Phat Fats & a Giveaway

My dearies. I have an evening workshop on WHY FATS and WHAT FATS and PHAT FATS (I think that should be the new working title, no?). It's coming up next Tuesday evening the 22nd, so next week. I'd love to have you come to the event! (Full event details by clicking here) So...

I AM DOING A GIVEAWAY.
Because I want you to come.

SHARE this post (handy dandy 'share' button at the bottom of the blog post) and your name will go in a draw next Monday morning for a chance to attend this talk next Tuesday night. I'll be giving away TWO tickets for this event, so that you can bring a friend if you like! Because friends let friends eat the good fats.

Contest closes at noon on Monday March 21st, 2016. Share away! And then fire me word via the facebooks or email at lukasymons@gmail.com to let me know you did just in case. (And let's talk fats too, shall we?) xx

THE DEETS:

In this current era of instant-information and seemingly contradicting information on what foods are good for you, which ones we should omit, it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to 'do the right thing'. In this one-hour presentation, followed by a Q&A, Holistic Nutritionist and local foodie Luka Symons will be helping you navigate through the information on Why Fats are Good, which ones to choose, which ones to omit from your diet and recommendations on how to include the good guys in your every day meal plan.

From heart health to immune health to hormonal balance and the all-important brain health, including healthy fats is a quintessential component to supporting our bodies for the work they do every day. In traditional cultures, fat was an essential daily component of the diet, and with good reason. We will look at saturated, unsaturated, cholesterol and heat tolerance. We'll look at which fats to use where in your cooking as well. As a bonus, I will demo how to make your very own creme fraiche at home, a full fat lactose-free dairy delight, sure to tempt your palate.

Cost is $20 per person, and seating is limited. In order to reserve your spot, please contact Renewal Homeopathy and Wellness at 403.202.8507.

I look forward to seeing you there!

MONDAY BASICS: Add Nettle to Meals

Welcome to Monday. St. Patrick's Day is happening this week, and as I have some Irish roots, I did indeed aim to think green for this week's #mondayhealthbasics blog post.

My week got off to a roaring start with a thoughtful gift from one of my sisters, a book from boreal herbalist wunderkind Beverley Gray called The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North – a Guide to Harvesting, Preserving and Preparing. Oh the joy. Oh the possibilities! (I am so lucky to have two awesome sisters. I love them so!)

See, I am a forager at heart and as I dig a bit deeper into our family's history, I realize I come by this quite honestly. This book has been on my radar for years since a good friend shared the knowledge within and a few recipes and foraging forays with me. But leafing through this new tome to my collection last night got me dreaming of things I want to uncover in places near by. As the book cover suggests, “(this) is an indispensable guide to identifying and using northern plants for food and medicine.” In this book you will find profiles of plants, berries, herbs and trees that will help you identify them in the wild. These profiles will help you figure out how and when to gather and preserve these goodies, with safety tips. You'll find lots of recipes and how-tos with detailed information on how best to gather these medicinal foods and make the most of the plants growing wild in the recesses of your back yard to the more remote spots found in nearby wilder areas.

Leafing through the book last night, I zoned in on the Stinging Nettle, or Urtica dioica. Yes yes yes, the same plant that gives you the very intense zing-like needling you would experience were you to chance upon a patch without knowing it. This perennial plant runs wild in almost every nook and cranny of this planet where there are wetter areas or where the soil has been disturbed. It loves rich damp soil. And seeing as spring seems to be just around the corner, it will be one of the first wild plants that will pop up for early harvesting.

I love nettle for so many reasons: it grows wild and can be found quite easily if you know where to look and what to look for. It's a super green, providing a rich source of iron (we need for energy and oxygen transport in our bodies) and silica (a mineral necessary for our body's structural force so think strong bones, nails, skin and hair). It's a power house of vitamins and nutrients, a good source of vitamin K, magnesium, chlorophyll, vitamins A and C too. My favourite thing in nettles is the high calcium content: 1 cup will supply your body with roughly 40% of this important mineral for the day!  All of this to say that nettle is a food that will promote the good health of bones and teeth, my friend. And these things we need strong for this world, yes?

The Boreal Herbal book explores the folklore behind this nutrient-dense herb, stating it is a blood purifier. It's purported to help your kidneys and liver. There are new studies looking into the efficacy of this herb in the treatment of BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), a non-cancerous growth of the prostate gland. So fellas, this one is for you too!

