Last updated 19:46, Thursday, 12 June 2008

THIS week we’re talking weekend brunches.

There’s nothing nicer when you’ve got friends staying with you to put on a big sociable spread in the morning.

You can reminisce about the night before and laugh at those who are a little bit worse for wear the morning after.

We reckon there’s something for everyone here.

Even if you haven’t got friends over, you might want to try one or all of these alternative breakfast/brunch ideas as a change from your normal routine.

We discovered this in Australia and just couldn’t get enough of it to set us up for a hard day’s surfing (or should we say face planting into the sand)

Serves 6

Ingredients 

6 heaped tbsp rolled oats

9 tbsp milk or water

6-8 tbsp Greek yogurt or fromage frais

3 tbsp clear honey

2 apples, grated

fresh fruit, (blueberries, strawberries, banana, mango or raspberries etc.)

Optional – chopped dried fruit such as prunes and figs and nuts and seeds (almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds)

Soak the oats in the milk or water for at least 20 minutes. Mix in the yoghurt, honey and grated apple (you could do this the night before).

Divide between bowls and top with fresh fruit and dried fruit, nuts and seeds if you prefer.

Makes 2 large glasses

Ingredients

1 mango, ripe

2 bananas, peeled

200ml plain natural yogurt

1 tbsp lime, or lemon juice

1 tbsp honey

12 ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a liquidiser, and blend.

Pour the smoothie into tall glasses and serve straight away – otherwise the mixture tends to separate, but if it does this, it just needs a good stir. .

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 eggs

2 tbsp milk or cream

Pinch of salt and pepper

A generous knob of butter

4 rashers of bacon

Small handful of sun blush tomatoes, drained

1 tsp chopped chives, or parsley

2 English muffins toasted and buttered

Cook the bacon in the way you prefer, we usually grill it.

Break the eggs into a bowl, and add the milk and seasoning. Whisk for about 10 seconds to blend everything together.

Melt the butter into a saucepan and add the egg mixture.

Stir continuously over a low heat until the mixture looks scrambled but is still soft and creamy.

Stir in the tomatoes and herbs, place the cooked bacon on the muffins, top with the scramble and serve straight away.

The great thing about the following recipe is that you can simply change the fruit to make a different flavour muffin next time!

125g self-raising flour

50g wholemeal flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

75g granulated sugar

100g oats

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely diced or grated

2 medium eggs, beaten

200ml semi-skimmed milk

2 large ripe banana, mashed

75g butter, melted

1 tbsp demerara sugar and a small handful of chopped pecan nuts (pecans are optional)

Heat the oven to 200°C. Place muffin paper cases in a muffin tin.

Sieve the flours, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the sugar, and oats, reserving 1 tbsp of oats. Add the apples to the dry ingredients and mix.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together, add the banana and butter then pour into the dry ingredients. Fold together until combined. Do not over mix or the muffins will be 'heavy'. If the mixture does not look thoroughly blended, don’t worry, this is perfectly normal and will sort itself out when it cooks.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Mix the demerara sugar with the reserved oats and pecans (if using) and sprinkle over each muffin. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and firm.