Whole Grain Bread

This bread has three steps: The starter, the rise, and the actual baking. It takes about 2 days of inactive time to make - but it doesn't take a lot of work. I like to make this bread every week using whatever leftover cooked grains I have from meals in the past week.

Starter:

2 cups cooked whole grains (my favorites are quinoa, amaranth, wheat, and brown rice)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Himalayan sea salt

1 tablespoon dry yeast

1 cup whole wheat flour

puree grains and stock in a blender or food processor until creamy. Pour into a large mixing bowl; mix in oil, salt, and yeast. Add enough flour to make the mixture the consistency of cooked . Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave for 12-24 hours at room temperature. Once the dough is fermented, it can be refrigerated for up to a week before using to make bread.

To make a bread

1/4 cup barley malt syrup, dark honey, or maple syrup

2 cups whole wheat flour

3-4 cups whole grain flours (you can go with just whole wheat here, but I like a combination of buckwheat, amaranth, chickpea, and spelt flours)

After the starter ferments, add the syrup to the starter and stir. Add whole wheat flour, stirring it in. Add the rest of the flour gradually, the mixture will be too difficult to stir. Knead it by hand in the bowl and continue to add flour. When dough is less sticky, transfer it to a floured surface and knead 10-15 minutes or until dough is soft and springy, but not too sticky. Wash and dry mixing bowl and oil it. Place dough in bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

To bake the bread

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon barley malt syrup, honey, or maple syrup

1 teaspoon extra virgin olice oil

course sea salt

chia or flax seeds (optional)

Divide the bread into two loaves, and put into oiled pans. Mix water, syrup, oil, and salt in a small cup or bowl and coat the top of each loaf with this mixture. Sprinkle the top of the loaves with seeds (optional). Cover and let rise in pans for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size. If you press the dough and the indentation stays, but the dough still has a little spring, it’s ready to bake. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 50-55 minutes. Bread will come out of pans after 5 minutes of cooling. Let it cool 30 minutes before slicing or it will be doughy in the middle. This bread is great spread with some raw honey...mmmmm.

Raw Yam Chips

This meal has three components: the yam chips, the guacamole, and the spinach dip. The fat in the avocado helps to transport the nutrients from the yams and spinach, so the whole meal works together to give you lots of vitamins and minerals.

For the yam chips:

For this recipe, make sure you buy yams and not sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes will not taste very good prepared this way. I used garnet yams here.

These chips can be eaten like potato chips or dipped into guacamole, salsa, or queso. They have a little kick to them but it won't light your mouth on fire.

The most important part of this process is to get the yam slices as thin as possible - otherwise they won't be crunchy like potato chips. I used a mandolin and cut them to 1/32" each. Having them all the same thickness really helps to get even drying in the dehydrator as well.

4 yams

3/4 cup cold-pressed olive oil

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp cayenne

1 Tbsp himalayan sea salt

2 tsp. ground cumin seeds

1. Cut all the yams and lay them out on dehydrator trays
2. Mix together all other ingredients
3. Brush all over the yams, making sure to get some spice on each one
4. Dry at 125 degrees for 14-24 hours, depending on the thickness of the slices. For 1/32" slices, it takes my Excalibur dehydrator about 12 hours to try 9 trays. For 1/8" slices, it takes about 24 hours and they aren't quite as crispy.

For the guacamole:

This is not a traditional guacamole, but it is my favorite. Making your own recipe would be fine too, just make sure all the ingredients you use are raw.

1 avocado
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
himalayan sea salt, to taste

cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Mash the avocado to the desired consistency with a fork, then mix in the garlic and salt, to taste.

For the spinach dip:

This is an indian spinach dip, so it doesn't have any of the fatty cheese or sour cream you might find in the traditional variety.

10 oz. spinach, washed and chopped

1/4 cup of red bell peppers, chopped

1 1/2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp. vegetable stock

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. of Garam Masala

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 cup cooked lentils or chickpeas

squeeze of lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor.

Raw Buckwheat Cereal

Buckwheat is a fruit seed related to sorrel and rhubarb. They have 154 calories per cup and are rich in manganese, triptophan, and magnesium. Prepared raw this way took 2 days, but only about 10 minutes of total active time. You can eat it just like you would cheerios or grape nuts, but with many more health benefits.

First, soak the buckwheat groats in water overnight. They absorb a lot, so check on them a few times and add more water if necessary.

The next day, drain the buckwheat in a colander, and spread on dehydrator sheets to dry. Dry for 7-9 hours at 105-110 degrees. Store in an airtight container.

Serve with milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried fruit.

I can't eat more than 1/4 of a cup for breakfast and it keeps me full all day long - it's hard to eat lunch!

Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa

Serves 4

1 cup organic 1% low fat milk
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa

2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 teaspoon ground high-oil cinnamon or 1 tsp. regular cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 teaspoons raw organic agave nectar

Bring milk, water and quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand 8-10 minutes (don't uncover it!!). Stir in blueberries and cinnamon; transfer to 4 bowls and top with the toasted walnuts. Drizzle 1 teaspoon agave nectar over each bowl.

Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients
2 lbs. pumpkin, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp smoked paprika
4 cups chicken broth (can use water if you want to keep the recipe vegetarian)
1 cup coconut milk
10 oz. freshly grated coconut
3 tsp. cumin seeds
2 Tbsp. sunflower oil
2 tsp. black mustard seeds
2 tsp. curry
3 small red chiles, split in half lengthwise (I used red fresno)

Preparation

To make Curry:


You don't have to make your own curry, but the store bought stuff loses its potency very quickly so make sure if you buy a mix that it is fresh.

You can use all kinds of spices in this. I used cinnamon, cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, dried arbol chiles, turmeric, paprika, nutmeg, white peppercorns, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and chili powder. Grind in a mortar and pestle until fine.

To make shredded coconut:

Open the coconut by hitting it with the tang of your chef's knife. Drain out the coconut water and save for another use.

Cover the coconut with a towel and use a hammer to break it into smaller pieces. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then use a knife to peel the husk off of the meat. Shred in a food processor.

For the pumpkin curry:

put the cubes of pumpkin in a saucepan and cover with the chicken broth or water and coconut milk. Add the turmeric and paprika. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin is fork tender.


Grind coconut with the cumin seeds, then add it to the pumpkin along with the curry spice and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the coconut is tender.

Next, combine the chiles and mustard seeds in a saucepan with the oil and cook at medium high heat for 3-5 minutes.

Add this to the pumpkin, season with salt, turmeric, and paprika to taste. Use an immersion blender to roughly puree the pumpkin (or just use a regular blender or food processor to puree in batches).

Top with steamed long grain rice and serve.