Monday, June 7, 2010

Granola and Delta Force



Today's run involved listening to Stuff You Should Know podcast on the Delta Force. They sound so bad ass; these mystery "operators" that travel the world and put down the opposition in the name of the US. Considering I don't particularly agree with our current wars, nor do I like the idea of sending thousands of troops in, these Delta Force guys sound pretty awesome. If you want to read more about them, check out the How Delta Force Works article.

Now down to the good stuff: granola.



I love granola, it's so tasty and wonderful for breakfast, a snack, or even a healthy dessert. Purchasing it from the store is so expensive though, so I quickly learned I needed to make my own before I bankrupted myself.

I basically started out with this recipe as a guideline and ate it almost all winter. I love taking my granola, topping it with almond milk and then popping it in the microwave for a minute. I'd then top it with sliced banana or other fruit I had around....so good!

I'd put my own twist on the recipe, typically doubling the batch and adding more oats, adding different kinds of nuts or dried fruit, etc. However, the half a cup of maple syrup wasn't really helping keep costs down. Honey wasn't really an option due to my veganism, so it was back to the trusty internet to find some more ideas.

That's when I came across Nigella Lawson's granola recipe from Feast. I didn't really follow the recipe too closely, but I liked the idea of using apple sauce as a sweetener and cutting back on the syrups. It also introduced the idea of adding seeds to my granola. Up to that point I had basically stuck with almonds and walnuts in my granola, never thinking about adding seeds (besides ground flax).

Very good, but eventually I got bored of making granola every weekend, so I took a break for a while.

Flash forward to today. I was googling some information about eating raw and came across a company that produces raw granola. I don't have, nor do I want to purchase, a dehydrator, however what was in the granola was really interesting. It was gluten free, so instead of oats, the granola was made out of millet and buckwheat. I never thought about trying different grains!

After digging through my cabinet, this is what I came up with:

Grainy Granola

- 1c quinoa
- 1c millet
- 1/2c sunflower seeds
- 1c raw almonds
- 1c buckwheat (not roasted)

- 2c rolled oats
- 1/4c sesame seeds
- 1/2-1c goji berries
- 1/2c dried, unsweetened coconut
- 1/2c pepitas
- 1tbsp of cinnamon
- 1/4c coconut oil, melted
- 1/2c - 1c applesauce

Rinse and soak the first 5 ingredients for an hour or two. Make sure you rinse the buckwheat and the quinoa well. When done soaking, rinse again and put in a spot to dry out. I heated up my oven a bit and put the grains and whatnot in there to help it dry faster.

Once dry-ish, mix the grains with all the rest of the ingredients. Heat the oven to 350F. Put the mix on two lightly oiled cookie pans and pop in the oven for 45 minutes. Mix once half way through. Once browned, take out and let cool.


No comments:

Post a Comment