Cranberry Chai Granola

The spices make it smell sooo good: just like the holidays.  Better and yummier than potpourri!

I woke up recently craving granola: specifically a lightly sweet spiced granola.  I also felt like a little pre-holiday baking to get me in the spirit (yes, I've already started listening to Christmas music whenever I walk the dogs...)

This granola recipe was inspired by the Nektar Honey Crystals I was given to play around with recently, and I must say I am very happy with the flavor the honey provides--also to be quite honest, it's much easier than messing with a sticky honey jar and trying to make sure the honey gets incorporated in.  I'm also happy to announce that one of you will get the chance to win your very own jar of Nektar Honey Crystals!  To enter, head over to Instagram or facebook and let me know what your favorite holiday-time breakfast is.

Christmas came early!

One of you will win your very own Nektar Honey Crystals

Unfortunately most granola has gluten, or at the least, is made with oats that are not certified gluten-free, meaning they likely are cross-contaminated by either being used on the same machinery as wheat or in the same facility as wheat.  Even if you can procure some gluten-free granola, more often than not it contains lots of cane sugar or oil.  I avoid most nuts and flax due to sensitivities, so long story short, I've rarely had a store-bought granola that didn't make me sick.  Luckily, granola is pretty simple to make and stores for quite awhile.  Here's a granola almost everyone can enjoy, and best of all, there is absolutely no oil, and just a touch of honey sugar and apple-juice sweetened cranberries.  Hurrah, a delicious guilt-free filling holiday breakfast at last!

Cranberry Chai Granola
Oil-Free & Gluten-Free

Ingredients:

3 cups gluten-free oats
1/2 cup millet (uncooked)
1/3 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons Nektar Honey Crystals
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP fresh-squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup apple-juice sweetened cranberries

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a pan with a silpat, or parchment paper.

2.  In a large bowl, mix oats, millet, seeds, honey crystals and spices.

3.  Juice half an orange (1/4 cup plus a little extra), add to the mixture and stir, coating ingredients.

Any orange juice will do, but it is best straight from the fruit!

4.  Lay granola mixture on the pan and bake 30 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon every 10 min as not to burn.  Add the cranberries at the end, baking an additional 5-8 minutes.

5.  Let cool and serve.  If cooled completely will keep in an airtight container for several days.

Gluten-Free Muffin Mix 3 Ways

Happy November!  It poured rain much of today in Monterey (to my absolute delight!).  Being in a drought, obviously rain is always good.  Since rain is pretty rare here, I relish the chance to enjoy warm tea and nestle on the couch with a little work or book to read.  I came across a Bob's Red Mill gluten-free muffin mix package and decided a rainy overcast morning was the perfect chance to experiment.  Also, why stop at muffins?  I wanted a pumpkin waffle for breakfast, so figured I would play around with a few different flavors and breakfast items.  Thus two different muffin flavors and one great pumpkin waffle came to be, all from one easy gluten-free dairy-free mix!

Though I prefer baking from scratch, it is a nice luxury to whip up a one bowl recipe in just mere minutes, with a foolproof result.  

Gluten-Free Muffin Mix 3 Ways
Yields 2-3 waffles and 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 package Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Muffin Mix
3 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk

Add-ins (see directions before adding!)
pinch each of ginger, allspice and cinnamon
crystallized ginger
nondairy chocolate chips
unsweetened coconut

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with liners or spritz with oil.
2.  Place mix in a large bowl, make a well in the center and add oil, pumpkin, eggs and nondairy milk and stir well.

3.  Set aside 1/3 of batter and add a handful of nondairy mini chocolate chips, and add about 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes.
4.  Preheat waffle iron.
5.  Stir in spices into pumpkin muffin batter, and set aside about 1 to 1-1/2 cup of batter for waffles.
6.  In the remaining batter, stir in crystallized ginger.

