Everyday Healthy Cereal

For the past 3 days, I have been bingeing on Serial.

For the spelling and grammar pedants amongst you, I must quickly put you right that this is not an unforgivable spelling error, nor is it a misplaced capital. My bingeing has not been on the 'in a bowl, just add milk and eat in a bleary-eyed, first thing in the morning' kind of cereal, but instead, I've been bingeing on the gripping podcast 'Serial'.

Serial is a podcast that tells one story - a true story - over the course of an entire season. It follows a plot and characters and it twists and turns (with plenty of 'did he or didn't he?' along the way) and is utterly compelling. To say I was completely hooked is an understatement of gigantic proportions.

If you're more current than me (not hard - let's face it), then you'll know that I'm a little late coming to the Serial party  - it first aired towards the end of 2014 - but this allows me to do what I do best ... binge-listening.

Binge-listening/watching is definitely the way for me. All or nothing. Diving in with reckless abandon. I was that slightly odd person who arrived home, drove the car into the garage and then sat there, inside the car, in the dark until the episode had finished. I was that Serial addict who listened while cooking, while doing emails and who did my best sprinting when I needed to pop into another room for fear of missing something important. Was there ever a phone in the Best Buy car park? Was the Nisha call a 'butt call' after all? So many questions and all so beautifully and grippingly handled by the presenter Sarah Koenig - who, incidentally, has quite possibly, the best voice in radio.

So, all of this gushing is really code for me saying, "If you haven't yet, then you should." Listen to it that is. Clear yourself a bit of time though. Or it could be carnage.

And then when it's over, you can return to everyday life and those important everyday questions like, "What's for breakfast?" Of course, the answer has to be cereal. Pun absolutely intended.

So, we've touched on my favourite weekend cereal and we've mentioned how all 3 of our children are rather partial to a Bran Flakes/Weetabix moment in the morning. But what of my lovely husband? When it comes to breakfast, he is completely and utterly a creature of habit. It's exactly the same every morning for him. Incidentally, did you know that 1 in 8 adults in the UK eats exactly the same thing for lunch every day? Ham sandwiches are the favourite - followed by cheese. Now I am, to be honest, pretty freaked by the idea of zero variety at lunchtime but the same breakfast every day? I get that. It's early, you don't want to have to make decisions, there's no self-control required, speed is of the essence ...

So what is his breakfast of choice? Well, it's our homemade Everyday Healthy Cereal - packed with oats, dried fruits, nuts, coconut, seeds and buckini.

Now the buckini part may be something new for you. It's not an ingredient that I've seen on every street corner, but it's worth keeping an eye out for it. Basically, it's activated buckwheat and, just to complicate things is no relation to wheat and is, in fact, the seed of a fruit. And it's gluten-free and it's packed with protein. I know .... it sounds like it's horribly good for you and will taste horribly horrid too. But actually, it has very little taste and adds a gorgeous crunch to your cereal without the need to turn the oven on and get toasting. It's a magic ingredient. If you like to know the detail on these things then you can find out all about it here. Otherwise, trust me that it's a  fantastic addition to this cereal. But if you don't have it, you can just add more of whichever other ingredients are your favourites. The choice is yours.

And here's why you might be making room for this Everyday Healthy Cereal in your morning routine -

• No cooking required - just chopping and combining.
• It's packed with tasty chunks and morsels so there is no fear of ending up with a bowl full of miserable porridge oat 'dust'.
• This is super healthy - no refined sugar, no fat, no mystery chemicals ... just plenty of gorgeous gluten-free loveliness and a hit of protein too.
• It tastes great and is refreshingly not at all sickly sweet.
• This will easily keep hunger pangs at bay until lunchtime.
• Prepare this when you have a bit of time and it will keep well for a couple or three weeks in an airtight container.
• Use the recipe as a guide and adapt it to be just how you like it ... more of this, less of that - it's your cereal after all.
• Serve it with your milk of choice - dairy, almond, soya, rice ... It's up to you.
• Top it with fresh fruits if you fancy. My lovely husband favours blueberries. I like a few raspberries too.

So there you go. Now you know everything about our breakfast habits ... as well as my podcast habits. Go on - get listening to Serial and knock up a batch of this cereal at the same time. But watch those fingers - your mind may not be fully on the chopping ...

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