This herb is a fabulous anti-histamine herb, and as such would be of tremendous support for anyone dealing with allergies or the kinds of reactions we would associate with hayfever like itchy watery eyes. The leaves have also been shown to help combat inflammation, and so this herb would be of great benefit to someone suffering with arthritis or gout, eczema or psoriasis. Any kind of inflammation!

Nettle has a diuretic effect as well, so if you are someone who tends to retain water, this would be a good herb to add to your arsenal. Love your kidneys up, my friend.

Some companies have added it to their hair care products in order to help control dandruff. There are even manufacturers out there who have figured out how to utilize the fibres of the plant to produce textile. Fabric! All because of how easily and prolifically it grows. (Some folks call this a weed. A weed to you is a herbal delight to me.)

WHERE TO FIND THE GOODS

Now not everyone is up for hiking through dense marshy areas in search for this perennial herb. And fair enough. (I am not a super experienced forager, so I will forego sharing any tips or ideas on how or where to find nettle. I don't want to send you in the wrong direction or fail to give you the full and complete information you would need to ensure the plant you have in your hand is indeed the nettle plant. Plus, I don't want you to get hurt. BUY THE BOOK. It's about all I can say.)

So where would one find this amazing herb then, you ask, should one prefer to go the surer route? There are quite a few favourite local haunts where I have seen them on the shelves, or where I have purchased bags of the good stuff. Make sure to check your local favourite health food stores like Amaranth, Community or Blush Lane. You can also pick some up at The Light Cellar next time you're in Bowness.

Dry nettle leaves

HOW TO CONSUME THE GOODS

I'd forego trying the stuff raw. Imagine it stings you. While you're chewing. I'm just not that much into extreme food sports, you know? I mean they're called stinging nettles for a reason: there are hairs on the plant's stems and leaves that, when they come into contact with your skin, well they STING! And that feeling is just not pleasant.

But once you cook them, that stinging property disappears and you are left with a wonderfully dense, nourishing green that will provide your body with the good food. One of the easiest ways to consume the benefits of this herb is to steep it in a tea. Just toss the lot in with some water, and simmer for a short time if you prefer a weaker tea, or go ahead and let it simmer for longer for a deeper greener taste. I myself like to throw it in with other herbs in my thermos for the day's tea, depending on what I have in my pantry or what organ I want to support at that time. Nettle is always in the mix, every single day.

If you go digging around the internets, you'll find some wonderful recipes like this Potato, Golden Beet and Nettle Soup that sounds scrumptious. The good folks at The Kitchn have compiled a comprehensive list of recipes for clever ways to consume nettle in things like pestos, pastas, pies and pizzas here. You'll also find a wonderful compendium of recipes featuring this herb at a website solely dedicated to the health properties of Nettle. 

I'm not so calculated, I tend to cook from the hip. I throw a handful of dried nettles in lots of things from meatballs to soups and stocks; I've been known to throw some in with the ground beef or bison I'm cooking for a taco salad  or add it in to spaghetti sauce or a chili. Anywhere you want a little more green, my friend. It's as easy as that. Toss it in with your morning egg scramble; add it to the shredded sweet potato pancakes you have on tap for dinner tonight; simmer them a bit in a cup of meat stock for snack time; add it to your herbal profile when making a bouillon salt; add it to the greens you're cooking up for a yummy Palak Paneer; throw it in with the vegetables in your next ferment.

Whatever you do my friend, you best
GO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

And happy St. Patty's day!

MONDAY BASICS: Lemon water to start your day

The ninth in this blog series of weekly easy upgrades for better health is a pretty simple one. It takes all of 3 minutes of prep once every two weeks, and a little forethought every night before hitting the hay. We're talking the pros of starting your day with a glass of lemon water.

Omit the ice cubes for improved benefits. I just liked the colour here.

There are so many benefits to kicking your day off on the right foot with this lemon water business. This recommendation is one that just about every client I see on an individual basis will get early on in our work together. The benefits are many, as you will see by the list below.

But first, the how-to:

There are a few ways to do this. It's a good-better-best kind of deal if you simply add a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to a glass of room temperature water first thing upon waking in the morning. Upgrade that to a freshly squeezed half lemon for even more benefits in the same glass of water.

