A fully nourishing breakfast is not a choice, it’s a necessity.

Unless you are unable to afford breakfast, it’s a really good idea to have breakfast. It doesn’t have to be the moment you wake up, but if it’s properly nourishing, it may really help you with many struggles, like energy, weight gain, cravings, and blood sugar crashes. Stabilising blood sugar becomes more important in mid-life as we can become insulin resistant, and our stress hormones can increase, leading to some of these struggles, to inflammation, and also increasing the risk of a number of diseases.

Many women, especially as they get older, say they aren’t hungry in the morning. That’s ok. Wait until you have an appetite, and then eat well. Or have a small breakfast, but make it nutrient-rich, and/or have a nutrient rich snack a little later.

Here’s a great recipe to ensure you have all the macro nutrients (protein, complex carbs, good fats) with ease.

The pancakes themselves are a balanced snack on their own, and are rich in many minerals and vitamins.

Then you can add even more richness to them! Toppings like:

• Yummy natural yogurt or kefir to support your gut bacteria
• Stewed apple and/or pear with cinnamon to support digestion and yuminess
• Berries for their yumminess, and their antioxidants supporting your defences and your heart and brain
• Nut butter for extra good fats and protein and minerals and yumminess
• Maple syrup to support your pleasure and please your palate
• Chopped nuts for crunchy satisfaction
• Bacon and tomatoes with olive oil for protein, vitamins, antioxidants (in the tomatoes!) and yumminess
• Smoked salmon and rocket for yumminess, antioxidants, protein and fish oils

I adapted this recipe to an un-recognisable degree, from a book I’ve had for 10 years. The only things I’ve kept is the dry to wet quantities/ratio, and using egg-whites rather than bicarb as a raising agent as I prefer that. The book is Easy Cooking for Kids. I like easy!!!

Variety of all foods  supports our health. So on another day try my oat bread recipe with eggs and some tomatoes, and on another try Petra Fulham’s Menopause Loaf with some nut butter, sprinkled seeds and cacao nibs, packed with important nutrients. Both can be frozen in slices and toasted for brekky. She has loads of wonderful recipes on her website.

Makes 12-14 American style pancakes.

Ingredients

• 60g wholemeal spelt, wheat or oat flour
• 50g ground almonds (almond flour)
• 40g lightly ground seeds (choose to mix or use one seed, depending what you have. Avoid sunflower and sesame as they get a bit lumpy)
• 30g buckwheat flour or 15g psyllium husks and 15g other flour (you can chop and change between all the dry ingredients and quantities if you’re happy to experiment)
• 3 medium/large eggs
• 220 Dairy milk or non-dairy “Mylk”
• Butter or ghee for frying
• pinch salt (optional)

Method

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Separate the eggs. Add the yolks and milk/mylk and combine by hand whisk.

In a separate bowl, using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add to the batter and mix minimally. Better to have little lumps of egg-white than to over mix.

If you like to experiment you could finely chop some apple into the mix before frying…

Heat a frying pan on a medium heat. When hot, add a small nob of butter and spread around. Gently put approx 1 tablespoon, no more, of batter on the pan, and repeat (4 fit in the average frying pan). Allow to cook for 2-3 mins before turning. Cook both sides until golden brown. Keep warm on a plate in a low oven (60-80 degrees C) while you cook the rest.

Enjoy warm with your favourite toppings! Or pack any leftovers and bring for a snack as they are.

These need to be cooked immediately. Though if you don’t tend to have lots of time, you can make the dry mix ahead and store it in a jar in the fridge for a few days, or in Tupperware/bags in the freezer for a couple of months. Break it up in the bowl, and it should defrost in the time it takes to measure out the liquids and whisk the eggs.