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It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

During my first month in London, I discovered the Breakfast Club, the little yellow cafes in London that serves a twist on cosy morning comforts. Since discovering the place in my first week, and having eaten a pancake or three I’ve been allured to their yellow den (hang-outs) ever since!

Instead of soggy cornflakes, porridge or PB and J, there’s Eggs Benedict served with home-style fried potatoes, the BC Fish Finger Sandwich with skin-on chips and coleslaw, or you can go for something sweeter with apple and cinnamon soaked oats and the All American pancakes, eggs, sausage, home-style fried potatoes, streaky bacon and maple syrup! ~ heart attack on a plate I hear you scream? but, actually it wasn’t as greasy as it sounds.

The Breakfast Club serves some of the best smoothies and shakes I’ve ever had (try, the ELVIS – Peanut Butter and Banana). Really, I crave for their shakes! The place has a kind of good-humored, 80′s warm-hearted feel and after leaving the place, you feel like going home and sticking on The Breakfast Club movie to watch.

As a heads up, the place can get really busy (we had to wait for a table), but service is incredibly fast and I didn’t feel rushed and like I had to quickly finish off my meal so that the table could be prepped ready for the next customer. These guys also have great taste in music too. Definitely a ‘must try’ place to go for breakfast, brunch or dinner in London. It’s become my new go-to spot when I need something quick to warm my belly…

The Breakfast Club  |  31 Camden Passage, London N1 8EA  |  020 7226 5454

{Photos by Cindy Cheung and Baz Chan (last pic)}

Deliciously low-fat banana and white chocolate chip muffins. Tastes as good as they look!

Currently, I’m still enjoying the time off away from the studio and instead have been baking away in the kitchen. Today I ran out of cupcake cases to make a batch of muffins to take down to Birmingham with me as homemade New Year gifts for friends – so what did I do? made good use with what I had already of course!

I’ve seen this technique done for all things cupcake-licious many times before so it’s definitely not a new idea, but a useful idea that’s been around for quite some time.

I think this is really handy and fuss-free idea from Martha Stewart and will be an especially handy trick for those times when we run out of liners/cases in the middle of a batch of muffins (and they keep the baked goods from sticking to the pan – that’s always a good thing!).

Delicious low-fat banana and white chocolate chip muffins. Scrumptiously filling, not too sweet and great with a cuppa.

Instruction for Muffin Wrappers

1. Cut 5-inch square pieces of parchment.

2. Spray a muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray, or grease up each muffin cup to hold parchment in place.

3. Place 1 piece of parchment into 1 cup of the tin. Use your fingers to make the crease around the bottom edge, pressing along folds to crease. Repeat with other cups and parchment pieces.

4. Pour the cake mixture into each of the parchment paper squares, filling them until they are about 3/4 full.

See Crisp Muffin Wrappers from Martha Stewart for more details if required.

What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Me? It was all about oranges today – homemade orange marmalade on toast with giant chocolate buttons, almonds and strawberries (hey, I make sure I get those 5 a days!). A smiley breakfast is what I have most days. Was it what I wanted? Uhmmm, the smile YES, always, but toast? (not really). Breakfast is, for the most part, a functional event. I know most of us have little enough time to make something hot let alone make it into a full on showcase event. But what if you did?

What would you have for your perfect breakfast?
If you could have anything – English grub style: bacon, eggs, sausages and tomatoes (the BEST)? Mexican style, say, or giant pancakes with maple syrup and crisp bacon or how about Sheffield Honey toast? or would you go posh? with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on bagels? à la New York; fresh berries or yoghurt – what would you choose? Let me know. Although I love the wholesome oats and toasty bread (I could nom this stuff every day) but we need to get the words the “porridge saint” out of our heads and start breakfast exploring!

Another interesting Missie breakfast posts that you might be interested reading includes: Start your day off smiling

Please post your comments below and share any breakfast suggestions/recipes with me.

