Day 67

Yesterday's flax crackers

I am suppressing my school anxiety into housework, or so Madeline tells me. I happen to disagree (she says while while vacuuming the living room with the hand attachment... it's more effective!). I do admit that I was prolific in the kitchen last night. We ate the crackers, as featured above, and they were delicious. I may have spread them a little thin, so they were more crisp-like, but that was perfectly fine by me. The best part is that the recipe made a huge batch of 6 trays, so we have plenty left over for the next couple days.

I placed a big order with Sprout House last week which I received just the other day. I immediately started soaking a blend of barley, oat groats and buckwheat. It's a really easy combination to work with. They only need to soak for an hour and sprout for 24-36 hours with rinses every 4-8 hours and they're done (well, when you put it that way... honestly it's easy). I used them when they had little tails, because the wheat that I had sprouted last week had gotten increasingly bitter the longer it sprouted. This was just right. They require a little extra rinsing because of all the starchiness they release, but there's no hulling at the end. I have determined that I really like sprouting, I don't mind the rinsing, but I abhor the hulling. There has to be a better way than submersing the sprouts in water and flicking out the hulls with a spoon. If you know if one, please let me know!

So once they were ready, I of course had to make granola. I perused dozens of recipes, most too nut heavy for my taste, and finally put together this batch based around this recipe on Gone Raw. Here were my modifications:

Raw Cinnamon Raisin Granola

Dry Ingredients

3 cups sprouts (I used equal parts barley, oat groats and buckwheat)

1 cup brazil nuts, chopped

1 cup dried coconut

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup raisins

Wet Ingredients

8 dates

3 T raisins

2T agave nectar

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Set dates and raisins to soak in a small bowl with lukewarm water just covering them. Measure dry ingredients into a large bowl. Measure wet ingredients, including the soak water, into a food processor or blender and mix until fully combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand. Spread on dehydrator trays with parchment paper (or those non-stick sheets) and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 12-14 hours until desired texture. I like my granola a little chewy, so I took it out just before 12 hours.

I had a really hard time not eating this before it dehydrated. In fact, Mad and I ate some for dessert last night (I finished hers... I have a relentless sweet tooth). It reminded me so much of the instant packets of Quaker cinnamon raisin oatmeal that I used to eat as a kid. So good. I was afraid that I had added too much cinnamon because the wet ingredients were overpowerfully cinnamony, but when it's all mixed together, it's pretty mellow. I would even venture to add some more next time. I did not soak my seeds or nuts this time around, but I will for next. I'm also going to try mixing in more sprouts (quinoa, I'm thinking of you) and chia seeds and hemp nuts.

There's other kitchen goodness going on around here, but even I admit that I'm procrastinating now. More to come!

-Eloise