Soaked buckwheat groats

Sprouted buckwheat cereal is a raw foodie standard.  It is soooooo easy.  And it is soooooo economical.  It’s usually called “buckwheaties” or raw granola (RAW-nola) by those in the know.  Usually they’re around $9.00-$10.00 per pound.  Outrageous! Raw hulled buckwheat costs a buck or so for a few pounds.  I’d estimate you can make it yourself for under $5.  And you can have whatever flavor you imagine.

There isn’t really a hard & fast recipe for this because it lends itself to improvisation & variation.  It’s fun to think of new ways to make it.

Step 1 – Soak & sprout hulled buckwheat groats

• Put your buckwheat in 2-3x the amount of water.  This stuff expands a LOT.  Make sure all of the sprouts are under the water.   I usually use 1 cup of groats and 4 cups of H2O.
• Soak 20-60 minutes. Don’t over soak! If you do, they will not sprout.  The water will become very thick, cloudy, and starchy.  This is normal. You’ll know they’re ready when they get to be 2-3 times their original size. You won’t have much extra water in your bowl.
• Put groats in a colander and rinse them thoroughly.  You’ll need to do it 2 or 3 times until the water runs clear.  This is very important.  If you don’t rinse well, your spouts will have a bit of a bitter taste.   Drain the groats thoroughly when done.
• Spread the groats out evenly in your colander
• Set them out away from direct sunlight and let them sprout for 4-8 hours.  Room temperature should be around 70 degrees.  Amount of time you set them out will vary. If it’s hotter, leave them out for less time.  If it’s colder, leave them out for more.
• Rinse and drain again.  Sprout them again for 4-8 hours.  Repeat 2-3 more times.
• You will see tiny tails emerging from the groats.   For buckwheaties, a wee hint of a tail is sufficient.
• You are done with step 1!!!  You will have roughly 3-4 times the volume of what you started with.  For 1 cup raw groats, I get a yield of 3-4 cups sprouted groats.

Step 2 - Flavor your cereal

This is the part where you can get creative.  Put in your flavorings and a sweetener.  Mix thoroughly.  Some combinations I like with my 3-4 cups sprouted groats are:

• Chocolate!! Mix the groats with  1/4 to 1/2 cup of semi- raw chocolate syrup. Sometimes I sprinkle in shredded coconut and make a “Mounds” flavored cereal. You could probably use a nut butter to make a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup type of flavor.  I’ve been meaning to try that!   To make raw chocolate syrup:
  • Blend 1 cup maple syrup and 6 tablespoons raw cacao powder in a high speed blender.  Good on raw ice cream, as a fruit dip, etc.   If you want to make it all raw, use agave, runny honey, or, my personal favorite, soaked dates made into a watery paste/syrup works very well)
• Apple cinnamon – mix groats with 1/4-1/2 cup of raw applesauce and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Add some sweetener if you desire.  Sometimes add diced apple for some more texture.  You can also add raisins, dried berries, cranberries.
• Nuttin’ honey – 1/4 – 1/2 cup almond or other nut butter, 1/4 cup honey.
• Granola – add nuts, fruit, whatever you’d use in granola, plus a sweetener to bind it all together.  I recommend date paste.
• Leave them plain! They’re quite good simply left alone without flavorings.  If you do this, definitely go the Grape-Nuts route.  If I do this, I intend to use them as a textural element in other recipes such as cookies and pie crusts.

Step 3 – Dehydrate!!!

Your batter should be fairly sticky but still spreadable.

• Spread the batter onto dehydrator trays using teflex sheets.
• Decide if you want to make your buckwheaties structured or as a free-running Grape-Nuts type of cereal.   To make it structured, score a grid patter on the batter to make bite-sized squares.   If you want Grape-Nutty cereal, simple spread it out on they tray.
• Flip the sheet of buckwheat over and dry the other side until the whole things is dried out.
• For buckwheat squares, use your spatula to neatly break apart the bite-sized squares.  For Grape-Nutties, use your hands to crumble it all apart into tiny nuggets which will readily pour out of your storage container.  Or leave it kind of chunky like granola.

Step 4 – Store

Put the cereal in an airtight container.  It will keep a few months in a cool dark spot.  It will keep virtually forever if you put it in the fridge or freezer.  If it starts going stale it may get a bit soft/sticky.  You can revive it by throwing it back in the dehydrator to dry it out some more.

Step 5 – Enjoy!

Buckwheaties have so much versatility.  Eat it as is for a snack.  It packs well.   Use it as a breakfast cereal with your favorite nut or seed milk.   Let it soak with other ingredients for a muesli.  Sprinkle it on raw ice cream.  Add it to raw coconut yogurt.  Throw it into a raw cookie recipe.  Use it in a pie crust (grind to a flour or put it together like a graham cracker crust).

I usually have 2 or 3 varieties of buckwheaties on hand as a pantry staple.  I make a batch every 4-5 weeks as part of my monthly food prep.  Having them on-hand allows me to make “fix it fast” recipes.

