Breakfast Unprocessed

By Cynthia on October 10, 2012 in Food

Homemade Coconut, Almond, Cherry Granola.

Nutritionist Adele Davis is credited with the quote, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” When I was in high school, I ate the same breakfast every single school day…every day! Carnation Instant Breakfast shakes. Rip open a packet, pour in glass, add milk, stir. Breakfast. It was fast. It was easy. I was a teenager…my teenager now won’t eat breakfast unless I make it for her and it’s fast…she’s usually bolting out of the house at 7:10 to pick up all the girls in her carpool. I can’t really criticize her, since I was the same way.

Now I can’t leave the house without breakfast, weekdays it’s usually my banana protein shake, maybe a slice or two of bacon. If Emma’s still around, I double it and hand her a glass for the road. During the winter we have steel-cut oatmeal a couple of times a week. Weekends are eggs, scrambled or veggie and cheese omelets. Bacon shows up a couple of times a week as well. Every once in a while, I like a bowl of plain cereal with fruit or plain Greek yogurt with berries and nuts.

Since this is October Unprocessed and I’m not buying packaged cereal, I decided to try making Homemade Granola. Sounds hard. Sounds like it would take a long time. It doesn’t. The best bit about making your own granola, is that you know exactly what goes into it. When I was buying packaged cereal, I taught my kids to read the labels as soon as they could read. Too much sugar, no! Now that we don’t eat wheat, oats are our main breakfast grain. The best part is you can make it the way your family likes it! Don’t like coconut and cherries? How about dried apricots, ginger and macadamia nuts? Cranberries and pecans? If you let your kids decide on the blend, they’ll be more apt to eat it!

Bircher-Muesli, with apple and walnuts. Vegan and Raw!

I started making Bircher Muesli after reading Gayelord Hauser’s, 1963 book, Treasury of Secrets, in college. I was into my super healthy eating phase. Gayelord Hauser was a nutritionist who was way ahead of his time. One of the recipes he had was Bircher-Muesli. Which is basically rolled oats, which, instead of being cooked, are soaked overnight. This makes a fast breakfast, since you can grab what you’ve prepared the night before, add some sliced or shredded fruit and chopped nuts…maybe a drizzle of honey and either eat it at home or take it to work. Bircher-Muesli originated in Switzerland right around 1900, and was served in spas as a healing food. It was a “raw food” before raw foods were hip. If you don’t like coconut milk, use regular milk, soy or almond. You can also add yogurt

Coconut Almond Cherry Granola

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup hot water

1 teaspoon almond extract

6 cups rolled oats not steel-cut

1 cup coarsely chopped raw almonds

1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped if the pieces are really big

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

4 tablespoons brown sugar or to taste

Preheat oven to 325*

In a large bowl, mix honey, coconut milk, coconut oil, water and almond extract. Stir to blend.
Add oats and toss to coat evenly.
Spread oats out on 2 cookie sheets.
Bake at 325* for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring half-way through, or until dry.
Add chopped nuts, shredded coconut, dried cherries and brown sugar. Toss until well mixed. Store in a tightly covered container.