Morning glory

Wake up children!

It's hard for me too, you know... The summer holidays are a distant memory: lazy mornings reading in bed while you ate white bread weighed down with Nutella and peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. Now you need something sustaining and healthy to boost your brains and power you through the long mornings of letters, numbers and fighting in the playground.

And so we start the healthy-breakfast-bartering. I open with poached eggs, kippers and wholemeal toast; they come back with Coco Pops. After protracted negotiations we agree on granola. Enough sugar to appeal to them, plenty of nuts and fibre to placate me.

My recipe for Ginger Granola stars oats, maple syrup, honey, nuts, dried fruit and little pieces of zingy crystallised ginger to sweeten and surprise. Eat it for breakfast with milk, straight from the jar for a snack, with yogurt for pudding - or give it away in pretty jars.

Ginger Granola

125ml maple syrup (or a combination of runny honey and maple syrup)
25g caster sugar
25ml sunflower oil
half a teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
500g oats (preferably a mixture of jumbo and porridge)
175g mixed seeds
150g pecans
50g whole almonds
150g dried fruit
100g crystallised ginger, chopped finely

Heat the oven to 170/gas 3. Put the first six ingredients in a large bowl and stir together. Then add the oats, seeds, pecans and almonds and use your hands to mix everything really well*. Tip into two roasting tins and spread out evenly. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until it is a light golden brown colour. Let it cool down completely before adding the dried fruit and ginger.

* When you've finished mixing, wring your hands like Lady Macbeth, then wash them. The combination of oil and sugar will leave them feeling beautifully soft.

A bit on the side

What does Sunday lunch mean to you? Steamy windows, expert timing and congealing fat? A lazy booze-fuelled, chat-fest with friends, or a fraught encounter with the family?

The Sunday lunches of my childhood were preceded by a trip to church. Thus spirituality and roast meat have always been inextricably linked in my mind. At first I found mass unintelligible, then I moved on to bored, but my divine interest started to pick up as I became interested in boys and church became a good scouting venue.

There's no need to be slaving over a hot stove on a summer Sunday. Instead, get your meat in the oven when you're having breakfast and give it (and you) time to relax before serving for lunch with cold salady vegetabley dishes - such as crunchy and colourful coleslaw or tastebud-tickling wasabi potato salad. Both recipes serve 4-6.

Wasabi potato salad

Wasabi Potato Salad

500g new potatoes
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
½-1 teaspoon wasabi powder*
6 spring onions, sliced

Mix together the mayo and wasabi powder. Cook the potatoes, allow them to cool a little, then cut into chunks and mix them carefully into the wasabi mayo while they are still warm. Add the spring onions.

*Remember that the flavour and heat of the powdered stuff develops slowly!

Coleslaw

Coleslaw

Half a small white cabbage (outer leaves and stalk removed), sliced finely
3 or 4 carrots, peeled and grated
8 spring onions, sliced

100g mayonnaise
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Mix together the wet ingredients then add the cabbage, carrot and spring onions and mix some more. I like to add a handful of raisins, though my children spit with disgust if I do.

Carrot and Nut Salad

Another one you can knock up in a few minutes is my Carrot and nut salad. Again, I like it with a handful of raisins thrown in.

Freaky chicken breasts

Hey, well-known-supermarket, when did you start selling chicken breasts in packs of 3? Have scientists secretly bred a 3-breasted bird? It's very inconvenient for the nuclear family.

Roast chicken with creamed leeks

Tonight we are eating roast chicken breast, creamed leeks, carrots and corn on the cob. You can do most of that without my help, but if you've never had creamed leeks before I'll talk you through it.

I used 3 medium leeks, a good size knob of butter, a tablespoon of flour and some milk (any kind). Put the butter and finely sliced leeks into a pan and cook slowly until bright green and tender:

Keep the heat low-medium, add the flour and stir well. Gradually add the milk, stirring all the time, until it boils and the mixtures thickens to your desired consistency. You can also add some grated cheese if you have a bit that needs using up.

This will be enough to liven up what would otherwise be a dreary meal. Your family will be so delighted with the cheerful combination of bright green, yellow and orange on their plate that they will eat it all, without complaint (no guarantees).

For pudding, tempt them with some fruit served with a dip made of creme fraiche and maple syrup.

Fresh fruit with maple-syrup cream

Simply mix together some creme fraiche and maple syrup until it is nice and sweet, and serve in individual ramekins with a plate of cut up fruit. Put it back in the fridge to chill if you have time.

That's Monday done.