Manuka magic with Holland and Barrett

I’ve been thinking about going sugar-free for a while now as I keep reading about all the health benefits – plus I have a friend who’s been sugar-free for ages and she looks amazing! So I bought Davina’s 5 weeks to sugar-free as I didn’t want to cut sugar out cold turkey style, but rather wanted to ease myself into it. It’s amazing how many hidden sugars there are in food – white bread, being one. I know it’s not going to be easy… but I’m determined to give it a real go.

So when Holland and Barrett approached me to come up with a healthy recipe using Manuka honey, I jumped at the chance. Manuka honey is a monofloral honey that comes from bees that pollinate Manuka trees, which grow pretty much exclusively in the East Cape of New Zealand. Apparently the Maori’s have been using Manuka honey for centuries because of its incredible anti-viral, anti-bacterial and healing properties. Sounds good to me!

I decided to go with a breakfast recipe as breakfast is essential to kick-starting your metabolism and setting you up for the day. Surely if your breakfast is healthy, the rest of your day will be too? Right?

I was looking for something that would be filling, tasty, easy to make and (of course) healthy. I’ve heard of Deliciously Ella (quite frankly, who hasn’t?) but I’d never made one of her recipes – until now. I discovered her raw buckwheat and blueberry porridge and thought I’d give it a go, with a couple of modifications.

I shopped for all the ingredients online at Holland and Barrett and once they were delivered, I got stuck in to making the raw porridge.

My modified recipe:

2/3 of a cup of buckwheat groats (200g) soaked in 1 cup of water (300ml)

1/2 a cup of blueberries (100g)

1/4 of a cup of almond milk (75ml)

1 tablespoon of almond butter

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1 tablespoon of Manuka honey

Method:

It’s essential to soak the buckwheat groats overnight in the water to soften them.

Once soaked, rinse the buckwheat until the water runs clear.

Place two-thirds of the buckwheat, the almond milk, two-thirds of the blueberries, the chia seeds, almond butter and Manuka honey in a blender and blend until smooth.

Once blended, it’s time to eat! I prefer to eat later in the morning so I put my porridge in a glass jar to take to work.

I layered it with some fresh blueberries at the bottom, then the porridge, then the unblended buckwheat groats. I then topped it with some flaked almonds, goji berries and some coconut.

Although Ella’s recipe says it serves two, I actually got three portions from this. It was really easy and quick to make and rather yummy. The Manuka honey added some sweetness to the porridge, which was needed.

The nutritional value of this recipe comes in at around (if my calculations are correct) 209 calories per serving and of course there are lots of vitamins and antioxidants too. The perfect start to the day!

*All my ingredients were kindly provided by Holland and Barrett.