Staple family faves

You know what they say – breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so don’t settle for soggy cornflakes and a protein bar, make it something special when you can. Meal prepping breakfast is an amazing way to have a delicious breakfast on the go, especially when you’re busy midweek and have to run out the door like I usually do.

One of my favourite breakfast snacks for meal prep is some banana and blueberry muffins. Smush up 2 overripe bananas and whisk in 2 eggs and 2 heaped tbsp light brown sugar with 2 heaped tsp greek yoghurt, then add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold through 200g self-raising flour and ½ tsp bicarb of soda with a pinch of salt and add in the blueberries. Be careful not to mash the blueberries up too much or everything goes a bit purple. Bake at 180ºc in muffin cases for around 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Weekend winners

Now if you’ve bought my Actually Delicious Airfryer Cookbook, you will have seen my recipe for pork breakfast patties. When you’ve made your patties and cooked them off, top ‘em with a few slices of burger cheese and stack on top of sliced and toasted English muffins. I like a bit of spice in the morning to get me going so mix together tomato ketchup and some hot sauce, then slather it all over your muffin. Wrap everything up in some tin foil and leave for around 5 minutes, so the cheese is oozy and the bun steams slightly, like my favourite Golden Arches breakfast.

As the High Priestess of Potatoes (thanks Nigella), I couldn’t not include some incredible home fries. I love an American style breakfast, so some spicy, crunchy potato cubes are a must with a fried egg and a few sausages. For my home fries, cube and parboil your potatoes for 5-7 minutes until tender but not mushy then leave to steam dry for as long as possible. Heat a frying pan with a splash of vegetable oil then fry off a roughly diced onion with 2 cloves chopped garlic, smoked paprika, dried mixed herbs and a pinch of chilli flakes. Throw in your dry potatoes, season well with salt and pepper and leave to brown, tossing occasionally for the best breakfast treat.

Sweet treats

What’s not to love about having a sweet little treat in the morning? Waffles are a big favourite in my family, my little sister asks me to make them for her all the time. The key to a good waffle batter is folding in your whisked egg whites carefully so the batter stays light and airy instead of being a stodgy mess. Obviously the most important thing to a waffle is the toppings, so get a selection of strawberries, whipped cream (I like the rubbish squirty cream), warm chocolate spread and some roasted chopped hazelnuts for a bit of a crunch.

For a super simple Sunday morning brunch with the girls, whip up a french toast recipe. This is a great way to use up leftover bread, I always find brioche burger buns are the best but anything will do! Soak them in a mix of whisked eggs and a splash of milk with vanilla, sugar and cinnamon and fry in a knob of butter until golden brown. Serve up with a big dollop of creme fraiche, blackberries and a squeeze of honey with a fancy little cocktail on the side.

Hash b’s

I physically couldn’t write about breakfasts without including the hash brown. It took me a long time to create the perfect recipe for these golden crispy pieces of heaven and I got a lot of inspiration from the golden arches again. Have I outed myself as a serial Maccies lover in this post? Boil your potatoes whole, this means they don’t take on too much water and go soggy, then use this to make a bit of a mixture of your cooked potato – some mashed, some cubed, which gives you a bit more texture when your hash browns are crispy on the outside. Personally I like to fry off a finely diced onion and mix it into the cooked potato for some extra flavour with plenty of salt and pepper.

You can shallow fry or deep fry your hash browns, but whatever you do make sure you drain them on kitchen paper and give a final sprinkle of flaky sea salt.