This time last year we put up the Christmas decorations and ate granola, and a little tree trimming tradition was born; make a huge breakfast, play carols and let everyone pitch in.

This year we made a big pot of bulgur porridge, warm, filling and comforting, and slightly tart from a squeeze of lemon.

This bulgur breakfast is akin to oatmeal, with a lovely chewy texture and nutty flavour.
Normally, we love our bulgur porridge creamy, cooked in (plant) milk and topped with nuts and dried fruit; it’s the ideal breakfast for wintry mornings.

This time we let the warm nutty bulgur flavour shine on its own with a little boost from sour lemon juice, added a little sweetener and topped it with lots of popcorn and peanuts for crunch.

If having popcorn for breakfast sounds odd to you, consider this, back in the 1800s Americans were eating popcorn cereal for breakfast just like you would corn flakes.

Popcorn and peanuts are a fine pairing, we pop the corn ourselves so it’s fresh but you can use any type of popcorn you want, and we love the added protein from the peanuts.

We loved that this breakfast bulgur with peanuts and popcorn is not just delicious, quirky and fun… it is nutritious as well.

I can’t think of a more energy boosting breakfast for the task of putting up festive decorations; it made untangling the Christmas lights bearable, and added to the excitement of setting up twinkly lights, hanging stockings and decorating the tree.

Our ornaments are odd and quirky, some certainly sentimental; a mishmash of “stuff” we’ve gathered along the way, a reminder of years past and the joys of the season.

This is my favourite time of the year for sure; I like that we generally try to be kinder to each other, and celebrate good food.