a breakfast bowl passion

Unless you are totally new to this blog you are by now well aware of how I feel about the first meal of the day. I am pretty passionate about it - because I am really ready to eat after a long night, it is nutritionally critical, and I just like the things I eat for breakfast. I tend to be a creature of habit (at least first thing in the morning) and love the comfort of familiar favourites for breakfast, so to add a new item to the lineup is tough. It means bumping an old friend or at least not enjoying it as often. One can only eat so much for breakfast!

Last month when I was in Vancouver helping with setting up LITCHFIELD I did not have the leisure to cook the old standbys. I was not in my own kitchen with my well stocked pantry right at hand and I didn't have much time to cook anyway but I still wanted/needed to eat a healthy and sustaining breakfast. This pretty breakfast bowl was born of that desire. It has quickly become a frontrunner in the favourites race. Fast and easy to put together and ultra adaptable it is the perfect breakfast for this (or any other) particularly busy time of year. It is loaded with superfoods and wise nutrition choices, tastes great, and is pretty enough to sit and gaze at …. if you have the time.

I like to use a combination of berries and another fruit (whatever is in season or on sale). Berries can be costly out of season but frozen berries work very well here and are almost always affordable. Sometimes I add chopped nuts but other times not. I like a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon most mornings but it is equally good without. The amounts suggested are what I use when I make a bowl for myself - you may like more or less of any one thing. Just to note: I do eat a hearty portion at breakfast time.

a pretty breakfast bowl

1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup blueberries

1/3 cup pomegranate arils (or half a pear chopped … )

3 Tbsp hemp hearts

1 tsp fresh bee pollen

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp cacao nibs

handful of broken pecan pieces

Layer the ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine, and enjoy.