FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

"Good chefs, like artists, are visionaries. You have to have a vision of the taste, the look, the smell of your masterpiece; you hold it in your mind and make it materialize."

Onid Jatteri

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Oats 'n Groats

Nope, it's not breakfast - yet!

So what do you do with whole oats and buckwheat groats, raw almonds, some juicy gloriously ripe peaches and real live maple syrup?


First, you sprout the oats and buckwheat. Just put a cup of each in jars (or together in one jar if you aren't planning on using them for anything else but breakfast), cover with at least twice as much water, and let soak overnight. Now they are germinated, ALIVE! In the morning, drain and rinse really really well in a sieve, pour into a wide shallow bowl, set it back somewhere on the counter and let them sprout. Then you rinse and drain them again that evening, put back into the wide bowl and let them keep sprouting overnight. Rinse again in the morning, and they should be ready to eat. They can go for one more sprouting day (rinse and drain morning and evening) if you want a softer chew texture.

See those itty bitty sprouts on the buckwheat?

Now don't go buy some almond milk. You want to make it yourself. Of course you do! Since we don't all have maple trees in the back yard, you CAN go fetch that from the store. It's technically not "raw", having been cooked down to syrup, but it IS pure. Pure goodness!


Here are raw almonds, spouted on left, unsprouted on the right. Nuts don't show sprouts, by the way. So you can just called them "soaked", it's OK.



Put the almonds in a container, cover with twice as much water, let set overnight, and they are ready. They need to be rinsed, then they can be stored in the refrigerator, covered with water. But first make some almond milk. Dump about 1/3 c. of almonds in the blender, add about one and a half cups cold water, and blend until you have "milk". Some folks strain it in a nut milk bag, but I love it right out of the blender. A little bit grainy, but delish! Store the milk in a lidded jar in the fridge.

OK, now we're ready for breakfast! Scoop some of the sprouted grain into a bowl, peel those sunny peaches and cut them over the top. Drizzle with maple syrup, pour on the almond milk, and get ready to faint!

If you really want to gild the lily, sprinkle on a couple dashes of quality cinnamon. Whoa nelly.
THIS is what I call breakfast!

It's hard to stop with one bowl. But it is filling, and soooooo much better than cooked rolled oats. I just can't tell you. You have to experience it....


And be sure to do it SOON, because those glorious fresh peaches will be gone before you can say "fall is here"!

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