I use the macaroon recipe from “Raw Food, Real World” by Matthew Kenney & Sarma Melngailis.  I love their books.  When it comes to food porn, they rule.  All of their recipes are tres gourmet and the photography only increases the drool-worthy quality of their recipes.   Everything I’ve made from their books tastes awesome.   It’s not everyday fare because their recipes take time and effort.  Not surprising.  They did open Pure Food and Wine in NYC which Sarma Melngailis still owns and runs — along with One Lucky Duck, a take-out and on-line raw foods store.

These macaroons remind me of my favorite flavor of Timbits and take me back to my childhood in Canada.   They are mouthful of happiness.

Wet Almond Pulp

Almond flour is a basic staple and an easy item to incorporate into one’s raw routine. It’s a great way to use up pulp from making almond milk.  I keep a gallon zip lock bag in my freezer and throw my leftovers into it every time I whip up a batch of milk.  When I’ve accumulated  about 4-6 cups, I defrost the pulp, spread it on teflex covered dehydrator trays, and pop it in the “D” until it’s bone dry.   From there, I throw it into my BlendTec and grind it to a very fine consistency.    I store it in the freezer when it’s done.

Finished Almond Flour

It keeps for months.  They dehydrating helps keep the nuts from going rancid.  It’s especially gorgeous when you’ve removed the skins from the almonds.   The flour is versatile: use it for cookies, cakes, breads, crackers. It’s simple and takes virtually no time to make – spend 30 extra seconds throwing it in the freezer when you make nut milk.

Making other recipes is quicker if you’ve got the flour on hand.

My wife’n'kid were having bean’n'cheese burritos.  The smell when I came in the house after work was inspiring!  So I got creative.  I made a batch of Cherie Soria’s Fresh Corn Tortillas back in July.  Since I had a dozen, I froze a bunch of them.  Five months later they’re still good.  I warmed them up in the dehydrator while I got busy making the Stuffing Fantasy I was supposed to make on Saturday (I do want my Thanksgiving eats this week at some point).   I also had some portobello mushrooms and some cherry tomatoes so I warmed massaged those in a little olive oil and salt and put those into the dehydrator to soften up. Finally, I threw some of the salsa the wife’n'kid were having into the dehydrator too.  It’s chilly!  I like my raw food warmed up!

Forty-five minutes later, after I’d finished the stuffing, I had a beautiful set of ingredients with which to make tostadas.

Fresh corn tortilla with portobello mushroom cherry tomato ragout

Fresh Corn Tortillas

• 4 cups chopped yellow bell peppers
• 3 cups fresh corn kernels
• 1 cup peeled chopped zucchini
• 1.5 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• .5 teaspoon salt
• 1 ripe avocado, coarsely cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons psyllium powder or ground flax seeds

1. Combine the bell peppers, corn, zucchini, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt in a blender and process until smooth.  Add the avocado and process until well combined.  With the blender running, add psyllium powder and process for a few seconds longer until well blended.

2. Using 1/2 cup of the mixture for each tortilla, use a small metal spatula of flat rubber spatula to quickly form 4 flat disks on a dehydrator tray lined with a nonstick sheet.  Each disk should be about 7 inches in diameter, with a little space between each one.  Work quickly or the mixture will thicken and become difficult to spread.  Continue to work in this fashion until all of the mixture is used.

3. Dehydrate at 105 F for 4 hours, or until the tortillas can be easily remoed from the nonstick sheets.

4. Turn the tortillas over onto mesh dehydrator trays.  Place an additional mesh screen on top of each tray; this will make the tortillas flatter and easier to store. Dehydrate for 3-4 hours longer until the tortillas are dry but still flexible.

5. Stored in an airtight container, will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator or up to 2 months in the freezer.

Portabello mushroom and cherry tomato ragout

• Portobello mushrooms, chopped
• Cherry tomatoes, chopped
• Olive oil, to taste
• Sea salt, to taste

Mix mushrooms and tomatoes with olive oil and salt, using your hands to massage oil into the vegetables.  Put veggies in the dehydrator until they become soft and reduce in size a bit.

Tostadas

• 2 fresh corn tortillas
• portobello mushroom and cherry tomato ragout
• shredded carrots
• pico de gallo salsa
• mixed greens

Spread salsa on the tortillas.  Layer the greens, mushroom ragout, salsa, and shredded carrots on top.  Serve with love!

I ate like royalty today, day 2 of my 30 day raw food challenge.  I had

Breakfast

• 1 shot of E3 Live
• Tropical fruit salad (no coconut today): pineapple, mandarin orange, and banana

Lunch

• marinated collard greens mixed with
• leftover monster salad from yesterday
• apple

Snack

• banana

Dinner

• my awesome tostadas
• some raw tortilla chips with salsa
• and some awesome vanilla fudge raw agave gelato from Organic Nectars with a little bit of “You-Must-be-Kidding Chocolate Sauce” from Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet

Sometimes it’s really really really easy to be raw.   It’s all in the pre-prep baby.  I had several things available to me today which made my life easy’n'tasty.  I had tortillas, tortilla chips, store-bought salsa, store-bought gelato, and chocolate sauce.   I also had leftover collards from this weekend’s prep session.   I only spent 30 minutes doing food prep today.   It took me longer to do the dishes after the family ate!

I didn’t exercise, unfortunately.  All that eating and dish doing has left me a bit done in.  Only half-hour until bedtime.  I’m going to read a novel in bed cuddling with my doggies.