GRANOLA HOUSE

 Happy frosty Monday, kittens, 

I hope you had a good weekend... As for me, it was not bad at all, between taking care of my sweet home man (pun intended) and preparing my week, a bit of secondhand trade too: a nice little weekend. For some time now, I've been realizing that taking a few hours to prepare the organization of the week is a good thing. I'm not planning my days down to the quarter-hour, but you know, what do we eat? how do we cook it? where do we find it? Okay, in the same place as my business meeting next Wednesday... etc.

Taking the time to eat well, to think about new flavors and stop wasting food because I'm too lazy to peel sweet potatoes to make homemade mashed potatoes on a Thursday night at 10pm... Well, I'm trying to find a way to eat better. I realize that there are evenings when I'm motivated and willing to actually COOK, not just put rice in the rice cooker. So on those nights I take advantage, I plan ahead, I tupperware, I freezer bag. On those evenings, I anticipate the evenings of acute laziness. In short, I'm like you, there are evenings when I don't feel like it, but my solution is to rationalize my motivation... 

And I apply this technique very well to my breakfast mission. As much as I can eat soup in the evening, the idea of eating 4 corn flakes for breakfast doesn't appeal to me at all.... So for some time now, I've been making pancake batter, which I keep in a bottle for a few days. Once in the pan, I add bananas and a few almonds: 2 pancakes, a cup of tea, a piece of fruit and the day can begin. And on a mission that seemed insurmountable until yesterday, I made my own homemade granola. Yeah, it sounds very Gwyneth Paltrow to say that, but I've got enough to alternate between pancakes and granola for the rest of the week, and you know what, granola is a no-brainer, even in my student oven....

 Without further ado, here's a recipe for a vegan and organic breakfast, to start the day off on the right foot:

For homemade Granola, you'll need:

• -150G raw millet,
• -150g rolled oats, 
• -40g shelled almonds,
• -40g hazelnuts,
• -50g pumpkin seeds,
• -50g sunflower seeds,
• -40g golden flax seeds and a few pine nuts and other seeds lying around...
• -1 tsp cinnamon,
• -And don't forget your binder, agave syrup here 50g, and a little water (about 8cl).

First of all, preheat your oven to 180°C, and line your baking tray with greaseproof paper. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Then add the water and agave syrup, and stir. The ingredients should stick together. Spread the mixture evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet before placing in an airtight tin. 

Moving on to the next part of the recipe: the cinnamon-almond ice-cream...for this you'll need..:

• -3 egg yolks,
• -80g brown sugar,
• -25 cl almond milk,
• -20cl almond cooking cream (available in organic stores),
• -1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla flavoring.

Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and egg yolks in a bowl and whisk until the mixture whitens. In another bowl, mix the almond milk, cream and vanilla, then add to the first mixture. Pour into a saucepan and allow to thicken over low heat, stirring constantly. The cream should coat the spoon. Cool the mixture completely on the window sill, which shouldn't take too long... Then place in your ice-cream maker for 15 minutes. 

Dressing in a small bowl: Put 3 tablespoons of soya yoghurt, a large handful of homemade granola, a scoop of almond and cinnamon ice cream, and drizzle with a little agave syrup! Enjoy!