Yay! We leave for a snowboarding holiday in the Alps tomorrow. It’ll be a week of intense physical activity but a week of relaxation at the same time as my mind always empties and soothes in this kind of vacations. In addition, our stay includes food in the chalet, which is an advantage as you don’t need to worry about having to go out for a meal (which means wearing pyjamas at 6 o’clock), but it’s also risky as you may not be treated be a good chef who will meet particular nutritional requirements. So far, we’ve been lucky, and we had no problems, but because I care about the food I eat a lot, I always have anxiety surrounding the topic. To keep my head calm during breakfast, I decided to make a granola bar and take it with me in airtight packaging to make sure I have a delicious and healthy breakfast that will give me the power I want while on the mountain! The granola bar I made combines almost all my favourite superfoods, while its green colour is owed it to kale and matcha. Even though the idea of kale in granola sounds bad, it turns into such small pieces when you blend it in the blender that you can’t even distinguish its flavour but gain all its nutrients. As you put enough honey in the recipe, the final result is sweet and really delicious, not salty. It also contains many other goodies: linseed which includes Omega 3 fats and promotes good bowel function (which is essential when changing environments), quinoa pops (something really crispy like popcorn) buckwheat for extra protein, oats to gradually release their energy and of course, matcha for extra strength and antioxidants. Can you think of a better breakfast than this green, empowering granola for an intense eight-hour hike on the mountain?
Ingredients (about 2 pans)
-200gr of kale
-1 cup of buckwheat seeds
-1 cup of coconut chips
-1 ½ cup of oats
– 1 cup of quinoa pops (optional – see how you can make them at home)
-3/4 cup sunflower seeds
-3/4 cup flaxseed
-2 cups of sesame seeds
-1 cup of raisins
-1 spoon of matcha
-1 cup of honey
-2 spoons of vanilla extract
-1/4 cup olive oil
Preparation
– Preheat the oven at 180 degrees
– Cover two large baking trays with parchment paper
– Wash the kale and blend in a food processor, until it crushes into small chunks
– At the same time, warm the honey, vanilla extract and olive oil in a pan until they have a thin texture.
– Mix all dry ingredients (oats, linseed, quinoa, buckwheat, raisins, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut and matcha) in a large bowl
– Add the finely chopped kale and syrup honey and stir with a spoon until all the ingredients are mixed
– Spread the granola on the baking trays and press with a spoon to spread it well. The dough should be about 2 centimetres thick.
– Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes until it begins to get a golden colour
– Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool before you cut it. It should be completely dry and not sticky. If it’s sticky, you should put it in the oven for another 10 minutes.
– After it cools down, you can store it in airtight packaging, at room temperature
– You can try to make your own quinoa pops by placing quinoa seeds in a pan on a moderate fire and waiting for them to pop (like popcorn). Try with a small amount at the start, until you find the ideal temperature. As strange as it sounds, if they burn, try to raise the temperature. Thanks to https://gelastazwakia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/pop-quinoa.html for the homemade quinoa pops advice.