Fresh and fruity muesli

You can prepare this in advance and leave it in the fridge overnight, or make it in the morning and eat it straight away - either way works!

Makes: 1 serving
Takes: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 apple
3 dried apricots
3oz (75g) porridge oats
5fl oz (150ml) milk

Method

1. Grate the apple and chop the apricots then mix with the oats and milk.
2. Er - that's it! Eat it!

You can add other fruit and/or chopped nuts if you wish.

Banana, honey and oat smoothie

Smooth, creamy and filling :-)

Makes: 1 serving
Takes: 1 minute

Ingredients

1 ripe banana
1 heaped tbsp oats
1 tsp honey
some milk

Method

1. Peel the banana and break it into 3 or 4 pieces. Put it into a blender with the oats and honey and add some milk. Blend until smooth.
2. Er.... That's it!

Sorry I can't be more specific about the quantity of milk, I basically just pour it in till it looks about right, but it must be about a cupful. You can use any kind of milk (full-fat or lower-fat cow's milk, soya milk, rice milk, almond milk, etc) - my own preference is for skimmed. A bit more milk will make a slightly thinner smoothie; the way I make it, it turns out the thickness of a McDonald's milkshake!

Cranberry and Orange Granola

Because of my nut allergy I have to be a bit careful with muesli and granola, so if I want it it's safer to make my own! I love the fruitiness of this particular recipe, and it's low-fat and low in added sugar too :-)

Cranberry and Orange Granola

Makes: About 1 1/2 lb
Takes: 20 mins + 45 mins cooking time

Ingredients

2 oranges
4 tbsp runny honey
11 oz rolled oats
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
3 1/2 oz dried cranberries
3 1/2 oz raisins

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160oC (fan oven)/180oC/Gas Mark 4 and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Finely grate the rind of the oranges and squeeze out the juice. Put the rind and juice together with the honey in a saucepan and warm gently.
3. Add the oats and seeds and mix well then spread over the baking tray (it doesn't need to be level or anything - clumps of mixture are fine!)
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the clumps, till golden and starting to crisp. Give it a bit longer if you like your granola really crunchy.
5. Stir in the fruit then leave to cool before storing in an airtight container.

You can serve it with natural yogurt and fresh fruit, or any way you like really - my preference is just to add skimmed milk! It's also good as it is, still warm from the oven...

It keeps well for at least a week. If you're not sure you'll get through it in that time, halve the recipe (in fact, all the quantities here are doubled from the original as I found it better to make it in bulk!) It may not need to bake for quite as long though so keep an eye on it.

You can ring the changes by adding different kinds of dried fruit - a mixture of dried cranberries, blueberries and cherries is _delicious_! You can also add nuts of course, though you may want to reduce the quantity of oats accordingly. Try replacing a couple of ounces of oats with the same weight of chopped hazelnuts, for example. It's a flexible recipe so adapt it to your taste :-)