Soaked and Dried (Chocolate) Cereal

My pantry shelf with the jars of both plain healthy cereal and chocolate cereal

Some of this post is an older post, but I need to add the chocolate addition (since I was just eating some in my chia seed dairy kefir (did I do a post on that too? Hmmm . . .). I know I've mentioned somewhere about tweaking a chocolate cereal recipe. Monte requested it after having some chocolate granola from the store. My first try was with coco powder. It worked, but I wanted to experiment more. So, I've added some more pictures, and below I'll add what I now do . . .

Healthy 7 Grain soaked and dried Cereal

I've been making this cereal now for months. Everyone loves it - not only as a breakfast cold cereal, but it also makes a great snack. I'm now making it more often cuz I give it to both my sons. I mention it in an earlier post with source links to the health benefits of soaking grains. I'll be talking about these health reasons as well in a future post. That same earlier post also has recipes from my cookbook - how I made "cold" cereal before the knowledge of soaking grains.



You can use any flour. Since I've been grinding grains into flour for over 30 years, whenever I can get more grain varieties into our diet beyond basic wheat I go for it. So I make this cereal with a 7 grain mix I get in 25/50# bags.

When I had a lot of excess raw dairy milk by-products: whether plain soured milk, yogurt, or dairy kefir, that's what I made this with. Now I've narrowed our raw milk usage down to what we really like, and worth the extra cost and benefits of the raw dairy (I'll do a post about this). If I don't have enough dairy kefir, I buy a cultured buttermilk for making this cereal.

HEALTHY COLD CEREAL

1 quart cultured dairy (kefir, buttermilk, yogurt, or soured milk)
2 pounds flour
I weigh the flour now (for lots of things, especially sourdough) since amounts by cup vary depending on whether fresh ground or compacted over time. So cup-wise? Maybe around 8 cups.

Mix this together in a bowl to sit and soak for 24 hours.

The next day, after the 24 hour soak, mix in  -
1 C coconut oil (unrefined- organic virgin best)
1 C maple syrup (grade B is best)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tb cinnamon




After mixing all together well spread in 2 baking pans. 9x13 would probably work; my 2 pans are 11x17. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You don't want to over bake.

One pan of chocolate soaked cereal

When you want some chocolate cereal too, use the same recipe above. Put half in one pan, then mix into the other half one melted 4oz bar of 65-75% chocolate. Then spread that mixture into the second pan. Bake, crumble, and dry as stated.
 

Divide and crumble 'coffee cakes' for 9 dehydrator trays

Let these "coffee cakes" cool before crumbling into small pieces. You could dry this in a low temp oven at 200F, but you'll need lots of baking sheets to effectively dry. I dry mine in my dehydrator for about 12 hours.

I have ours in a glass canister for easy access and beauty! Try it, you'll like it!



Shared with: Granny's Vitals, My Cultured Palate, Simple Lives Thursday, Chicken Chick, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, A Better Mom, Hearth and Soul Hop, The Gathering Spot, Homestead Barn Hop, Nourishing Treasures, Traditional Tuesday

Soaked and Dried Cereal

Healthy 7 Grain soaked and dried Cereal

I've been making this cereal now for months. Everyone loves it - not only as a breakfast cold cereal, but it also makes a great snack. I'm now making it more often cuz I give it to both my sons. I mention it in an earlier post with source links to the health benefits of soaking grains. I'll be talking about these health reasons as well in a future post. That same earlier post also has recipes from my cookbook - how I made "cold" cereal before the knowledge of soaking grains.


You can use any flour. Since I've been grinding grains into flour for over 30 years, whenever I can get more grain varieties into our diet beyond basic wheat I go for it. So I make this cereal with a 7 or 9 grain mix I get in 50# bags.

When I had a lot of excess raw dairy milk by-products: whether plain soured milk, yogurt, or dairy kefir, that's what I made this with. Now that I've narrowed our raw milk usage down to what we really like and worth the extra cost and benefits of the raw dairy (I'll do a post about this). If I don't have enough dairy kefir, I buy a cultured buttermilk for making this cereal.

