Glorious Raw Granola Bars!

  It's a rainy day here in Ct. and the temps are dropping little by little. Along with this chillier weather comes my need for heavier foods and more food altogether. In the summer I am apt to just grab a piece of fruit, cut open a watermelon or put together lots of pretty green salads. Of course, these are along with my morning green juice and daily green smoothies! During the warmer months I eat light and am happy and satisfied. But as the seasons change, so does my appetite. I like to just go with it, to follow my intuition where my body is concerned. I've learned that listening to my body will never steer me wrong, it always knows just what I need. In the past couple of years I have become so much more in tune with my body. It's a wonderful feeling compared to the way I ate most of my life. My food choices in the past were based on cravings that developed from all the sugars, both hidden and obvious, that I ate on a regular basis. Once I began adding green smoothies into my days, I lost my desire for the junk and processed foods and eliminated those unhealthy cravings once and for all... Effortlessly!

 I've always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen once the cooler weather arrives. I have more patience when I'm not feeling the need to be out playing in the sunshine.
I love food... Love creating in the kitchen... and of course I love eating  :)

Simple, Nutritious, Delicious Foods ~ One of life's Simple Pleasures!

Here's one of the recipes that I've dished up lately.

These granola bars are truly fabulous!!

I took a little of this and a little of that from several recipes I have read and came up with a winning combination

Glorious Raw Granola Bars

These granola bars do need a little planning ahead

but the steps are really easy and so worth it!

One of the ingredients are sprouted buckwheat groats

so you want to soak, sprout and dehydrate your groats ahead of time.

What exactly are buckwheat groats? I wondered the same thing and have pretty much avoided them for the past few years. Simply because I didn't know anything about them! Silly me. I've had a bag in my cabinet for awhile so I finally decided to get to know them a little better. To my surprise they are not a grain, which they do look like.They are actually a nutritious fruit seed of  the buckwheat plant. High in minerals such as magnesium and potassium, phosphorous, zinc and copper, these little guys are really quite nutritious!

                

                                            Soaking Buckwheat Groats

Fill mason jar 2 thirds of the way with the groats.  (I used Bob's Red Mill)

Fit with a sprouting lid or a piece of cheesecloth secured with a rubber band.

Fill with water and let soak for 30 minutes.

Rinse well ! 

Sit sideways on your counter in a bowl or in dish drain for about 36 hours. Rinse twice a day.

You are watching for the little tails to appear... When they do, they are alive and sprouting!!

Rinse once more extremely well and dehydrate for about 8 hours at 105 degrees and they are ready 

to use. You will have plenty of extra groats to use for whatever your heart desires! Sprinkle them on top of yogurt, frozen banana ice kreme, make a cereal with them along with your favorite fruits, nuts and seeds or top your chia pudding with them.

There are so many different ways to enjoy sprouted buckwheat groats. Be creative!! 

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw almonds 

1 cup pitted dates 

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup goji berries 

   1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

3 heaping Tbsp sesame seeds

3 Tbsp hemp seeds

1 Tsp vanilla powder

2 Tsp cinnamon 

2 Tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional but yummy!)

3 tbsp water 

******************************

Directions

Pulse the almonds in a food processor until coarse

Add all other ingredients except the buckwheat groats

blend until it binds together nicely

about a minute or two

add sprouted groats and blend just enough to mix them in

Voila!

scoop out  in spoonfuls and form into bars or balls

whichever you prefer

Refrigerate and Enjoy!!

*** I just want to say that I am not really a "recipe" kind of gal. When I make something I really enjoy it's usually based on things that I've read that appeal to me. When a creative moment hits, I am rarely using measuring cups and never paying enough attention to exactly how I made what I did. Then of course if I love it, I want to share it here! I do my very best to recreate the recipe a second time before I post it here with measurements. The second batch, made as posted here, came out great, so I think you'll enjoy them! But the size of dates can vary, so if you feel it needs a few more to hold it all together once it's mixed, go for it! Or if it feels a little too moist, just blend a few more of your favorite dry ingredient in!  Have fun with it  :)

*~* Enjoy *~*

Let me know if you make them and how you liked them ~ I love feedback!!

Simple ~ Nutritious ~ Delicious

My kind of food!

 I DO love food! I always have and always will.... I can't tell you how amazing it is to really enjoy each and every bite of food now. No more counting calories or carbohydrate grams, points or whatever ~ .what freedom!
This is the first time in my life that I'm able to enjoy my meals without a hint of guilt. It's been interesting to see that small portions totally satisfy me now. If anything, I sometimes want to eat more than I need because the food tastes so good, but now I just listen to my body and when I feel full, I'm finished eating. I always know there's more to come at my next meal. The foods I eat now always keep me full & satisfied, I never feel deprived or hungry. To think it all started with those lovely green smoothies. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to follow the path I have, eliminating meat, dairy and most processed foods. Nor did I ever expect to love and thrive on all the nutritious, delicious foods I've added into my diet! It was just a natural progression that has provided me with the most amazing benefits of good health, weight loss and a total feeling of well being :)


Here are a just a few of the foods I've been enjoying lately... 

Recently I made the most beautiful salad. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was just a simple spinach salad dressed up with sliced pear ~ sliced raw almonds ~ sprouts ~ pomegranate seeds and scallions. The tastes all blended so nicely and it was oh so pretty :)   


Look at this strawberry hemp mylkshake!

Unbelievably easy ~ scrumptious and nutritious!.... I got this recipe from Raw Food Rehab ~ http://rawfoodrehab.ning.com/ where I am a member of the community. It's a wonderful site to join if you are looking to increase your raw food intake and find supportive, friendly people to interact with. There isn't a more inclusive site for recipes, info and support from people at all levels of their raw food adventures.




Strawberry Hemp Mylkshake
 add 1 pint of fresh strawberries or small bag of frozen strawberries to the hempmylk recipe below
 blend until frothy and creamy ~ Enjoy!


Hemp Mylk
1 cup hemp seeds
1 quart water or coconut water
1/4 cup coconut nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
 pinch sea salt




A few days ago I whipped up a batch of the most amazing Granola! I like this as a snack or as a cereal with my favorite nut mylk. The other day I had this for dinner with a few sliced strawberries on top. This and a cup of pomegranate green tea and I was in heaven :)

Granola Recipe
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup what germ
1 cup shredded coconut flakes
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp almond meal     **
2 tbsp sunflower meal  **
2 tbsp sesame meal      **
1 cup honey
1/2 cup safflower oil
1 cup raisins


Preheat oven to 325
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl ~ except for raisins
combine honey and safflower oil
add to dry ingredients and mix until well blended


spread in shallow baking pan and cook for 10 minutes
add raisins & cook 5 more minutes
let cool and store in airtight container


I tweaked this just a little ~ I didn't have the almond, sunflower or sesame meal this time so I used flax meal instead...
I added in extra raisins and some dried cranberries too.... This granola is AMAZING !!
Although it has a lot of ingredients, don't let that put you off.... once you have them all together it's easy to put together and you'll have so much it you'll be enjoying this for quite awhile!


Enjoy :)