Hello friends! I am back from Turkey – what a fantastic trip. I have lots of stories, photos, and inspiration to share, but I was lucky enough to have my friends over at Green Kitchen Stories write the post this week while I get back into the groove.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Green Kitchen Stories, you are in for a real treat. Created by the über-talented couple David and Luise, GKS is a veritable gold mine of recipes, cooking techniques, and healthy advice for anyone in of need of culinary inspiration. The enormous success and popularity of their blog has allowed them to branch off into other avenues, such as their fantastic Green Kitchen app, and most recently, a cookbook deal! I can’t tell you how excited I am to hold a copy in my hungry little hands, along with the many other GKS groupies.
I have been blog buddies with David and Luise for some time now (as you may recall the White Velvet Soup guest post I wrote for them back in the day), but it wasn’t until just a couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting them in person. Over green juices in the sunshine we finally got to sit face-to-face, connect, and discuss all the things we are so passionate about (you can guess that it was a long talk). They are a totally down-to-earth, humble, and immensely inspiring pair that I feel honored to know. I want to extend a huge thanks to both of them (and their adorable taste-testing toddler), for creating this gorgeous breakfast that will take us all out the morning meal rut! Are you caught in The Bad Breakfast ritual? Are you sick of toast, coffee and orange juice? Are you always tired, stressed and grumpy in the morning? Fear not, pick up your phone and call the Green Kitchen Stories Breakfast Hotline – We Promise You a Better Morning! Ok, just a little bit of hubris there. But seriously, we know how it is. You want to get those few minutes of extra sleep and make a quick decision to have a to-go coffee instead of eating a proper breakfast at home. We were totally like that before we had our daughter. We are both late sleepers. So much, that David often even skipped breakfasts completely and Luise more than once has been seen running out the door with her morning smoothie spilled over half her t-shirt, just to get a few minutes extra sleep. Well, that was then. Now Elsa pulls us up from our bed early every morning. And all of a sudden we have at least a full hour to spend in the kitchen before heading to work. So nowadays our breakfast rituals are constantly evolving. Porridge, baked oatmeal, pancakes, fruit salad, omelet, frittata, yogurt, rye bread, granola, smoothie. Been there done that. When you got a lot of time you realize that there is a whole world of breakfasts to explore. So if you don’t have kids yet, make sure to set that alarm clock half an hour earlier (no snoozing!), and you will find that breakfasts actually can be pretty darn delicious.
Our latest breakfast love affair is this raw sprouted granola. It is less sweet and more crunchy than a normal granola, and if you serve it with a blueberry sauce, yogurt and some fresh fruit, you have yourself a perfect breakfast (and if you add some honey on the top it could also become the perfect dessert). We are not going to loose ourselves in nutritional values, or explain the advantages with sprouting, nobody does that like Sarah B! We can however tell you that both buckwheat and quinoa are gluten free seeds, so hooray for that!
How to sprout Buckwheat & Quinoa SeedsYou will need:2 glass jars
2 screen lids (if you don’t have a screw on sprouting lid you can make your own with a cheesecloth, a hardware cloth OR a nylon stocking and a rubber band)
1 cup buckwheat seeds (hulled groats)
½ cup quinoa
Directions:1. Start by rinsing your seeds in a strainer under running water, then pick out any dark seeds, stones or any imperfect seeds. Transfer your seeds into the sprouting jar. 2. Add 2-3 times as much, fresh water. Soak for at least 30 minutes (buckwheat take up all the water they need quickly), then drain off the soak water. Rinse the seeds until the water runs clear and drain very thoroughly.
3. Set your sprouting jar in a bright place (out of direct sunlight) at room temperature. Rinse and drain well about every 4 hours (no, you don’t have to go up at night). The sprouts will be done in 36-48 hours or when the sprouting tail is as long as the seed. (Quinoa sprouts quicker than buckwheat).
Store in a sealed container and put them in your refrigerator. Use within 1-2 weeks.
Raw Sprouted Granola with Yoghurt, Blueberry Sauce and Fresh FruitServes 4
Granola
½ cup golden linseeds
½ cup pumpkin seeds½ cup dried apricots & prunes
2 cups buckwheat sprouts (see above)
1 cup quinoa (see above)
1 tsp. vanilla extract OR ½ tsp ground vanilla powder
4 Tbsp. sweetener of your choice (liquid honey, agave, apple syrup etc)Directions:1. Put linseeds, pumpkin seeds, apricots and prunes in a large bowl and cover with water. Let them soak for at least 1 hour. Drain the excess water. 2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir around. Evenly spread the batter onto two baking sheets or dehydrator sheets. Place in the oven on the lowest temperature possible OR in a dehydrator for about 6-8 hours or until golden and crispy.Blueberry & Apple SauceIngredients:
1 cup blueberries (frozen are fine)
1 medium size apple, diced
2 TBSP unsweetened apple juice (or sweetener of your choice)Directions:Place all ingredients in a small pot on the stove over medium heat. Bring to a boil and lower the heat, let simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and puree with an emersion blender or fork if you like it chunky.How to Assemble:
– Blueberry & Apple Sauce
– Buckwheat & Quinoa Granola
– A full-fat organic yoghurt (Greek/Turkish)
– Fruit salad
Place 2 spoonful of blueberry sauce in the bottom of the glass, then 2-3 spoonfuls of granola, 2-3 spoonfuls of yoghurt and finally some fruit salad on top. Good morning!
Copyright 2012 My New Roots at mynewroots.blogspot.com