Raw Buckwheatie Cereal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

But trite expressions aside, eating a raw breakfast is more important that eating any other meal raw. And I need a breakfast that I can anticipate every night. If I weren't trying to be more raw, soy yogurt with fruit and granola, oatmeal, quinoa pilafs, cereal, nut butter on bread with apple slices, or sometimes even pancakes would suffice. And sometimes I don't mind enjoying some oatmeal or soy yogurt for breakfast, still.
But this recipe satisfies any cravings for a non-raw breakfast. It's sweet, flavorful, with a slight crunch, and it's raw!

♫ Buckwheaties ♪
1 C buckwheat
1/4 C nuts or seeds, chopped up, more or less if you want (optional)
1/4 C raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
Cinnamon

Soak the buckwheat for eight hours, or overnight. Drain it and rinse well. Rinse once or twice a day until you see little tails, this should take only around one or two days.
Dehydrate them until they are crispy.
Toss them with the other ingredients in an airtight jar or container.

☼Cereal☼
Fill a bowl with fruit. I like to use grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas, but whatever works for you.
Take a small handful of the buckwheaties cereal and toss with the fruit. Pour over some almond mylk like you would pour it on cereal, and add a drizzle of maple syrup.

It's mostly fruit, but it's pretty jazzed up for a fruit salad, and it has been my latest breakfast obsession! ☺

Granola Bars

Granola bars are amazing. There's no doubt, whether it's an elaborate bar, or a simple, raw, nut & date bar.
But the store bought stuff can get a little expensive... So why not make your own?
My mom likes having granola bars (or cereal bars) around to bring to work or have as a snack. The only bad thing was she would buy Kashi. I do have to hand it to Kashi for getting more people into eating organic, relatively healthy things, but Kashi is just a branch off of Kellog's- one of the largest buyers of palm oil there is. Not to mention the long list of ingredients on those bars, which also includes milk from dairy cows raised on CAFOs (if you would call mass producing a living animal raising...).
To get her to stop buying them, I promised I would make my own granola bars for her.

The first couple of tries did not work. But then I discovered the glory that is parchment paper!

Basic Granola Bar Recipe:
2 C rolled oats
1/3 C oat flour
½ tsp salt
1/3 C nut/seed butter (I like using a mix of different ones)
1/3 C vegan brown sugar
2 T rice syrup
¼ C safflower/sunflower or grape seed oil
¼ C agave syrup


~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~Mix all the ingredients together, and press into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

These are delightful with some melted chocolate on them, or with chocolate chips. And it's so easy to add any type of whole nut, seed, dried fruit, or whatever floats your boat.