WAKE UP TO A 'FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST'

Today marks the start of 'Farmhouse Breakfast Week', and a great excuse to enjoy good old-fashioned breakfast staples such as bacon, eggs, sausages and relishes.

We don't often have "fry ups" or proper cooked breakfasts in this house, tending to prefer "healthier" options such as cereal or yoghurt with fruit. But there's nothing quite like a good "full English" is there? When we go camping (rarely) a cooked breakfast is obligatory, a reward for having got through the night on airbeds and something to set us up for the rest of the day.

Thanks to Denhay Farms Ultimate Breakfast Box, we have enjoyed not one but two Farmhouse Breakfasts this weekend, consisting of Denhay's sweet hand-cured bacon (which my son declared "very very tasty!", Spoilt Pig sausages, and Burford Brown eggs with the most wonderful marigold-yellow yolks. Alongside these hearty delicacies, some delicious Tracklements relishes and real tomato ketchup. Rather than sit around a farmhouse kitchen table (we don't possess such a thing because a) we don't live in a farmhouse and b) we prefer 1960s retro furniture!), we ate our farmhouse breakfasts in bed, with big steaming mugs of tea (me) and coffee (he), and Radio 4 purring away in the background. The cat felt he should share in the feast, and secured a few morsels of sausage by standing very close to us and looking pleadingly into our eyes. We mopped up the runny egg yolks with hunks of my homemade focaccia. All in all, the Farmhouse Breakfast was a great start to the weekend, and perfect fuel for these cold snowy mornings.

Never understimate the value of a good breakfast. Even if you, like me, are following the 5:2 Fasting Diet, you should always start the day with breakfast. For more on the benefits of a good breakfast and Farmhouse Breakfast Week, please visit the Shake Up Your Wake Up website

Some of my favourite breakfasts include:
  • Toasted sourdough bread with French unsalted butter
  • Scrambled eggs on Marmite toast
  • Soft-boiled eggs with Marmite soldiers
  • Sliced, fried tomatoes on toast
  • Toasted homemade Stollen slices
  • Toasted panettone
  • Spanish breakfast of cured meats (Serrano ham, chorizo etc), queso fresca (a young fresh white cheese like Ricotta) and fresh strawberries

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