Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Quinoa Granola for an Energy Boosting Healing Breakfast

Eating healthy for breakfast might require a little bit of a rethink for some of us.  "Traditionally acceptable" breakfast foods such as Frosted Flakes and oatmeal topped with boat loads of brown sugar are no longer acceptable foods, if we're serious about healing.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with omega-3 or grass fed eggs, especially if they are prepared with super greens or veggies.  But there are many delicious, nutritious options to consider such as the following.

This recipe for homemade granola is a real winner.  It's easy to make and you can store it in the fridge in an air-tight container.  In fact, why not make up a big enough batch so that you can put half in the freezer for later.



Grain Free Quinoa Granola

3 cups quinoa flakes
1 cup sesame seeds 
1 cup flax seeds 
1 cup chia seeds
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup pistachios
1 cup hemp heart
1 cup cashew butter
6 T melted coconut oil
3/4 cup cocoa butter
2 T vanilla
1 T stevia
1/2 coconut palm sugar
1 T turmeric
2 t cinnamon
1 T ginger
fresh ground sea salt to taste

Mix quinoa, sesame, flax, chia, almonds, cashews, pistachios, hemp and melted coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Stir, place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven until nuts and seeds are just beginning to crisp and get golden.  This should happen quickly so watch closely.  Remove from oven.  Melt together cashew butter and cocoa butter and stir into mix.  Add remaining ingredients and stir.  

This can be eaten plain for snacks, served in a bowl with milk (or almond milk) as a cereal replacement, or used as a topping on yogurt.  If you're avoiding dairy products, you can use coconut yogurt or goat milk yogurt which does not have the same inflammatory properties that cow's milk does.  

Note:  Replace the quinoa flakes with gluten free oats for granola with a more traditional texture, if desired.  

Thoughts on Quinoa   Quinoa has all the amino acids to make a complete protein which makes it a great energy plus ingredient for breakfast.  It is considered a pseudo-cereal rather than a true grain (grains comes from grass-like plants).  Other pseudo-cereals are amaranth and buckwheat.   All pseudo-cereals are gluten-free.  







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