Cook of the Month Recipe: Instant Cranberry Porridge

A great energy boost to start the day

When I know I will want an instant breakfast, I like to make porridge the night before. Oat porridge is a great way to start the day. It carries the kind of slow carbohydrate energy that is steadily released into your body throughout the morning. This breakfast is particularly good if you are someone who just does not function on juice or fruit alone.

What You Need:
25g dried cranberries
25g rolled oats
1 tsp honey or concentrated
apple or pear juice
375ml boiling water
¼ tsp cinnamon or freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp butter (optional)

Put all the ingredients except the cinnamon or nutmeg and butter into a Thermos and close. Set aside until morning. You can also use a Pyrex jar with a lid that closes and place it in a warm place, such as the oven of an Aga, through the night. Eat as is, sprinkled with the cinnamon or nutmeg and topped with butter (if you want), or cover with soya milk, oat milk or rice milk. You can vary the porridge you make by using other grain flakes such as barley, millet or brown rice flakes.

Other Ways to Go
Date dream: use a large handful of chopped and pitted dates instead of the cranberries.
Fruit on hand: make the porridge without fruit then, just before eating it, add a handful of fresh or frozen berries, a sliced banana, a grated apple or whatever else you can find.

Source: Leslie Kenton's Cook Energy (Ebury Press, £16.99)

To order your copy of Leslie Kenton's Cook Energy, visit www.amazon.co.uk

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