7.  Spoon chocolate chip batter and crystallized ginger batter into muffin tin; it should make about 6 of each (fill each tin at least 2/3 full).
8.  Bake for 20-24 minutes (mine were perfectly done at 21 minutes).  While the muffins are baking, cook the waffles and serve plain or with unsweetened applesauce.

Let muffins cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing and enjoy!

 

If you can handle ingredients like corn and xanthan gum, this is a super fast way to make fluffy muffins and waffles very quickly.  It's also a one-bowl recipe, making clean up a cinch.  I made these for my husband knowing he had a 12 hour work day ahead of him, and plan to freeze any extras, but they would be a great fast and easy brunch for company or to give as a gift! The mixture is pretty sweet, so it's definitely more of a breakfast treat or dessert item.

I'd love to see Bob's Red Mill make a less sweet version sans corn products, but in the meanwhile it's a great gluten-free, soy, nut and dairy-free option.

Gluten-Free Sprinkled Pancakes

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning (starting at 27 weeks exactly my body seems to be expanding and aching like crazy.  Hopefully this is just a good sign the twins are growing healthy and strong!)  Instead of making it to my usual Tuesday morning routine of aqua aerobics and 30 minutes of lap swimming, I decided to have a healthy breakfast and walk the dogs.  I did in fact have a very healthy breakfast--sweet pea greens and leafy greens with snap peas and an egg with broccoli....and then half an hour later I was sheepishly whipping up a very birthday-ish breakfast: pancakes with sprinkles!

Why not?  Though they look and taste decadent, they are a healthy pancake option and the only sweetness comes from applesauce and the bit of sprinkles (I highly recommend the gluten-free vegan organic kind without nasty artificial colors and sweeteners).  They are also super light and fluffy thanks to the lemon-nondairy milk mixture which imitates buttermilk nicely.

For a fast, yummy and fun breakfast (I'm adding this to my list of fun kid friendly food for when our girls are older), try this recipe!  Kids and adults will love this, and I do think it would be a great holiday, birthday or hey, random Tuesday treat! 

Gluten-Free Sprinkled Pancakes
yields 8-10 small pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten-free oat flour (aka finely ground gf oats)
1 tablespoon baking powder (corn-free like this Hain Pure Foods Featherweight Baking Powder, 8 Ounce)
sprinkle of sea salt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice + enough coconut or almond milk to make 3/4 cup
1 egg or egg substitute for vegan version ( Ener-G Egg Replacer or chia mixture)
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons gluten-free organic sprinkles

Directions:

1.  Squeeze lemon juice (approximately 2-3 teaspoons) into a measuring cup and fill with nondairy milk until it totals 3/4 cup.  Stir and set aside to thicken slightly.

2.  Finely grind gluten-free oats in a food processor or coffee grinder until it resembles flour.
3.  Add baking powder and sea salt to oat flour, whisk and set aside.

4.  Mix egg or egg substitute of choice into "buttermilk" followed by applesauce and extracts then pour this into the dry mixture, stirring until combined.

5.  Gently fold gluten-free organic vegan sprinkles (I love Let's Do Organic Sprinkelz Organic Confetti Sprinkles) into pancake batter.

6.  Heat a griddle or pan, spritz with oil of choice and portion out 1/4 cup of batter per pancake.
Once bubbles form and it is set, flip and cook another two minutes, until pancakes are golden and fluffy.

7.  Serve plain, with syrup, honey or applesauce and additional sprinkles.

Mini Raw Apple Tarts

 I went apple picking with a friend recently, and came home with 6 lbs of little organic Fuji apples.  For some reason, apple picking has always felt like the "welcome to autumn" activity, and now it officially feels like fall.  (Especially when I am currently living somewhere that is hot for this time of year).  I miss Oregon fall season--the cool weather, rain and falling leaves this time of year.  I also had three apple trees in our backyard growing up, and though they were small, misshapen tart little ones, they produced a great applesauce or apple pie.