Want to really knock this one out of the park? Purchase a bag of organic lemons and run the lot through your stand mixer or food processor in order to reduce them to a mushy paste. Yes, skin, rind, seeds, pith and all. Pour this paste into ice cube trays and tuck in the freezer for easy retrieval. Before heading to bed at night, pop one of those lemon ice cubes out of the tray and toss in a glass of filtered water, and set on your night table so that come morning, that lemon will be melted into the water. Down the zesty drink first thing before even getting up, and you've done your body a good deed already. And your feet haven't even touched the floor yet! GOOD WORK.

Now go about your morning routine, washing up, getting dressed, packing lunches, feeding others, and preparing your breakfast. Getting the water down the hatch first thing will allow your body to absorb that water and give a good 30 minute buffer before your breakfast is ready to eat. This buffer means that the water will not dilute your hydrochloric acid, and thus will not hinder your digestive prowess first thing in the morning. Again, GOOD WORK.

But why?

The reasons for implementing this daily ritual are many. First things first: after a good night's sleep, your body can be leaning towards dehydration as it hasn't consumed any water for a long period of time. Starting the morning with room temperature water will help rehydrate, and the added lemon will get your digestive system started. As our body does its restorative work during our sleep, starting the day with this bitter beverage will induce the liver to do a very gentle cleanse first thing, flushing out toxins and getting bile flowing. Water is the main component of our lymph system, and so by consuming this glass of water in the morning we are further supporting our body's natural detoxification job in moving toxins and antigens out.

As is well documented, citrus fruits are also good source of Vitamin C: this crucial antioxidant plays an important role in supporting the liver, a main player in immune and a necessary nutrient for supple skin and health for connective tissue (we need it to make collagen in our bodies). And let's not forget the adrenals, they too rely on Vitamin C and so think of this as a good support for you to better be able to handle stress. Vitamin C is also a big player in keeping free radical damage at bay, and so of good support to skin. 

As an added bonus, citrus fruit have been well documented to contribute to reducing overall inflammation be it systemic, chronic or acute in nature. What's not to love?

Make sure your glass of water is either at room temperature or a bit warm, as cold water will shock your system and reduce the benefits you may be seeking here. This is part of the reason why I recommend you prepare this morning wake up the night before, to ensure the temperature won't slow down the benefits we're seeking here.

If you're worried about any negative effects on the health of your teeth when consuming lemon water on a daily basis, you may want to consume your water through a straw, bypassing your teeth entirely.

Just adding this one easy task to your morning routine can bring support to your liver, lymph system, skin, digestive system, connective tissue, reduce inflammation, neutralize those free radicals and help rehydrate your body. It's really an easy add-on with myriad benefits. Try this one out, and let me know how you feel one week in!

MONDAY BASICS: Batch Cook.

Monday Health Basics: a weekly blog post where we explore simple things to add, in order to support ourselves to aim for optimal health. If you're new to the blog, or curious to peruse the other posts on the subject, might I recommend you click on the tag at the bottom that says “monday basics”? Good fodder there to get you started.

This week's idea is one that I have implemented in my weekly approach to making meals an easier and more attainable task, and has evolved over time. In the last six or seven years, I have slowly winnowed out packaged and prepared foods from our family's regimen and have been aiming for more and more whole foods from scratch. It all started with my few years of working in the kitchen at my daughter's school, helping to prepare the school's hot lunches. Batch cooking is really at the heart of making meals for large groups, and some of these tenets can be taken into your own kitchen, albeit on a much smaller scale. Let me save you that five years' of ruminating I did, and skip to the good part.

#mondayhealthbasics: batch cook.

The concept of batch cooking might not be as foreign to you as you think. Some people call it The Big Cook, others get a gaggle of friends together to make a shwack of meals (yes, that's the technical term) for everyone to divvy up and take home. I participated in one of these group sessions for meal making, and it was a breeze. We decided on the recipes before hand and sent our grocery list to the woman hosting, and then spent that whole day assembling meals in foil containers and freezer bags. We each took home two full family-sized servings of every meal that was pulled together that day. It was amazing! I can't imagine how much organizational work went in to it on behalf of my superstar friend organizer Cindy, but it truly brought such a fabulous group of women together, and we all ate better for those next few weeks, let me tell you. It was a gargantuan grocery bill as you can imagine, but we all divvied up the cost and the labour, and if you can add 40 family-sized meals to your freezer for the coming days and weeks with only one day's work, I'd say you're way ahead of the game. Thank you for that memorable day, Cindy.

I have joined with friends since then to do mini versions of this big cook idea, and had great success. It really does make meal prep in the ensuing weeks immensely easier. I'm up for anything that takes a load off and makes things easier.

