Buckwheat Muesli

Did you miss me?  I decided to take January off from blogging as so many other things were going on. Maybe more on that later! ...... But I'm back now - and one year older!! It was my birthday yesterday and I feel just as young as I did on Saturday - so that's good!

It must be the great food I eat :-D

Here's a good breakfast cereal for you to try and see if it keeps you feeling as young as me!

Its made from buckwheat. Little tiny pyramids - as you can see above. Buckwheat isn't actually a grain but rather a seed and is in the same family of plants as rhubarb.  It is a useful crop to grow as it has a short growing period, producing seeds at around 6 weeks which ripen at 10 - 11 weeks. So its great as a fill-in crop, between other crops.

It has reasonably high protein levels (approx 18%) including all the essential amino acids.  It is also rich in iron, zinc and selenium, and rutin.  Rutin is a bioflavonoid that helps strengthen our blood vessels so it particularly useful for varicose veins, hemorrhoids etc and may lower blood pressure.

In this recipe, I've used raw buckwheat.  You can generally buy it either raw or toasted. When it is toasted, it's often called Kasha.  You can also buy it as a flour...and you may have tried it in buckwheat pancakes for an example.

I like the crunch, texture and chew of it in the cereal. You can obviously change up this recipe to use ingredients you like best, so this is just a canvas recipe -that you can adjust to your own particular tastes. For example, I didn't have sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds one time, so subbed 1 cup of walnuts instead.

Hope you'll give it a go:

Ingredients:
120g or 3/4 cup raw buckwheat
90g or 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
70g or 1/2 cup raisins
70g or 1/2 cup sultanas/golden raisins
40g or 1 cup flaked coconut or 40g or 1/2 cup shredded coconut
35g or 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
20g or 1/2 cup puffed unsweetened brown rice
20g or 1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients and you are done! As simple as that.   I don't think it needs any oil or sweetener - just pour some non dairy milk/yoghurt on top and add some fruit, which will sweeten it - and enjoy.

Vegan, free from added sugar, gluten, oil, and good source of omega fats.  Good source of fiber.