Recipes

Birdseed Bircher

6:

Ingredients

2 apples
1 lemon
3 cups rolled oats
½ cup sultanas
1 cup apple juice
1 cup water
1.5 cups low fat natural unsweetened yoghurt
1 cup almonds, roasted and chopped
½ cup whole linseeds
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (also known as peppitas)
fresh berries and organic honey, to serve

Method

Wash and finely chop the apple, leaving the skin on. Squeeze juice from the lemon and pour over the apple immediately, mix to prevent browning.

In a large ceramic or plastic bowl, mix together apple, oats, sultanas, juice, water, yoghurt, almonds and seeds. Cover and refrigerate overnight. It will keep for up to 5 days.

To serve, place bircher in bowl (stirring a little extra water if it has dried out) and top with fresh berries and honey.

Notes

We often get asked, how is it that you're chefs and yet so slim? To be honest, neither of us diet. But we exercise regularly (yoga, running and pump) and we swear by a good healthy breakfast. We all know that brekfast is the most important meal of the day, but all too often it is skipped, or worst yet - filled with processed high fat/salt/sugar convenience foods. Keeping healthy is also about getting a good night's sleep, so getting up early to make an elaborate breakfast is not on most people's agendas.

Our solution is Bircher Muesli… or as our dad likes to call it "Birdseed Bircher" (he's a bacon and egg kind of man, but we're doing our best to convince him!). It is made in advance and stores very well in the fridge for up to 5 days, so really, you only have to cook it once a week!

So what's with the birdseed, I hear you ask? Seeds hold an incredible amount of nutrition and when mixed into the bircher, you'll hardly notice they're there.

Linseed (also known as flaxseed) contains twice as much omega 3 as fish oil and improves the quality of your hair, nails and skin. It regulates body weight, lowers cholesterol and improves arthritis.
Sunflower seeds are a fantastic source of antioxidants. They are also very high in protein, folic acid and a whole raneg of b-complex vitamins.
Almonds are jam packed full of mono-unsaturated fats, the good kind of natural fat which lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) and increases HDL (good cholesterol). Just 100g will get you 170% of your RDI of vitamin E, keeping your skin naturally fabulous
Chia Seeds are an ancient Mayan seed and "chia" literally translates to "strength". They are choc a block full of fibre, protein and omega 3.
Pumpkin seeds are high in zinc and magnesium, and work as a natural anti inflammatory.