Missie Cindz with her bags of wholesome BEAR nibbles

Missie Cindz Michelin 'A' Star scones using BEAR strawberry Yo-yo toll-up fruits

Each pack of BEAR strawberry Yo-yos comes with collectable animal fact cards

I was sent a selection of BEAR Nibbles to try out (obviously BEAR knew Missie loved all things food-related) and I have to say, I love the modesty of the bear on their packaging! with nice use of typography and a well-thought out colour palette that compliments the type of product it’s selling, so natural look and feel, clear design, and a comfy size – all this won me over and made me smile. I had never seen the BEAR brand so when these treats came through the post I was very keen to try them. I have to admit I’m personally a big fan of dried fruit and these BEAR nibbles smelt delicious. I’m always munching on dried fruits – my favourites being dried figs and dates (afterall they are a better alternative to crisps, right?) and I’m forever trying to find health(ier) snacks.

Snacking on the Go
Anyhow, I was sent a selection of Strawberry Yo-yo’s which are dried fruit roll ups for kids – but adults will become a fan, Fruit Nibbles and Granola Nibbles. What I really like about them is that they are all natural, no additives and they count for 1 of your 5 a day of fruit and vegetables or 1 of your 3 a day of whole grains. The Yo-yo’s also come with collectable animal fact cards inside (see photo above), again with lovely illustrations… swapsies anyone?! – Missie learns something new about nature whilst eating – it’s a BONUS! :)

Here is the list of ingredients from the back of one of the packs:

• Cherries (30%)
• Strawberries (30%)
• Flame grapes (40%)
• A squeeze of apple juice
• Absolutely nothing else

I really liked the fruit nibble type ones but I found the granola nibbles a little too hard and dry though (be careful if you give the granola nibbles to young children, some of the nibbles were quite chunky). I know they are made to be eaten plain, but I used the BEAR Strawberry Yo-yo rolled fruits to make Strawberry ‘A’ Star Scones (a special Missie recipe – available as a PDF for you to download and make yourselves soon – I’ll let you know when this recipe is ready), just look at the photos above. These scones were deliciously sweet and moreish! I’m looking forward to trying a few more BEAR nibbles soon, the Peach flavoured Yo-yos seem the perfect companion in a Missie muffins recipe.

I also tried the granola nibbles with milk for breakfast and with yogurt as a desert – it was so satisfyingly good! I much preferred accompanying these with something rather than eating them on their own. If any of you have managed to get your hands on some BEAR nibbles, let me know what you thought – it’ll be good to share recipes too!

Thank you BEAR, you have been so thoughtful to have snacks for kid and adults, too. It’s difficult to find healthy snacks for children these days (no wonder children obesity exists) so I hope parents reading this post will lookout for these GRRReat BEAR nibbles – just make sure you can resist not pinching the whole bag off your little fella or Missy :)

For the BEAR website visit: www.bearnibbles.co.uk

Tried and Nommed
If you are a specialist, local or artisan food producer and would like me to sample some of your wares and promote your business (particularly useful if you’re just starting out), please drop me an email and I would be happy to review your product and you can become Missie Cindz Approved!

Missie Cindz x

I enjoy starting my day off SMILING. Missie's Porridge Art Club - is someone off to a wedding?

My Breakfast this morning - start your day with a yummy smile!

Who's ready to start their day with a yummy smiling? My Breakfast.

“Eat Breakfast like a Queen (King), lunch like a Princess (Prince) and dinner like a Pauper”

It’s a well known phrase, but do you follow it? ….uhmmm, your Missie Cindz does!

I enjoy starting my day with a smile and what else is better than a bowl of wholesome-ness that smiles back at you? (without it I can’t function properly!)

RECIPE: Banana and Cinnamon Porridge

Ingredients
* 100g rolled oats
* 1 banana
* qtr tsp cinnamon
* 2 tbsp chocolate sauce
* 700ml semi skimmed milk

How to make it
1. Place all the rolled oats and milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil
2. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened
3. Serve with sliced bananas (I like to align the sliced bananas around the bowl, presentation matters :), a tsp of chocolate sauce and a sprinkling of cinnamon

Catch your morning adventure...Buttered toast and a nice cuppa!

Today I’ll open to the adventure that crosses my path and go with the flow (hopefully catch that morning star! :) Use your imagination.

I want to see your breakfast art so get creative with your breakfast tomorrow and tweet/send me a pic like this one! http://twitpic.com/4hubzw

Find more of my food, Sheffield and design-related tweets over at @MissieCindz