Raw Power Breakfast

My favorite mid-morning breakfast (after my green smoothie, of course) is a sprouted buckwheat cereal with Hazelnut milk. So good! This combo will stave off hunger all morning. Just yesterday I prepared for a long trek up Mount St. Helens by starting off with a coconut smoothie and the buckwhat cereal I'm going to share with you today. It did the trick and gave me the energy I needed for the climb.

Raw Sprouted Buckwheat Cereal

Ingredients:

• Raw buckwheat groats
  
• Raw sunflower seeds
  
• Raw pumpkin seeds
  
• Raw Chia seeds
  
• Cinnamon
  
• Raisins
  Optional:
  
• Slippery Elm Bark powder
  
• Licorice Root powder
  

At least 8 hours beforehand, you will need to sprout some raw buckwheat groats, raw sunflower seeds, and raw pumpkin seeds. Amounts don't matter much here; you just make as much as you want and keep the ingredients in the refrigerator for the next day. I sprout each of these items overnight by soaking them in water. In the morning, I drain the water and rinse the seeds. I store the sprouted sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a jar in the refrigerator and continue to rinse the buckwheat for another 8-24 hours. I sprout the buckwheat just until I can see little tails poking out, but I do not want them to get too long.

Once you have your sprouted seeds and buckwheat, combine the ingredients in a bowl in the following approximate amounts:

• 1/2 C. Buckwheat
  
• 1/4 C. Sunflower seeds
  
• 1/4 C. Pumpkin seeds
  
• 1 tsp. Chia seeds
  
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
  
• 1/8 C. Raisins
  
• 1 tsp. Slippery Elm Bark powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. Licorice Root powder
  

Top the combo with homemade Hazelnut Milk made as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. Raw Hazelnuts
  
• 4 Dates
  
• 1" Vanilla Bean
  
• 3 C. Filtered water
  

1. Sprout the Hazelnuts overnight by soaking them in filtered water.
   
2. Rinse the nuts in the morning and put them in your blender.
   
3. Add the dates, vanilla bean, and about half the water to the blender.
   
4. Blend on high for approximately 3 minutes.
   
5. Add what remains of the water.
   
6. Adjust the sweetness with dates and consistency with water.
   

Yummy!

Sprouts are an energy-giving food. As Ann Wigmore states in her book, they are "biogenic--alive--and capable of transferring their life energy to your body." You should incorporate as many sprouts into your regular diet. Sprouting your nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes increases the vitamin and mineral content significantly as well as increases the digestibility. Check out Ann Wigmore's book The Sprouting Book to read about the amazing benefits of sprouts.

Pumpkin seeds and Sunflower seeds provide high quality proteins and fats, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, and vitamin E. By eating the seeds sprouted, those nutrients are ready and available to nourish your body.

Chia seeds provide amino acids for rebuilding tissues and Omega-3 oils to keep your brain and joints healthy and to assist in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins.

The Slippery Elm/Licorice combination is a great addition to soothe, heal, lubricate, and nourish the entire digestive tract. Both act to calm inflamed mucous membranes and tissues.


Sources:
http://articles.herballegacy.com/slippery-elm-ii-%e2%80%93-applications-of-slippery-elm/
http://articles.herballegacy.com/the-benefits-of-the-use-of-licorice-in-herbal-preparations-part-iii/