I don't know about you though, but I can't sustain a day or a full afternoon of batch cooking every few weeks. I simply don't have the time, unfortunately. And so I have winnowed this idea down over the course of these last few years, to make it an accessible task for myself when it comes to meal prep for our family.

I aim to do one batch cook prep item per weekend for the week's meals ahead.

How I come to choose which item, well that depends on a few things. Some weeks, I will pick an easy enough condiment that will be the base of many of the coming week's meals. (Mayo anyone?) I have been known to prepare big batches of lentils, nuts or seeds and allowing them to pre-soak in order to deactivate anti-nutrients. Doing a whole shwack (see a pattern?) means I only do it once for a bevy of meals down the road. And yes, I have two freezers.

When out for groceries for the week's meals, I sometimes come across some incredible savings on produce and so stock up. Once back at home, I tuck these discounted veggies into bags destined for the freezer. Other weekends I may have a pot of meat stock happily bubbling on the stove for meal plans in the week ahead. It really all depends what I have going on, or what kinds of things I need to stock up on.

And so today, my food-loving friend, I wanted to offer my suggestion on how to make this whole-foods journey a bit easier, and a more manageable task. Every weekend, I think of one thing I need to make in order to make the coming week's supper time a more manageable task when it comes to preparing food for my family. Below, you will find my list of ideas; click on the titles to find spots online for recipes or how-to.

To be clear, just choose one thing to make on the weekend!

Next weekend, it will be something entirely different. But slowly, over the course of time, you will be building your resources and stock piling some delicious offerings that will help make mid-week meal prep an easier task. I'd love to hear what kinds of tips you can share that have worked for you!

Easy One Batch Cooking Ideas
for weekend planning to ensure ease of meal making in the week ahead (click on items that interest you for full instructions and how-to)

• Pre-soak 8 cups of lentils for 12 hours along with 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, drain then cook 40 minutes or until cooked to desired consistency. Tuck in smaller portions in freezer bags for future quick protein for salads, soups and lunch bowls. (Follow this link to find more info on how to properly soak & cook beans and legumes)

• Make a big batch of pizza sauce and freeze in ice cube trays for easy retrieval on pizza night

• If you are planning to order a side of beef or pork, ask your farmer if they would sell you the fat from the animal and intend to make a batch of lard or tallow (couldn't be easier!)

• Make a curry paste from Jamie Oliver's fab set of recipes, and intend to use it up in myriad ways in the coming weeks

• Have milk going bad soon? Make your own yogurt!

• Go the easier route with dairy that is going off (or that 50% whipping cream at the grocery store). Make a big batch of creme fraiche! It will extend the shelf life of your dairy by at least 3 weeks.

• If chicken is on sale, consider throwing it all in your slow cooker with a 1/2 cup of water for 8 hours on low. Shred the meat off of the bones and tuck in freezer bags for quick protein additions to later meals, and save the stock that has gathered. Delicious.

• Make a batch of meat stock - great base for all kinds of meals.

• Make a homemade ketchup or BBQ sauce (bonus points if you try your hand at fermenting them!)

• Homemade bread is so much better than store bought. Whip up this batch of Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day, and it will keep in your fridge for up to 12 days. You need only pull out enough to make a loaf, tuck the rest in the fridge for later that week.

• Double or triple a big batch of soup or chili on the weekend, and tuck into individual-sized containers in to the freezer for quick lunch grabs or dinner re-heats on hockey night.

• Greens getting wilty in the fridge because you never got around to them during last week's dinner intentions? Get some fresh herbs and make some pesto or chimichurri by replacing half of your herbs for those wilty greens

• Making your own mayo is infinitely easy and serves as a great base for flavours in this week's meals. Look for some great alterations to standard mayo recipe to dress up the next days' meals here.

• Found some zucchini on sale this week? Shred it and tuck into smaller plastic bags in the freezer for later retrieval. Kale was deeply discounted and looking a bit sad? Snip and freeze! Overload of collards on a good deal? Dehydrate them til crispy, and then chop in a food processor to tuck in a glass jar in the pantry, to increase the nutrient density of meals.

• Make a double batch of granola for breakfasts ahead

• Make a big batch of easy homemade kale chips

• Pre-soak and sprout one kind of nut or seed at a time, and dehydrate. Do this in as big a bulk you can afford and have room for, and tuck in freezer bags in to the freezer for easy retrieval.

• Buy three or four vegetables for the meals coming up. Wash and peel if necessary, and chop into individual containers in the fridge for quick add-ins to the meals you have in mind. Cuts down on your prep time during busy weeknight meals!

