Hannah's Granola

A.k.A “The Kitchen Sink”

 

When I first met Hannah, she had a routine of making fresh granola weekly and eating granola with milk and yogurt almost daily (I suppose she would mix this routine up with muesli, but that’s another recipe…). One morning Hannah offered me a bowl of her granola. After eating it, I never doubted her daily breakfast routine.


Not only does Hannah’s granola taste wonderful, but it utilizes the last bits of this and that sitting around your pantry. If you are anything like us, we like to use what we have in our kitchen and ideally, nothing goes to waste (Chickens, rabbits and dogs are not considered waste J).


Hannah’s Granola Recipe


Ingredients:

5-6 cups oats

¾ cup OR a handful of wheat germ, whole wheat flour or ground flaxseed (or really anything of the floury texture, maybe even ground meal worms... http://hypebeast.com/2015/11/livin-farms-mealworm-hive-kickstarter)

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

A pinch of salt

1 cup maple syrup

   **Alternatives: honey, brown sugar and water, or a small amount of molasses

1-2 cups coconut oil

   **Alternatives: butter, canola oil, or any combination (just avoid the more flavorful oils like peanut, olive, etc.)


Other options, depending on the leanings of your pantry:

flax seed

raisins, cherries, dates, 

pepitas 

chopped crystalized ginger

almonds, walnuts, pistachios

nut butter 


Directions: 

1.    Preheat oven to 250 degrees

2.    Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl

3.    On stove top, heat oil ad syrup on low until liquid (there should be enough to barely moisten all dry ingredients)

4.    Pour liquid combination over dry ingredients, stir until all ingredients are moist

5.    Lay out granola mixture on cookie sheets

6.    Put in oven to bake, stirring every 15 minutes

7.    Bake until light golden, about 45 minutes

8.    Put on baking rack to cool and then store in pantry safe container


Enjoy your granola with milk, yogurt, a combination of the two or kefir. 

Witch's Brew

Nourishing Herbal Infusions

“Standard Brew” or “Witch’s Brew”

 

When I first started to deepen my herbal studies, one of my mentors advised me to study one herb for at least a month. Well, she didn’t necessarily say “study” but instead be friends with one green ally and learn about your relationship with one another. And this advice is something I share with everyone.

I also encourage people to first learn about NOURISHING herbs. These are herbs that are safe and side effects are rare. Nourishing herbs can be taken in large quantities, on a daily schedule and have no interference with pharmaceutical medicine. I’ve learned that nourishing herbs can provide one with their daily vitamins and also have high amounts of minerals, antioxidants and even protein.

Nourishing herbs are recommended for herbal infusions, which Susan Weed refers to as “Standard Brew” and Sam refers to as my “Witch’s Brew.” Call it what you will, but for the sake of this article I will call it a Standard Infusion.

 

What is a Standard Infusion?

Standard Infusions are strong teas made from nutrient- dense herbs (de la Forét).

So, to start, it’s a beverage. In fact, it is a tea that contains a lot of plant material and steeps for several hours.

Instead of making a basic tea ratio: 1 tsp. herb/ 1 cup water OR 1 teabag/ 1 cup water, Standard infusions consist of 1-ounce herb/ 1 quart water. Also, the standard infusion is left to steep for many hours because it allows the water to extract more vitamins and minerals from the plant material. This higher herb: water ratio along with the longer brew time provides you with a nutrient dense beverage. And imagine what that does for the body on a daily basis…

 

What’s the point of drinking an Herbal Standard Infusion?

There are many benefits to a standard infusion!

Many nourishing herbs are our wild green allies. Nettles, Oatstraw, Comfrey, Hawthorn… Some of which many people refer to as “weeds” are filled with rich vitamins and minerals that can supplement your store-bought supplements!

Drinking nourishing herbs is comparable to eating whole foods. As stated before nourishing herbs have vitamins, minerals, antioxidants AND proteins! By drinking infusions, you are drinking wholeness and your body is able to readily assimilate the valuable nutrients. Think about how many different vitamin and mineral supplements that we are encouraged to take every morning… how is your body processing those extracted materials?

 

How do you make a Standard Infusion?

1.     Place one ounce of dried leafy nourishing herb into one-quart jar (or coffee press of equivalent size)

**The “gypsy” way of measuring the amount of herb YOUR body needs for one quart of water is to use ONE handful of herb/quart jar.

2.     Before pouring HOT water over your herb, shock the dried plant material by wetting it with luke warm water –this is similar to the traditional way of making maté…

3.     Pour one quart of boiling water over the herbs

4.     After a 20 seconds or so, stir herb and then cover with a lid

5.     Let sit overnight

6.     In the morning, strain off the plant material

**I was taught to spread the steeped herbal material at the base of my potted house plants, they benefit from any extra nutrients and also its more compost!

7.     Drink and enjoy the infusion throughout the day!


Nourishing Herbs to Infuse:

Nettle

Comfrey leaf

Dandelion leaf

Oatstraw

Raspberry leaf

Red Clover

Hawthorne

Linden

Mullein Leaf **be sure to use a cheese cloth to strain, those stellate hairs can irritate your intestines!

Violet

Hibiscus

Watch some of Susan Weed’s infusion videos for more information and inspiration!