maple syrup – The Aspiring Home Cook

I have to admit, I joined the Avocado Toast movement much later than I should have. No, no, I didn’t wait till yesterday. I’ve had a few orders of these at cafes around the city. And finally, I got around to trying them out at home.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’m totally smitten with avocado. I can eat them plain, maybe topped with a tiny sprinkling of salt and a squeeze of lime. I love the way an avocado lends itself to so many recipes and uses. It is creamy, picks up flavors so well and can cool down an otherwise spiced up meal. I have tried a chunky guacamole before and I can just eat that stuff by the spoonful. Throw in a few tortilla chips and I can have a party for one (**wink, wink). I can’t wait to try out many more recipes using avocado. What is your favorite way to enjoy an avocado? Leave me a comment and let me know. I’d love to try it out too.

Now, onto the Avocado toast I made for breakfast over the weekend. Since this was a first attempt for me, I decided to keep it simple. I’ve seen some pretty extravagant avocado toast options around and maybe someday I will try them out too. But there’s nothing wrong with simple. And simple and yummy makes it even better. So if you love ordering avocado toast at a cafe, I urge you to get into the kitchen and try whipping some up yourself. You will save yourself a heap of cash (which means more avocado for you.) The Lord knows these little green gems cost an arm. Speaking of which, if you find yourself around a Harris Farm Markets outlet, check out their Imperfect Picks range. They have mini avocados for $7.99 a kilo, when I saw them last. A lot of fruit and veg is discarded because of ridiculous aesthetic standards maintained by large supermarket chains and anything that doesn’t meet those specifications usually ends up in a landfill. These minis are so tasty but would typically be discarded because of their size. And how wrong is that. I love the Imperfect Picks range and urge you to support them too if you have the option.

Back to the avocado toast. I made two options for hubby and me. One savory and one sweet. It made for a very satisfying breakfast and couldn’t have been simpler to put together. Our savory one had a fried egg on top and our sweet one had some banana and maple syrup. There are no strict quantities for this recipe, so feel free to have some fun with it.

Avocado Toast with Egg

1 slice of bread, toasted to your liking

1/2 small avocado or 1/4 large

1 egg, fried to your liking (you could also use a poached or a boiled egg, if you prefer)

Salt, to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Cut the avocado in half and discard the seed.

Scoop out the flesh and roughly mash it up with a fork.

Spread the avocado over the toast.

Top that with an egg. I used a fried egg, sunny side up.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top.

Enjoy!!!

Avocado Toast with Banana, Maple Syrup and Sunflower Seeds

1 slice of bread, toasted to your liking

1/2 small avocado or 1/4 large

1/2 banana, sliced

1 tbsp sunflower seeds
Maple syrup, to drizzle over, to taste

Cinnamon powder

Cut the avocado in half and discard the seed.

Scoop out the flesh and roughly mash it up with a fork.

Spread the avocado over the toast.

Top that with the banana slices, a sprinkle of cinnamon powder, the sunflower seeds and lastly, a drizzle of maple syrup.

Enjoy!!!

Note: I haven’t been compensated by Harris Farm Markets for this post. The opinions stated here are my own and I’ve shared it with you because I strongly believe we can cut down waste as a society by just being more aware.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Breakfast, Recipes

I love bananas!!! I don’t know if I’ve shared that with you before, but I really do love them. Infact, we almost always have bananas in the house. Up until now, every time I was left with a couple of over ripe bananas, I would either make some banana bread or banana fritters (I must share that with you sometime soon). And trust me, I love both the banana bread and fritters. But sometimes its nice to switch it up.

Last week I had 2 over ripe bananas and its been so hot, I had no intention of switching the oven on to make the banana bread. I kept putting off the tea-time fritters and yesterday I decided I had to use the bananas and if I left them anymore, I’d probably have to throw them out. I hate wasting food so that was out of the question. The plan that morning was to make some oatmeal for breakfast, but then it struck me I could use the bananas with the oats and do something with that. I remember a while ago, coming across a banana oat pancake recipe and decided to try it out. Now, those of you who’ve been visiting for a while know I love my pancakes. So what could be better than combining my love for bananas and pancakes. Nothing much right! So breakfast that morning was sorted. I blitzed the ingredients in the blender and added a few fixin’s like fresh blueberries and roughly sliced almonds. I think Jamie Oliver would have been happy with me. I really like his philosophy on superfoods. Eat a variety of fresh produce in moderation and everything acts as a superfood. I figure the addition of the berries and almonds would amp up these pancakes to superfood status. I googled a few recipes but in the end just ended up throwing a few things together and I tell you it was great. I was really pleased with how the pancakes turned out.

Basically this recipe uses no refined flour and no refined sugar and you’ll never miss them. We did use some maple syrup over the pancakes to sweeten the deal, but who can resist maple syrup over pancakes. Definitely not me 🙂

I hope you give these pancakes a try. They deliver taste and health together.

Banana Oat Blueberry Pancakes
Makes 6 pancakes

1 cup rolled oats
2 over ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
A handful of fresh blueberries
12-15 roasted almonds, roughly sliced
A pinch of salt
A little oil, to fry the pancakes (I use olive oil, but you could any oil of your choice)
Maple syrup, to drizzle over

Blitz the oats in a blender till you are left with a powder.

Add the bananas, eggs, a pinch of salt and the vanilla extract. Blitz till you are left with a nice batter.

Scrape the sides down and give it another quick blitz.

Pour the batter in a large bowl and add the sliced almonds and blueberries and fold through gently, making sure they are evenly distributed.

Heat a little oil in a pan, about half a teaspoon. I use an oil spray to reduce the amount of oil being used.

Carefully ladle some batter onto the pan. Cook on medium heat.

When the bottom edge looks like its getting a little color, gently lift a portion of the pancake. If you are happy with the cooking on that side, flip the pancake and let it cook on the second side too.

Repeat with a spray of oil and a ladle of batter for every pancake till you finish the batter.

Serve warm with some maple syrup.

Enjoy!!!

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Breakfast, Recipes