Shortly after I mentioned in my last post that I would get the recipe for amaranth granola from my sister Courtney, I heard my email program announce the arrival of a new message.
“Email!” it cried in Homestar Runner‘s voice (a relic of Peter’s and my college years when Homestar Runner was at its peak *pauses a moment to mourn*).
In my inbox waited the recipe for this granola:
Now THAT’s an awesome sister.
Amaranth is a protein-packed little grain rich in fiber and some essential amino acids (Edited to add: Just to be clear, amaranth is a seed that’s called a grain :) ). It’s a shame amaranth isn’t used much in the U.S. – this grain is seriously tasty. You can find it online or in your local natural foods store.
Sprinkled on top of a smoothie:
Courtney’s recipe is adapted from this one. She made it lighter by cutting the amounts of fat and sugar, neither action of which interfered with the deliciousness of this granola. Nice job, sister!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Keywords: bake breakfast vegetarian amaranth
- 1/2 cup amaranth seeds
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/8 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup whole raw cashews or almonds, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup unsweetened flake coconut
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup dried dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, or chopped apricots (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add amaranth. Use a lid or splatter screen to cover. Shake the pan continuously until about half of the seeds have popped, about 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside.
Combine canola oil, brown sugar, and honey/maple syrup in a small saucepan. Heat gently over medium-low heat until brown sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Combine sugar mixture, cashews, coconut, and oats to amaranth and stir. Spread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Stir in dried fruit if desired.
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Have a great weekend, dear reader!
Q: Have you ever tried amaranth? How did you prepare/eat it?
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While I’m in China, I’ll have a series of guest posters and backlogged posts going up.
First up is Lynn of The Actor’s Diet! She and her fellow blogger Christy are two lovely ladies who work hard and have fun while sharing their delicious dishes with us! Ever since I found their blog last year, I’ve been loving their insights into the world of acting and their very human day-to-day eats. I’m very excited to introduce the wonderful Lynn to The Happiness in Health! You can read more about her here.
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Hello Happiness in Health Readers! This is Lynn from The Actors Diet. For those of you unfamiliar with our site, we are two actresses who blog about our daily diet and the superficial pressures of Hollywood with a focus on health and positive body image. Thanks to Jessie for this guest post!
Being an actor, I never know what my day-to-day schedule is going to be like. Sometimes it’s crazy – most times it’s not – but in the world of entertainment (especially television) everything is done very last-minute. If I find myself scrambling around for auditions or appearances or meetings, I like to have easy-to-grab things in the house that I can eat in my car (usually while sitting in horrendous Los Angeles traffic). My main fridge essential is a batch of hard boiled eggs:
I like to make egg salads that I can eat in sandwich form (my co-blogger Christy has a great recipe here), or just straight up with some granola like I did on this day.
My fool-proof way to hard boil eggs is to cover them in cold water, bring them to a boil, then remove them from the heat. Cover with a lid, and set the timer to 10 minutes. Drain, cover with cold water (2 or 3 rinses, add some ice too) and let them sit for another 10 minutes. They’ll peel easily and last for about a week in the fridge!
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Thanks, Lynn, for your awesome post! I’m craving some hard boiled eggs right now :D
I’m a huge fan of eggs, and not just because they taste good. I alluded to how wonderful eggs are in this post. For those of you who include eggs in your diet, eggs are a cheap source of high quality protein. An egg costs about 24 cents and offers 70 calories, 6 grams of protein, 2 grams of monounsaturated fats (MUFA), and other good stuff like choline, lutein, and zeaxanthin. For those of you worried about cholesterol levels: Contrary to popular belief, eating cholesterol does not raise your blood cholesterol. Eating a lot of saturated fat, however, will raise your blood cholesterol tremendously. For more information, check out the links here and here.
Q: Do you like eggs? Would you like me to write a post about eggs in the future: nutrition, recipes, etc.?
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