HEALTHY COLD CEREAL

1 quart cultured dairy (kefir, buttermilk, yogurt, or soured milk)
2 pounds flour
I weigh the flour now (for lots of things, especially sourdough) since amounts by cup vary depending on whether fresh ground or compacted over time. So cup-wise? Maybe around 8 cups.

Mix this together in a bowl to sit and soak for 24 hours.

The next day, after the 24 hour soak, mix in  -
1 C coconut oil (unrefined- organic virgin best)
1 C maple syrup (grade B is best)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tb cinnamon




After mixing all together well spread in 2 baking pans. 9x13 would probably work; my 2 pans are 11x17. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You don't want to over bake.

Let these "coffee cakes" cool before crumbling into small pieces. You could dry this in a low temp oven at 200F, but you'll need lots of baking sheets to effectively dry. I dry mine in my dehydrator for about 12 hours.

I have ours in a glass canister for easy access and beauty! Try it, you'll like it!

New Dehydrator - an Excalibur!

9 Tray Excalibur Dehydrator

Yeah! I got a new dehydrator! I posted a bit ago about soaking nuts overnight and the pictured dehydrator was my very old round white one. It's noise was getting irritating, sounding like it wanted to croak.

The Excalibur is very well rated and gives you so many more options and space. If you wanted to dry very lofty things, like large flowers, you can remove some of the shelves. Some people use it as a warm place to raise bread, or make yogurt, removing all the shelves. And it has more temperature options.

I like how it evenly dries with its fan at the back. I always shifted around my other's drying trays to be closer to the bottom heat source. And round fruit leather with a center hole? Before that one I had the Magic Mill dehydrator (which is now the improved L'Equip) and even tho I shifted around it's shelves too, at least fruit leather was rectangular - easier to wrap and roll up in plastic wrap.

Years ago my dehydrator was running non-stop as summer waned. I stored most stuff in zip-closure bags and had jars in the pantry I'd refill for easy access. Like now I've got the nuts in jars that I keep refilling. I'm telling you ... dried corn, or peas, or broccoli ... are like candy! I like having dried mushrooms and onions and herbs handy.

I stopped canning when I learned about the nutrient loss (I may do tomatoes when have access to a lot). Nutrient loss for canned produce is about 40%; freezing about 15%, and dehydrating, depending on your process is almost nil.

I used to make jerky in the oven. Now I'm anxious to dry it in the dehydrator. And raw foodists have great ideas for dehydrator usage. I am going to be dehydrating my kale chips now. I'll be drying more of my garden produce and herbs next season!

Soaked and dried pumpkin seeds, almonds and pecans

Soaked and Dried Nuts and Breakfast Porridge

I've started soaking nuts this year. I've had Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book for years and am just now getting around to reading all the great information - lots of it! - and doing more and more of it's recipes, believing it's philosophy.

BREAKFAST PORRIDGE

For any recipe utilizing grains, it's suggested to soak them for at least 8 hours. I've had a hand grain rolling machine for years and now have it set up in the pantry. The night before, if we're wanting to cook up a cereal for breakfast, we grind it and soak it. Monte's having fun picking different grains I have in jars in the pantry. His proportions are 1/3 C of rolled/cracked grain to 1 C water. You can add a pinch of salt if you like. Nuts could be added to this soaking mixture. Then in the morning gently bring it to simmering. Differing grains take differing times to soak up the liquid. Then we'll add fruit, unsweetened coconut, whey, and sprouted flax meal to it. And of coarse my homemade yogurt.

Soaking

Why soak nuts? They contain enzyme inhibitors that can put a strain on the digestive system. Let them soak at least 7 hours or overnight (I prefer 12 hours - especially for the almonds). Drain. Spread to dry in either a warm oven (no more than 150 degrees) for 12-24 hours till dry and crisp; or dry in a dehydrator. My oven doesn't go that low, so the dehydrator is back in use.  Other than walnuts, that are susceptible to rancidity so should be stored in the refrigerator, all nuts can be stored in airtight container for months. They make great snacks!



SOAKED NUTS

4 C nuts
2 tsp sea salt
water to cover

Like I said, soak at least 7 hours or overnight, and then dry.

Crispy Pepitas (4 C raw soaked pumpkin seeds with 2 Tb sea salt, tsp of cayenne)

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Update - summer of 2012. I got an Excaliber dehydrator and am loving it.