My Best Organic

I tried out this new idea yesterday, and the results have all been eaten, so I guess it was a success. I wanted to create a breakfast type snack for those with multiple allergies and for vegans who are trying to cut down on wheat based cereals. This quantity makes about 20 small squares - so about four breakfasts/snacks worth for a toddler.

Ingredients (all quantities are approximate)
75g Nature’s Path Organic Millet Rice Flakes
10 soft dried apricots
2 handfuls of sultanas
2 teaspoons golden linseed
2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

Method
Place seeds in blender and blend until quite fine
Add sultanas and apricots into blender along with seeds and blend
Add millet etc., flakes and whiz briefly to combine ingredients
Press the mixture firmly into a small shallow dish
Leave for about an hour to settle
Cut into squares

Exceedingly healthy! (But still delicious x)

This post was submitted by Susannah.

I’m really keen to incorporate walnuts into our diet, as you’ll see from my recent recipe. Here are some of the reasons why:

Walnuts…
1. Contain a lot of Omega-3
2. Support the immune system
3. May help to lower cholesterol
4. May be beneficial to those with hypertension
5. Are high in antioxidants
6. Are helpful to those with Type 2 Diabetes
7. Help to prevent gallstones
8. Help you get a good night’s sleep
9. Help to protect your bones
10. May help to maintain a healthy weight

Good job they taste nice, too!

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20041110/walnuts-are-heart-smart

This is a recipe I discovered and adapted recently.  It’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans.  I’ve been trying to find a way of increasing my son’s intake of seeds…he’s happy to eat a few as snacks, but loses interest quite quickly.  With these fruit/seed/nut bars, he’s content to munch away, no problem.  It’s very simple, and took us a maximum of ten minutes from digging out the ingredients through to him eating the first bar.

Ingredients

• A small handful of soft dried fruit - Crazy Jacks’ Apricots are ideal
• A small handful of sultanas
• A small handful of walnuts 
• A small handful of seeds
• A small handful of dessicated coconut

Blend all of the ingredients together until they form a paste, then shape into bars.  No need to bake!  Store in an airtight container in the fridge - probably best to eat within a few days.

Next time I’m going to experiment and use sesame seeds as they are apparently a good source of calcium.  I might try it with partially rehydrated dates instead of the apricots too.

In terms of blender, I use a KitchenAid one in a lovely bright red.  As someone with a poor history with blenders (I’ve killed four in the past few years) this one seems to be holding up pretty well.