Maple Mixed Nuts Granola

Maple Mixed Nuts Granola

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It give you the energy you need to go on with your day. However, I have to admit that I was not a breakfast person. I use to go on my morning with just a cup of coffee or sometime with banana bread or muffin but recently I try to eat more breakfast.  We seems to don’t have much time for breakfast and grab whatever easy and quick. Maybe that is why I skip it all together to begin with. I recently eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast after learning about the health benefit of it, plus it is very quick to prepare. Half a cup of oatmeal has 7 g of protein and keep you full. I usually have my oatmeal with maple syrup,coconut oil, fresh fruit and chia seeds.

My husband and I went to Costco the other day and we bought a huge box of old fashion oats. We try to save money buying bulk but I am still not use to it yet. It was a lot of oat !! Though oat is good but I am easily get bored eating only one thing….so I started thinking what can I make from those oats and here it is Granola. I have a lot of idea on granola flavors and will share with you once I make them. Today, I will share this first Maple Mixed Nuts Granola. My husband was raving about it and asked me if I share the recipe on my blog yet coz it is sooo good 🙂 So I take his word for it!

You can have it alone as snack ( warning: you can’t stop snacking on it) have it like cereal with unsweetened nuts milk, sprinkle over oatmeal or yogurt. Hope you love it ! 🙂

Ingredients

3 cups old fashion oat/rolled oat
1/3 cup of chopped raw almond
1/3 cup of chopped raw walnut
1/3 cup of chopped cashew
1/3 cup of raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar,cinnamon and salt.
• In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and vanilla extract.
• Combine both mixtures and mix well then pour onto baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway to achieve an even color.

• Remove from oven, let it cool down.Once cool, add dried cranberries and mix until evenly distributed. Store in an air-tight container.

Ultimate Vegan Banana Bread (GFO)

Ultimate Vegan Banana Bread (Gluten-free Optional)

I have made this banana bread recipe both with normal wheat flour and gluten free flour and I like them both. Though gluten free version is more of crumbly side but it turn out very flavorful and lighter. It is probably because the gluten free flour mix is consisted of various type of bean flours, it turn out very yummy.  If you are allergic to gluten and love banana bread, this recipe will be perfect for you.

I love having banana bread with my morning coffee, it is one of my favorite quick bread. When I was working in Australia, I have tried banana bread from every coffee shops at every conner that I could find on the way walking to work ( there are a lot of coffee shops in sydney) until I find one that I love. yeah…I am a little bit crazy about banana bread. It is simple bread but sometime they just don’t get it right. They usually make it too sweet or not enough banana. The key to good banana bread is LOT of very ripe bananas:) and now I get to make it without eggs, dairy and even gluten…Vegan version, even better! I hope you like it as much as I do.

*the photos were taken from wheat flour version, gluten-free version will looks slightly different in texture

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour or homemade gluten free flour  (you will need xanthan gum for this recipe) or store bought
3/4 cups organic cane sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (such as almond milk and soy milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups mashed banana, from 4 large very ripe bananas
1/4 cup grape seed oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

A Dash of Love

Direction

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil loaf pan and set aside.
• In mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
• In another mixing bowl, mix together non-dairy milk and cider vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the mashed banana, grape seed oil and vanilla extract, whisking until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined and pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center come out clean.

Buckwheat Waffle and Gluten-free flour mix

What do you usually have for breakfast? In typical weekday breakfast, I usually make fruit muffin, buckwheat bread or banana bread. It is convenience for “grab and go”  kind of morning and it is very good with coffee.   For the weekend, our favorite breakfast is waffle and pancake topped with fresh fruit and drizzle with some maple syrup. Yum! I like to make my own waffle/pancake batter from scratch. We rarely buy anything that come in a box or package because it is usually fill with preservatives and things that you can’t pronounce and probably do not want in your body. Making batter from scratch doesn’t take much more time than mix the mixture from the box. (in my opinion) Especially when you do it often, you know what you need to do and it can be very quick!  So today, I am going to share with you buckwheat waffle recipe. It is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and cruelty-free 100% vegan 🙂  plus a bonus of how to make your own gluten-free flour mixture. Hope you like it!

Buckwheat Waffle/Pancake Batter

Serving : 2
Prep Time:  12 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

1/2 cup gluten-free flour , store-bought or homemade mix (recipe below)
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup apple sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp  grape seed oil

fresh fruit (blueberry, strawberry, banana, mango etc)
maple syrup
A Dash of Love

Direction

• Combine apple cider vinegar and non-dairy milk. Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes until it become “sour”  When it is ready, the milk will be slightly thickened and form small curdled bits.
• At the meantime, Whisk all dry ingredients together.
• Add apple sauce and grape seed oil into sour-milk mixture.
• Add wet mixture into dry mixture, whisk until well combined.
• Preheat waffle iron and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• Pour into waffle iron and prepare according to waffle iron instructions.
• Remove from waffle iron when baked throughout and serve warm with fresh fruit and maple syrup.

* Homemade Gluten-free flour mix

Most of store-bought gluten free flour contains rice flour and sometime corn. My husband has a sensitivity to corn, rice and wheat. So it is very difficult for me to find flour that I like. I decided to make my own mixture without those ingredients. You can double the recipe to make a big batch and keep flour in container for convenience. I usually make about 15-30 cups at a time but if you want to start small and try it out first. here is recipe for about 3 cups flour.

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum or guar gum  ( optional for waffle)

Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum will help your gluten free baking goods bind together and not crumbly. xanthan gum is more expensive than guar gum but it made of corn, if you are sensitive to corn like my husband, you might consider using guar gum.  In this waffle recipe, I didn’t use them at all and still turn out great.