Though the apples I picked are good plain, they honestly aren't amazing; I'm an apple snob and Fujis are not usually my variety of choice.  I also learned the hard way they do not produce the tastiest dried apples.  They do however, cook well and I was curious to see how the perform in a raw dessert with other flavors enhancing the fresh apple taste.  The verdict?  Amazing!  My husband even exclaimed it tastes like apple pie, and with the "crumb" topping, it is similar to a crumb-topped apple pie.  I made four little mini tarts in this super convenient Chicago Metallic 4 Cavity Tartlett Pan, 10.60 by 9.90 by 1.30-Inch (the removable bottoms make it so easy to get the tarts/pies out), but you can use a regular sized pie pan to make one large one as well.

*to make them truly raw, you can use dried vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract and ground sunflower seeds instead of oats unless you have access to raw rolled oats, and raw honey instead of maple.  See bottom of page for additional substitutions!

Mini Apple Tarts
yields 4

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup dried mulberries
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
dash sea salt
1-2 tablespoons filtered water as needed

Filling:
2-1/2 to 3 small apples
1/4 cup dates
2 teaspoons ground chia seeds
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Topping:
1/2 cup roughly ground sunflower seeds or oats
1/2 cup almonds
2 teaspoons pue maple syrup
1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1.  Spritz or rub a mini tart or regular pie or tart pan with oil of choice.  I used a Misto Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer with olive oil for convenience, but rubbing coconut oil in the pan works perfectly too.  Set aside.

2.  Pulse the seeds or oats with the almonds in a food processor or chop with a knife until they are crumbly and coarse.  Stir in the remaining topping ingredients until it looks like a yummy granola.  Set aside.

pulse oats and almonds together until crumbly, not fine

Mix all topping ingredients together

Stir until mixed well and resembles granola

3.  In a food processor or similar device, mix the mulberries, dates and almonds, vanilla, cinnamon and sea salt until it comes together like raw cookie dough.  Add a little water if necessary for dough to stick together.  Press this mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the dish you are using.

either white or purple-black mulberries will do!

4.  Peel and very thinly slice the apples.  I did this by hand; some food processors have an attachment to create very thinly sliced items, but I didn't mind if they weren't perfect; some pieces were thicker and I liked the varying texture.  Set aside.
5.  Puree the dates, cinnamon, allspice, ground chia all together with 1 to 1-1/2 of the apples.  It should be like a chunky applesauce.  Scrape down the sides as needed to get it as combined and smooth as possible.

6.  Mix the filling mixture with the remaining sliced apples, coating it well.

7.  Divide the filling/apples amongst the mini pans or place it all into your one large pan.  Top with the topping.  Freeze for 20 minutes to set, and store frozen.  Let thaw in the fridge or at room temperature just until the apples unfreeze but it is still chilled and set.  Also, you can freeze them and zap it in the microwave for a few seconds until the apples defrost if you're in a hurry.  We only have one left so I can tell you they keep for three days at least; they very well may keep longer and I'll update this with the exact maximum storage time if we can keep them around longer than a few days!

Alternate ingredients:
-Raw honey can be used instead of maple syrup
-I used gluten-free oats in the topping, but other seeds or regular oats work well too
-Almonds may be replaced with sunflower or pumpkin seeds for a nut-free option
-The chia seeds may be omitted in the filling though it may seem a little thinner (and with less protein!)
-Raisins or cranberries may be used in place of mulberries; I had just recently purchased an overpriced bag of organic dried mulberries from Whole Foods, so that's the only reason I didn't use another dried fruit.

This is the Misto I use to have a non-aerosol way of spritzing my pans with avocado or olive oil.
I love it!  Also, Amazon sells organic mulberries too if your local store does not.  Use the links below if you're interested to help me out and enable me to continue with my free recipes and sites!

This is 2-day old still delicious raw apple tart--perfect with chai tea!

Fresh apple tarts: gluten-free, vegan and raw!