• Roast a half dozen sweet potatoes while prepping Sunday night's dinner, and keep them in the fridge again for easy suppers mid-week.

Batch cooking day with a friend.

Keep it simple

There you are. Just a few ideas to get you started. My idea here is to offer some ideas on doing one good thing a weekend to prep for meals coming in the week ahead. As you build on this one-thing-a-weekend, soon your pantry and freezer will be loaded with quick things you can add to your week's meals. At the core of it all, I want to underline the word simplicity. Keep it simple. Good-enough-meals are just what should be on the table. No company is coming over, nothing fancy nor drastic is required. Just simple, and good enough. 

Please go play with your food. And comment below with ways you keep it simple and tasty!

BREAKFAST IDEAS

Ah, breakfast. In our house, some days there is glee at waking up, and other times the inner grump comes ROARING their ugly head right out of the gate. Regardless of the quantity and/or quality of sleep, breakfast can really be the tone-setter for the day ahead.

And for those with littles in their brood? Mmm. The power of good nutrition first thing can be their teacher's best friend, not to mention setting them up for success. By filling their bellies with nutrient-dense foods (I'm talking FATS and PROTEIN specifically!), these satiating bites can really carry them through the steady momentum of the morning routine, from getting ready to sitting at their desks, through to snack time. Having those foods that will keep their blood sugar balanced will go MILES in supporting them through the day's brain work. Teachers intentionally put the harder brain and concentration work first thing in the morning, as this tends to be the most productive time for young children in those first 8 years of school, up to grade six. If you provide that good fuel for morning work, your littles will best be able to concentrate and do the work at hand, without the blood sugar crashes that can induce a more frenetic energy in our children.

I'm posting breakfast ideas on today's blog, to help paint a picture of different ways to shake up that first meal. It's true, breakfast really can be the most important meal of the day in my books. But first, let's talk macronutrients, and why we need them.

FATS: these foods help slow down the absorption of food, which gives a sense of satiety or feeling 'full'. This means a little of some good fats can go a long way in supporting a child at keeping blood sugar on an even keel, and prevents the tummy grumblies from taking over. With a good fat in the meal, the body's intake of the other foods, specifically any carbs or sugars will come in a steady stream, providing that fuel for their brains. Oh yes, and fat is an important component of your brain; the cholesterol found in foods like eggs are important as 60% of your grey matter is made up of this type of fat! Ergo, eggs are a brilliant morning brain food.

Fats are also necessary for bone formation, building and regulating hormones, they assist in getting minerals into your body and are vital to your immune system too. If you're choosing fats with the all-important Omega 3s like olive oil or avocado, or that found in fish, nuts and seeds, you are helping keep inflammation down everywhere. Good fats also protect the liver and the heart, so reach for good sources of saturated fats here! Think nuts, butter, ghee, coconut oil, full fat dairy, eggs.

PROTEIN: our littles are working on building tissue all day every day, as one of their main jobs is to grow grow grow. What do you need in a busy 'building' or 'growing' phase in life? Protein! Our immune system runs almost exclusively on protein; bones need it, DNA and RNA are made from it, we need protein for a myriad things in our body. Ensuring a good source of protein at breakfast works also similarly to fat, in that it helps slow down the absorption of foods, contributing to keeping our kids feeling 'full' for a little while longer and ensuring a steady stream of energy to their little bodies. In anthroposophical medicine, protein is the macronutrient that helps our bodies get grounded as well; I'd say here then that protein needs to be an integral part of a child's breakfast in order to be present in their class room and allow them a solid foundation.

BREAKFAST IDEAS:
(some of these have links to recipes and other blog posts; click on the selection that interests you to read more!)

EGGS

• We have eggs every morning here. My girlie has hers cooked over easy in butter with S&P, served on a slice of sprouted grain toast slathered in probiotic-rich full fat cream cheese from Vital Greens. (We call it eggs with yellow sauce here, as the yolk is still runny. Cooking it this way ensures more of the vitamins remain, as further cooking will denature some of those heat-sensitive micronutrients.)
• I too have eggs cooked over easy. But first, I toss in some onions in the pan along with some ghee and will add whatever other vegetables I have on hand. It's usually mushrooms and some type of greens, like the beet greens from this morning. Once these are nicely cooked, I push them to the side of the pan and cook two eggs in a bit more ghee. Stirfries aren't for dinner anymore!

