime!

More Adventures in Flavoured Coffee

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flavoured-coffee

I’ve been trying out different flavoured coffees over the last few months. Why? Because they’re tasty.

Is it sacrilege? I don’t think so.

Yesterday I picked up 3 different flavours of coffee from a local shop:

  • vanilla
  • Macadamian nut
  • Bavarian chocolate – I’ve no idea why Bavaria would be associated with chocolate, but I thought I’d give it a go

When I’m travelling in the US I come across a lot of flavoured “milks” and other things, but they’re not readily available in Ireland. You can, however, get your hands on some of the syrups in some supermarkets. While I like the syrups they’re full of sugar and so I’d prefer to avoid them it at all possible.

The flavoured coffees are a good compromise 🙂

Tracking Coffee Consumption With Up Coffee

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I love coffee. However I’m also conscious that I probably drink a bit too much.

But how much coffee and caffeine am I consuming every day? What kind of impact does it have on me?

While the new app from Jawbone “UP Coffee” might not be able to able to answer these questions with 100% accuracy, it does a pretty good job of trying to.

The app is pretty simple.

You log the coffees and other caffeine beverages that you consume throughout the day (including the time you drank them) and the app calculates how much caffeine is in your system and how soon you’ll be able to sleep:
upcoffee-logging-screen

So after two cups of coffee I should be able to sleep again after 4pm.

up-coffee-overview-image

The app can hook into your Jawbone UP, if you have one, and if you tie the two together you should be able to access more data about things like your sleep quality. As I’m a Fitbit user I can’t take advantage of those options, but I can still use it to track coffee consumption over time and compare my habits to those of other users.

Of course the problem with this app and most other apps that track food etc., is that you have to remember to log what you consume. Sure, you can go back and add things “after the fact”, but you still need to do it.

The app’s a nice idea and if I was seriously concerned about my coffee consumption or suffered from insomnia I might use it more.. As it is it’s a bit of a fun gimmick.

You can grab the app via the Apple app store.

 

Related articles

How Important Is Breakfast?

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While my diet and weight loss isn’t as much of a success as I’d like I have made a conscious effort over the last couple of years to improve certain aspects of my lifestyle.

Breakfast is important. You need it. If you skip it the rest of your day is going to be screwed up.

Why?

It’s all about your metabolism and how it handles things.

So for the last couple of years I’ve been having breakfast of some kind pretty much every single day. Sure, there are times when I simply cannot get breakfast for any number of reasons. For example if you have a flight at 5 or 6 in the morning the likelihood of being able to even find anywhere that can serve you simple breakfast is slim. But I will at least be able to pickup a coffee and maybe a pastry.

This graphic explains some of the factors as to why breakfast is so important as well as providing some figures on how Americans treat it. I doubt the figures for Ireland would be drastically different, though we don’t have a Starbucks on every corner!

the importance of breakfast

Via