breakfast

Cinnamon Almond Granola

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If you want to make your house smell exceptionally warm and cozy, I highly recommend making this granola. It is short on ingredients and easy to scale up or down or modify to your own particular tastes. I know some people who might want to add cardamom and nutmeg to the mix and honestly I would myself, but my kids tend to like cinnamon on its own so that is what I do. I used gluten-free oats from Bob’s Red Mill, but many celiacsbobs red mill gf oats and people intolerant to gluten cannot eat even certified gluten-free oats. This apparently has to do with the protein molecule being similar in structure to gluten, though it might also have to do with what/how the oats are grown and what has been sprayed on or near them. (Read more about this here or at least look at the graph and draw your own conclusions.) Whatever the reason, listen to your body about eating oats or not. I count myself very lucky to be able to digest oats because I love granola and using oat flour in baking. This recipe is a healthy combination for starting the day because of cinnamon which can help stabilize blood sugar, almonds for the protein and good fats, and coconut oil to keep one satiated longer. Here’s the recipe:

 

 

Cinnamon Almond Granola

3 cups oats (I use gluten-free)

Real Salt

1 cup slivered almonds

1 tbs cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp sea salt (I use Real Salt)

3 Tbs. coconut oil (Somehow didn’t make it into the pics, but very important ingredient!)

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract (make your own!)

Preheat oven to 350. Place parchment paper down on a large, rimmed cookie sheet. Combine the first four ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well. Melt the coconut oil and honey in small sauce pan or just use your microwave for about a minute. Add the vanilla extract to the melted mixture and stir, then pour over the dry ingredients and blend until well mixed. Pour the mixture onto the pan and spread it out as much as possible. Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes so that all sides of the granola are exposed at some point. When it turns golden and the kitchen smells mouth-wateringly delicious, it’s ready to cool down and be stored in a glass container, or munched all day long right off the pan.

This is a great addition to smoothies to turn them into smoothie bowls and will be nice to have as an after school snack all week too, if it lasts that long. The other breakfast food I’ve made for the week is a couple of batches of waffles. They are filling and the addition of chocolate chips makes the early morning wake-ups just a tad sweeter for my sons, especially my youngest who is naturally a late sleeper. Waffles are also easy additions to lunch boxes and if you’ve never tried peanut butter or nutella on waffles, you are in for a surprisingly good pairing. These can be especially nice go-to foods for those early days of switching to gluten free eating for newbies, especially for kids, when it suddenly feels like all the comfort foods are out of bounds. Waffles can save the day and I highly recommend employing any and all tactics for making the transition as emotionally comfortable as possible, because changing what you eat in a drastic way is truly life altering and that should be acknowledged. It’s a challenge in other words, and although challenges are necessary and generally for the greater good, so is honoring the emotions as one goes through them.

Thank you for reading and please share with anyone looking for gluten free or just easy breakfast recipes.

Happy October!

spider web

 

 

The Future of Milk

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Would you like some almond juice in your coffee? Or liquid soy on your cereal? It doesn’t sound quite right but that might be what the future holds if the dairy industry gets its way. Apparently the FDA is considering banning the word ‘milk’ on plant based products because according to their standards’ definition, “Milk is the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.” That is not the full definition, but the full definition does not include plant based milks at all, even though dictionaries and long common usage have indeed used the word milk for plants. Here’s Merriam Webster’s definition:

1a : a fluid secreted by the mammary glands of females for the nourishment of their young
b (1) : milk from an animal and especially a cow used as food by people 

(2) : a food product produced from seeds or fruit that resembles and is used similarly to cow’s milk 

2: a liquid resembling milk in appearance: such as
a : the latex of a plant
b : the contents of an unripe kernel of grain

The FDA can’t wave a wand and wipe the shelves free of plant based milks that easily of course, and this is certainly going to get a lot of debate, and here’s where that debate starts: They are holding a public hearing to begin the discussion on July 26th in Maryland, but you can make an electronic or paper submission if you want to add your thoughts to the discussion. Something along the lines of, “Are you serious?” seems appropriate. Moooooving on~

Here’s a breakfast recipe from Delicious Living for Muesli. Recipe and photo below are both by Lori Eanes. Feel free to add any kind of milk you want.

Muesli

Muesli is a great alternative to expensive packaged cereal, and it’s filled with fiber, protein and flavor. Eat it with yogurt, almond milk or dairy milk, and you’ll stay full all morning.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups old-fashioned, gluten-free rolled oats
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
  • ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped, dried cranberries or apricots

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325˚. Mix first six ingredients (oats through vanilla) in a large bowl. Line an 11×18-inch rimmed baking pan with parchment. Pour mix onto pan. Bake 15–20 minutes or until coconut flakes are light brown. Cool.
  2. When cool, stir in raisins and dried cranberries or apricots. Transfer to an airtight container and use within a week, or freeze for longer storage.

PER SERVING (1 cup): 488 cal, 17g fat (8g mono, 3g poly, 5g sat), 0mg chol, 238mg sodium, 75g carb (10g fiber, 26g sugars), 13g protein

It’s hot here in the PNW where a/c is not the norm so cooking is the last thing I feel like doing, especially when it comes to dinnertime. Time to bring out all the salad recipes I can find I guess. Let me know if you have any dinner tricks for surviving summer heat waves~ I’d love some new ideas. Enjoy the rest of your week and please subscribe for more recipes and posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.