Back to school....well nearly!

I've been cooking up a storm this week. I'll be back at work fully by the beginning of September and that means I'll be needing a good stash of lunches and breakfasts in the freezer to make the early mornings go a little smoother than they are now.
I've been thinking particularly about breakfast food. Nobody wants to wake up every morning to the same old, same old and even if you're a creature of habit it's at least nice to know you have a choice.
 My first experiment this week was muesli.
 I've tried various incarnations of ready mixed muesli bases and just added extra stuff, but nothing beats making you're own mix right from the start.
See, I really don't get on well with dried fruit so conventional gluten free muesli is really out of the window for me. A base that I can add fresh or stewed fruit to is more like it and this is what I've come up with so far: (I haven't given any quantities as it really is up to your individual taste.)
Muesli base

• Puffed rice
• Millet flakes
• Gluten free Rolled oats
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Linseeds
• Flax seeds
• Toasted coconut shavings
• Mixed nuts.

This is a good dry base to add anything you like to really and you can mix and match any way you please. I usually add them all together in a large storage tub and give it a good shake before each serving. You can eat it with plain yoghurt, original or vanilla floured rice milk. I've even known people to eat theirs with chocolate milk!
I often add stewed fruit to mine and making your own is far better than buying fruit spread from the health food shop as you can control the amount of sugar that's in it. It's also a great way to use up any left over fruit in your fruit bowl. You just simply peel and chop as necessary and simmer with a little water until it goes soft.

I chose apple and apricot this week for my cereal, I just took out what I wanted and froze the rest. If you want to be really savvy you could always freeze small portions in an ice cube tray and just pop a portion out whenever you want one.
My second adventure this week was with pancakes.
As you probably remember I really do not like eggs and I really don't like them in my pancakes, yack!
Anyway, in my pancake recipes I usually substitute the eggs for no-egg egg replacer or a little baking powder but you can just swap that for an egg if you're ok with it.
Given as the apples are falling from our trees early this year I thought apple pancakes might be a good way to use them up.
Apple and cinnamon pancakes.
Ingredients:

• 250g of gluten free self-raising flour ( pancakes come out fluffier than with plain).
• 1 tsp egg replacer or 1 egg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large apple grated ( dessert apples are preferable)
• Enough soya or rice milk to make a smooth batter.
• Oil for cooking.

1. Peel and grate the apple and mix with the cinnamon in a small bowl.
2. In a separate bowl mix the flour and egg replacer if using/ beat the egg into the dry ingredients.
3. Add the milk slowly while mixing the ingredients until it makes a smooth batter. ( make it slightly runnier than usual)
4. Add the apple and cinnamon and mix well. The batter should be quite thick now.
5. Using a flat bottomed frying pan or a griddle fry ladle sized portions of the batter until golden brown on both sides and quite firm to the touch.
6. Serve with butter, stewed fruit or yoghurt.

These can be frozen too just remember to put a piece of grease proof paper between each one before freezing them so that they don't stick together.

ENJOY!!!!!