Petit déj' des marmottes : Granola

R.G. 2011

 No one can debate how rewarding it is to enjoy something you've worked hard on. What's even more rewarding, however, is enjoying something you've worked hard on a day or two ago but which required almost no prep work the morning of (because rewarding or not, your breakfast shouldn't cost the price of your morning to sleep in). 

Seeds and flattened super-foods

Granola is heavenly -- but it gets a bad rap because it can so quickly go from something well-meaning on the health front, to metabolic poison in homemade (and, more frequently, commercial) recipes that load up on sugar and fat. It's hard for a granola-muncher to live up to their name these days -- but this has yet to shake me from the cause. This recipe goes light on the sugar, allowing most of the flavor to come from other ingredients, and it uses coconut oil, which is infinitely better for you than vegetable oil or canola oil. The rolled adzuki beans also add a punch of low-on-the-glycemic-index sweet and ups the protein and other nutrients. If you can't find rolled adzuki beans, try to get your hands on some other flattened super food, like millet, quinoa, spelt or chickpeas. (If you live in France try La Vie Claire -- they typically have all of these.)



What to do with too many ... 3 recipes for chickpeas



Chickpeas soaked over-night



Soaking beans takes so freaking long. You're lucky to manage the successful execution of a plot to buy, soak and prepare beans in a 48-hour period. So, it's never a question of not soaking enough beans (could you imagine how frustrating that would be ??), but frequently of having soaked too many. Such was the case the morning after a kilo of dry chickpeas had been sitting under water on my kitchen counter.

Though preparation might be time consuming, it shouldn't be too much of an effort to figure out what to do with freshly cooked beans. Especially chickpeas -- hot, just-cooked chickpeas are so light and nutty, they don't need more than some olive oil, crunchy sea-salt and a fork and it's magic in a bowl.

(In case you missed it, that was recipe idea number one.)

Crunchy Falafel

The recipe this is based on the one from The Hummus Blog, though I doubled it, added some extra seasoning and omitted the bread crumbs. I think the falafel mix came out softer than it might with the bread, but for me this wasn't a problem because I found small patties easier to cook (with less oil) than balls (hehe "balls" ...). I listed a few examples of garnishes from all over but anyone with other ideas is more than welcome to comment.