Use best quality fresh fruit juices. Serve them in tall glasses with a mixture of ice cubes and lemon slices. Sparkling wine or Muscadel is an optional extra.

Serves 6

1 tray of ice cubes
2 lemons halved lengthways and then sliced
1 litre of fresh orange juice
1 x 750 ml sparkling wine or soda water

Divide ice cubes between 6 glasses. Add a generous number of lemon slices. Fill the glasses two thirds full with fresh juice and top up with sparkling wine or soda water.

Serves 6

1 tray of ice cubes
2 lemons halved lengthways and then sliced
1 litre organic apple juice or any good quality clear or sparkling apple juice
500 ml late harvest or sweet Muscadel wine (optional)

Divide ice cubes between 6 glasses. Add a generous number of lemon slices to each glass. Fill the glasses ¾ full with apple juice and top up with sweet wine if desired. Stir with a swizzle stick and serve.

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Serves 6

Be wary of shop bought muesli, it tastes great, but is often laden with oil and sweeteners. Even homemade recipes are full of what we really don't need more of.

6 T (90 ml) Jungle oats
1 cup (250 ml) fresh orange or apple juice
2 golden delicious apples, grated with peel
1 cup (250 ml) plain Bulgarian or Greek yoghurt

WE USED:
2 half slices of watermelon, 300 g grapes and 2 mangoes

Spoon a generous tablespoon of the uncooked oats into 6 glasses or dessert bowls. Pour juice over oats (about 3 T per serving), top with grated apple (don't be concerned if it discolours). Spoon 2-3 T yoghurt over the apple. Top with watermelon, mango, grapes or a variety of fruit that is in season. Pre-prepare to here, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until serving time.

 HEALTH TIP: Family Breakfast
For 'during the week' breakfast I soak raw oats in juice the night before. The next morning, spoon 2-3 T of the soaked oats into each bowl, add 2-3 T of yoghurt and some fresh fruit.

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Nobody wants to slave over a hot stove on a Sunday morning when your guests are having all the fun. I don't like missing out on the news. Pre-prepare everything, get one of the guests to help you with assembly and serve these delicious bites on trays. Serving brunch 'canapé style' also saves on using a lot of knives, forks and other table clutter.

Serves 6

500 g good quality boerewors
250 g rindless streaky bacon
2 ripe avocados
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Chilli & Garlic Seasoning
3 T (45 ml) Ina Paarman's Classic Lemon Vinaigrette
1 chiabatta or 1 French loaf
olive oil
Ina Paarman's Rosemary & Olive Seasoning
2 red onions, sliced into rings

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

TO PREPARE:

BOEREWORS - Cook on the stove in a riffled cast iron pan until nicely marked on both sides. Transfer to the oven (pan and all) and bake for 15 minutes.

BACON - Overlap the slices on a baking sheet and bake in the 200°C oven for ± 15 minutes until crispy. Remove and keep on paper towels until needed.

BREAD - Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slice the breads in half lengthways, drizzle inside with olive oil and season lightly with Rosemary & Olive Seasoning. Bake for 5 minutes.

AVOCADO - Pip, peel and mash avo lightly with Chilli & Garlic Seasoning and Lemon Vinaigrette. Cover.

TO ASSEMBLE - Spread bread with avocado; slice the boerewors into 3mm slices and pack over avo. Cut bread into 5cm lengths on the diagonal. Top each one with bacon and onion rings.

 CHEF'S TIP:

Cooking bacon and boerewors in the oven instead of on top of the stove prevents smoky fumes in your kitchen and simplifies the job for the cook.

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Serves 6

Scrambled eggs, cooked to perfection are absolutely divine served at room temperature or lukewarm. Try this recipe, you won't be disappointed.

4 eggs
4 T (60 ml) water
2 T (30 ml) butter
2 T (30 ml) cream or full cream milk
1-2 t (5-10 ml) Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
2 T (30 ml) finely sliced chives
1 chiabatta or 1 French loaf
200 g smoked rainbow trout slices
freshly ground black pepper

TO PREPARE:

EGGS - Beat the eggs with a fork in a small bowl until well mixed. Beat in the water. Warm a heavy based dry fry pan until hot. Add the butter. As soon as the butter has melted and just beginning to foam - swivel the pan to coat with butter a little up the sides.

Add all the egg at once, turn the stove down to low. As soon as the egg starts setting, stir it very gently to allow the un-cooked egg to come in contact with the base of the pan. As soon as the mixture is creamy and almost set, remove from the heat and add the cream (to cool down the mixture and stop the cooking), the seasoning and the chives. Scrape eggs out of the hot pan and leave to cool in a bowl. When cool, cover and leave at room temperature.

BREAD - Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slice the breads in half lengthways, drizzle cut-side with olive oil and season lightly with Green Onion Seasoning. Bake for 5 minutes.

TO ASSEMBLE - Spread a thick layer of scrambled egg over the bread. Add a little more chives. Cut bread into 5 cm lengths on the diagonal. Top each one with salmon slices and a generous grinding of black pepper.

 CHEF'S TIP:

Do not overcook the eggs, they will become tough and draw water! That is the reason why we scrape the egg out of the hot pan into a cold mixing bowl. If your stove plate is a bit hot, rather move the pan on and off the plate while stirring the eggs.

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Makes 24 muffins

Sprinkling the nuts on top of the muffins allows them to crisp and toast nicely.

2 extra large eggs
½ cup (125 ml) canola or sunflower oil
1 cup (250 ml) plain yoghurt
1 cup (250 ml) milk
1 x 700 g Ina Paarman's Muffin Mix with Raisins and Bran
1 cup (100 g) pecan nuts, chopped
white paper cups

Preheat oven to 180°C and adjust oven rack to middle position.

Remove the raisin-bag from the foil packet and pour boiling water over the raisins to plump them up. Drain immediately and set aside to swell.

Grease two muffin pans. Beat eggs and oil for 2 minutes on high speed until well blended. Add yoghurt and milk and beat for 1 minute on high speed. Add contents of pack and drained plumped raisins. Stir by hand with a spatula ± 40 times until uniformly blended. (Do not beat).

Divide mixture to make 24 muffins. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for about 30 minutes until nicely risen and browned. Serve plain or with butter and honey.

 CHEF'S TIP:

The mixture can safely be mixed the day before and kept covered in the fridge to bake on the day or bake some today and some the next day.

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