more breakfast: sweet and savory granola

i love me some quinoa, but when i'm running late in the morning the extra forty seconds it microwave it up could make me miss the bus. a bowl of over-processed raisin bran has to do =(

so i made granola =)

forgot to mix in the raisins.. whoops.

Sweet, Savory, and Nutritious Granola

1/2 cup shredded coconut (in bulk, whole foods)

4 cups rolled oats (organic, in bulk, whole foods)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ (in bulk, whole foods)
1/4 cup flax seeds (okay you can basically get this while recipe in bulk at whole foods!)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (^)
1 cup chopped almonds or walnuts (sunday farmers market)
3 tbsp sesame seeds (^)
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
large pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup honey (farmers market vendors)
4 tbsp grapeseed (or canola) oil
2 cups dried fruit (whoops, forgot this part..)

This makes for a really nutritious granola. If you're looking for something that tastes less like health food, drop the flaxseed, sesame seed, seame seed, and substitute 6 tbsp butter for the oil. If you want to feel invincible, keep this recipe as is.

1. spread coconut on a baking pan, toast at 300 degrees till golden.
2. mix dry ingredients in big bowl, melt together wet ingredients in small bowl. The oil and honey stopped repelling each other after 40 seconds on high in the microwave.
3. Drizzle wet ingredients on top of dry ingredients, mixing as you go (or else half of your granola wil taste sweet and the other half will taste like oats with nuts in it).
4. Spread on two large baking pans and toast in the oven at 300 degrees until golden.
5. Mix in coconut and raisins. Serve yourself a bowl of it with some organic milk or rice milk, and feel the nutrient-driven buzz. Seriously. I feel like jumping rope and pumping some iron right now.

keeen-wah!!! (i.e. breakfast quinoa)

i love quinoa- its a slightly crunchy, all-purpose grain (but its not a grain..) that i used to pronounce kee-no-a

yummy as a complement to beans and such, but with some honey and raisins, it'd breakfast HEAVEN



here is my recipe:

Breakfast Quinoa


1/2 cup quinoa (whole foods bulk section)
1 1/4 cup boiling water
1 tbsp honey or other sweetener (farmer's market)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried fruit (raisins from sunday farmers market)
1/4 cup nuts, toasted and chopped (not pictured because they successfully hid from me)

1. Rinse quinoa. I rinse by pouring it into a fine mesh sieve and pouring some water over it.

2. Bring water to boiling and dump rinsed quinoa into it. Carefully. No burning yourself.

3. Cover and simmer over low heat until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent, has the little ring around it, and is just a little bit crunchy.

4. Mix in the honey and vanilla extract and stir to distribute evenly. Sprinkle in cinnamon in small amounts, stirring until absorbed. Mix in raisins and chopped nuts (you can also put in the raisins about five minutes before the quinoa finishes cooking in the water, which makes them plump up almost like grapes).

Makes for about two servings of breakfast at one cup each!

eco-adventure of the day: lotion making!

I was looking for a recipe to make my own conditioner and stumbled upon a recipe for homemade lotion. The ingredients were oil, beeswax, and water and my mind began spinning on the possibilities of locally sourced, chemical free, fully customizable body care...

There's an olive oil booth at my sunday farmer's market, but I wasn't sure about local beeswax.. so I made like a geek and researched it.


Found it at Honey Pacifica and almost jumped off of my floor cushion when I realized their warehouse was two blocks away from my school. It smells so strongly like honey that I nibbled off a piece to see if it tasted like honey too. It tastes like wax.

ooo pretty ingredients and vintage brooch in there for no good reason

My mom got interested in the mess I was making at this pont, and she took over by throwing things into the microwave and ugly bowls in bad lighting, so there are no more ingredient glamour photos =(

Lotion/ Cold Cream for Dry skin

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 tsp Jojoba Oil
2 tbsp Beeswax
1/4 cup water
1/8 tsp borax (optional, I didn't mix it in. no chems, please..)
*you can probably substitute other oils or waxes in with no problem, just puh-lease stay away from fossil-fuel based ones (mineral oil, paraffin)

Grate beeswax block until you have two tbsp. Melt beeswax into oil in microwave or in a water bath on a stove. Heat water to almost boiling in either of those two methods. If you are using borax, stir it into the water. Pour oil/wax part into either bowl or blender. Add a few drops of water at a time while you whip the oil, do not add any more water until the drops added are invisible. Whip for another ten minutes after all water is absorbed. If you want it to have a scent, add a few drops of essential oil to the mixture while it blends. And, ta-da! You will have beautiful, locally-sourced, customized lotion! Play with the recipe until its the perfect lotion for you.



*homemade olive-oil based lotion in a re-used glass mason jar from the Treasure Hunt thrift*