Flours and granola

I did it ! I finally had my blood taken. It was certainly not easy, there were buckets for tears involved, But the relief of actually doing it and being that much closer to figuring things out, felt great.

So I decided that I am going to start creating that cookbook again. This time though, there will be obvious changes. No gluten, no dairy, and minimal refined sugars. I have been throwing myself into the world of gluten free living. There are so many little changes that have to be made when baking so that you don't end up with a foul tasting brick at the end. I never knew that you had to add different starches and flours together to some what replicate the texture/consistancy of glutenous flours. I was always under the assumption that brown rice flour would cut it every time... I was so wrong. I have a drawer full of these starches and flours now! White and Brown flours, Sweet sorghum flour, tapioca starch, potato starch and flour, millet flour, oat flour...

Speaking of oats... They are on the fence with many people with Gluten intolerance. They themselves are not usually the culprit, but the chances of them being cross contaminated with wheat and barley is fairly high. I tried out gluten free oats and they were great, no reaction... But I thought I would give it a shot with Quaker Oats, just to see if I was that small percent that doesnt have a bad reaction. For the first little while, they were okay. Then slowly everytime I ate them, I could feel my stomach not sitting right. I attempted yesturday, and that will be my last bowl of regular oats. I was half way through the bowl and my stomach ballooned up and I had stomach cramps. So I went out today and picked up some certified Gluten free oats. I have been craving Granola and yogurt (soy) for a long time, so I created this recipe...

Oat and buckwheat Granola

2 cups GF Oats
1/3 cup Buckwheat
1 1.5 Tbsp Brown Sugar ( I used Demerara sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup Agave nectar
2 Tbsp Water
1 Tbsp Coconut oil

Preheat oven to 275

It a large bowl, mix together oats, buckwheat, sugar, and salt.
In a small saucepan, mix together agave, water and coconut oil. Warm through and pour into the oat mixture. Mix well and pour onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 25 mins

While oats are baking, mix together 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut, 1/3 cup raisins, 1/2 cut slivered almonds and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

After the 25 mins are up, Mix in the "extras" and continue to bake for another 10-15 mins.
Cool completely before storing in an air tight conatiner.

( you can use a variety of different dried fruit and nuts for the "extras". This is just my personal favorite)