Holiday Cranberry Scones

I love this recipe because it's a much healthier version of regular scones. The best part is, they are equally delicious as traditional scones, if not moreso. This recipe is adapted from Kardena Pauza's Easy Veggie Meal Plans. If you prefer the raw version, you can dehydrate these for about 12 hours instead of baking them.

Scone ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
½ c. dried cranberries or other dried fruit bits
½ c. coconut oil
½ c. flaxseeds ground into meal (or ¾ c. ground flaxseeds)
¼ c. honey, agave, or maple syrup (I used raw honey)
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Honey “Butter” Spread ingredients:
¼ c. coconut oil
1 Tbsp. honey (or agave nectar)
dash of salt
dash of turmeric for color (optional)

Mix by hand in a small bowl with a fork. Store at room temperature. It’s ready to spread on the scones!

Directions

1. Place almond meal in a large mixing bowl and combine with ground flaxseed, coconut oil, cranberries, orange zest, honey, cinnamon and salt. Mix together with your hands.

2. Once everything is mixed well, form a 1-inch thick tubular log.

3. Take a pastry scraper, butcher knife or other hard/flat surface and flatten the loaf to the desired thickness. Remember, the mixture itself will not rise when baked, so flatten it to your desired “scone thickness.”

4. Cut the scone loaf into triangular shapes, place on baking sheet and let bake in oven on low for about 2 hours. The exact temperature is not very important – just use one of the lowest settings on your oven.

5. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperate. Spread on the honey “butter” spread (below) and enjoy!

Yield: about 8 scones

Root Vegetable Hash

I have been getting stuck in the same veggie rut for some time now...peppers, eggplant, etc. (not that they are bad, just needed a change). I saw this recipe and thought it was a great way to change it up a bit...plus, good organic root veggies are available right now. This is adapted from a recipe on www.marksdailyapple.com

Chop into small cubes the following root veggies:
2 carrots
2 rutabaga
2 turnip
1 beet
1 onion
Ground cumin
Spices of preference

(I would use 1 of each veggie for a smaller batch...this makes quite a bit)

Par-boil for 10-12 min. Drain.

Saute 1 chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add root veggies/spices and brown until crispy.

Top with or serve with eggs or lean meat.

Pre-ride Choco-Banana Groats

This is one of my favorite pre-ride or anytime breakfasts. You can find buckwheat groats in bulk at Whole Foods. I haven't found them anywhere else other than online. And just a side note for those unfamiliar with buckwheat: contrary to popular belief, buckwheat contains no wheat. Part of the rhubarb family, buckwheat is actually a fruit seed. Neat, huh? Now onto the recipe.

In a bowl, combine:

1 banana
1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked buckwheat groats
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder (organic is good, raw is best)
1 Tbsp. sunflower seeds
small handful of sliced or slivered almonds*
desired amount of milk/soy milk/almond milk, etc.

*If you're slicing whole almonds, it makes life much easier if you soak them overnight first. Just put desired amount in some water, soak overnight, then rinse in the morning and refrigerate what you don't use. This also increases their digestibility and nutritional value. This isn't required though - but be careful if you're slicing/chopping raw almonds because they tend to shoot all over the kitchen if you're not careful! Give soaking a try.

One last note about buckwheat groats -- I find that if you're using them as a cereal, the best way to cook them is using just slightly less than a 2:1 water-grain ratio. So if you cook a half cup of groats, use slightly less than one cup of water. They only take about 10-15 minutes to cook. I usually do this once or twice a week so I have some refrigerated and ready to go.

Bon appetit!

PS - I hesitated a little to include a picture because it tastes WAAAAYYYY better than it looks! LOL

Pre-ride Oatmeal

(not Paleo but so darn good!)

1/4 c. instant oats
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. fat free plain yogurt
1 tsp. flax seed oil or ground flax
fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries)
1/2 sliced banana
a few raw almonds

Cook oats/water in the microwave for 1.5 minutes.

Stir in yogurt and flax oil.

Top with berries, banana, almonds.

The best part is that you can mix in whatever fruit/nuts you like. The yogurt makes it creamy and lighter than heavy oatmeal.