• Make an easy scramble cooked in ghee. Add-ons: throw in some grated cheese from the freezer in the last few moments; buy a few bunches of chives, parsley or other herbs and chop them finely, storing in a freezer bag so you can pull a bit out every morning; same idea with some greens like chard, minced finely they won't even notice; toss in a few grape tomatoes or chopped peppers; or crack your egg in a mug and add cream before you toss it all in a pan with butter.
• Make some nutrient-dense grain-free Pumpkin Pancakes (eggs, nut butter, pumpkin); make a big batch and freeze in freezer bags; pull out what you need in the morning and pop in toaster to warm up.
• Busy, rushed mornings? Prepare some hard-boiled eggs and keep in the fridge for a nutrient-dense snack on the go. 
• Egg Muffins with Sausage, Spinach and Cheese; freeze and pull portions out to reheat. Endless variations, use your leftovers!
• Egg in a jar (looks delicious!) 

OTHER GOOD PROTEIN IDEAS

• Make a big batch of easy homemade sausage patties, freeze them raw on cookie sheets and pull out of bags and cook from frozen. (1 lb ground meat (pastured or grass-fed preferable), 1/2 onion minced, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp chopped herbs (sage, thyme, parsley, oregano or chives), 1 egg, S&P)
• Make a big batch of these Strawberry Lemon Chia Protein Muffins, and slather on some butter or probiotic-rich cream cheese. (My caveats: use honey instead of agave, and please use full fat yogurt! And any milk you like here; bypass the protein powder and use some collagen powder instead (Vital Proteins I like)) 
• Halve a banana or slice an apple into medallions, slather on your favourite nut butter and sprinkle on some good toppings (coconut shreds, cacao nibs, raisins, mulberries, walnuts, seeds, etc)
• Any sweet breakfast would do well with more protein, by adding this yummy Chia Fruit Jam

OTHER GOOD FAT IDEAS

• Halve an avocado and drizzle with olive oil and a smidge of flavoured vinegar (this is my Chive Blossom vinegar from earlier this year); excellent as a side to any breakfast. Dress it up with minced cilantro and tomato and lime juice for a yummy Huevos Rancheros-like addition to some eggs!
• Drizzle additional olive oil on top of any savoury dish after cooking to increase the anti-inflammatory Omega 3 fats
• Add a handful of chopped nuts or seeds to your meal, or shredded coconut too
• Nut butters are a great addition to a meal too
• If you're cooking something, add a pat of butter or coconut oil
• If you're ok with dairy, add some grated or cubed cheese on the side or on top, depending

PREP THE NIGHT BEFORE

• Overnight oats are a popular thing; make sure you add a good fat here like a tbsp of coconut oil, and throw in some fruit, cinnamon, creme fraiche, yogurt, a pat of butter, a tbsp of a nut butter, something to slow down the carbohydrates into the blood stream.
• A grain-free alternative is to use spaghetti squash as your base. Prep the night before. Peach and Ginger Oatmeal, low in allergens. 
• Here's a chia seed version from Oh She Glows

DAIRY FRIENDLY EATS (both fat and protein here!)
*sub coconut yogurt if your family is DF

• Make some creme fraiche and pour that over some raspberries, add a splash of maple syrup.
• Melt butter in a pan, throw in some fruit (apples, pears, peaches, asian pears) and cinnamon, cook until soft; top with creme fraiche. 
• Use your hand blender to blitz together 1/2 cup creme fraiche, 1/2 a roasted acorn squash (or other squash), a few tablespoons of honey and a tbsp of vanilla. Pudding is served.
• Have some cottage cheese and adorn it at will with fruit and flavours you like
• Make a smoothie bowl: blend some yogurt with berries and some coconut oil, sprinkle on some coconut shreds and blitzed pumpkin seeds. Bonus: add 1/4 tsp spirulina powder to your yogurt/berry mix for added vegan protein. Other add-ons: some leftover cooked sprouted quinoa from last night's dinner; goji berries; cacao nibs; more berries.
• Make some popsicles and pull them out on Fridays for breakfast: blitz some yogurt with fruit together, add some melted honey and coconut oil and combine, toss into popsicle moulds.
• Make a Fruity Breakfast Parfait (please use full fat yogurt, always!)

How do you ensure a good start to your day? I'd love to hear your ideas and make this a community effort! Drop word below by clicking on 'Comment', and please hit 'Share' with other busy and overwhelmed parents in your midst. We're all in this together!