Breakfast today was delicious. It came together a bit by accident, and, step by step, I will tell you how.
Last week, I made some granola approximating the Apple-Cinnamon Maple Pecan recipe from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw. I could not find any raw buckwheat groats at either Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage so substituted raw barley from the Whole Foods bulk-bins department. So the recipe was
- I-1/2 cups raisins soaked for at least 1 hour (up to overnight)
- 2 cups raw barley, soaked for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator (I soaked mine for 24 hours)
- 1 cup water (the recipe says filtered but I am not that fussy; may be in the future but not now)
- I medium apple chopped in the food processor with the "S" blade
- 6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of pecans soaked for at least an hour and chopped into small pieces (I just broke them up with my hands)
Put apple pieces, water, raisins, syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla in food processor with "S" blade or blender and blend on low until the stuff forms "a chunky paste." (Note: the recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg here, too, but I left that out.)
To combine these ingredients, I used the food processor, and made a horrible mess; some of the liquid ran out of the machine and on to to the counter and floor. For my Regal model,
I think this was too large of a batch of ingredients, or too much liquid. The cleanup was not fun, and the amount of syrup and water was reduced somewhat by the spilling. Next time I will use the VitaMix!
I divided the mixture in half and spread it on two fruit-roll-sheet lined trays of my Nesco FD 75 PR dehydrator.
I dehydrated on 110 degrees for about 20 hours until the sheets of batter were dry enough to peel off and turn. (During that time, the house smelled like vanilla which was a pleasant aroma.) After turning them over, I placed them on two bare trays. I dehydrated for another 12 hours. It is very hot and dry here in Colorado this month so the drying time was likely less than it would be in the winter. Just keep watch every few hours. The original recipe called for 24 hours of dehydrating, turn, and then another 24 hours, which my granola could not have endured.
I broke the granola up into bite-sized pieces and put them into two Mason jars in the refrigerator. The recipe made about 5 cups.
Now for the next steps in the creation of my breakfast sundae.
I made nut milk which is very easy to do. You blend 1/2 cup of raw nuts with a Medjool date (pitted, of course), 5 cups of cold water, and a pinch of salt until the liquid is smooth and looks like milk. For this batch, I used raw mixed nuts.
Unfortunately the barley in the granola was a bit too crunchy so I have to add some nut milk 45 minutes before I eat a bowl of this granola. I leave the bowl of cereal and milk in the refrigerator as it soaks. (Next time I make granola, I will use raw buckwheat groats which I now have from Amazon.)
Today, as usual for this granola batch, I soaked my cereal in the nut milk. Then I decided to add some blueberries. The berries were still partially frozen and that caused some of the milk to ice up, almost like ice cream. Because of this unexpected ice cream, I had a breakfast sundae, a dish I now recommend to you. Excellent, tasty, novel, even though it was unplanned.
As I keep saying here at Raw Rag™and to my friends, this cuisine is artistry, improvisation, and surprises.
I thought the word "fruitola" was a nice combination of fruit and granola. I could have used granuit, I guess. Or granoluit? Regardless of what you call it, if you decide to follow the above recipes or to use them as rough guidelines or ideas, enjoy your breakfast sundae.
Image credit: clarita.
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