After spending a long time inspecting the ingredients on all the snack bar choices in the local food store, none of them -or at least their ingredients-justified a purchase to satisfy my craving.  They had too much sugar, lacked good protein and contained many ingredients that had no nutritional value.  However, I will be the first on to share that munching on a healthy and nutritious bar is an great way to curb mid-morning or mid-afternoon cravings. So imagine my let down when I can’t find the bars with the right crunch and combination. 

With the help of nutritionist extraordinaire Ms. Syreeta Bernal, I have decided to make my own collection and I am sharing the nutritious fun with you. This by the way is a quick ploy to get other family members to chime in and create their own bar “menu” by choosing their own ingredients.

Here is one way of  making your homemade Granola Bar!

From preparation time to consumption: 1 hour and 15 minutes. 15 mins-20 mins to prepare and mix all your ingredients and 45 mins to 1 hour to let the preparation settle in the fridge.

First remember this easy ratio:

2 cups of dry : 2 cups of wet

Dry ingredients: 

1 cup of roasted oatmeal (you can do that yourself–> spread the oats in a skillet and rotate the flakes for 5 minutes on medium to high heat. Remove when the oats are slightly browned).

and

1 cup of a mixture of shredded coconuts, puffed rice,  puffed millet, chopped organic nuts, seeds or dried fruits of your choice

Wet ingredients:

1 cup of  raw honey

and

1 cup of almond butter or cashew butter or peanut butter

Steps:

Step #1 In a medium sized pot, bring your honey to a light boil for 1 to 2 minutes then add your choice of butter and stir while on the stove  until well mixed.

Step #2: Mix all the dry ingredients into a separate container.

 Step #3: Add your wet mixture into the container of your dry mixture. Fold both wet and dry into a uniform consistency.

Step #4:  Lay some parchment paper  into a plate or bowl and and evenly spread 1 teaspoon of coconut or olive oil onto it to keep your mixture from sticking to it.

Step #5: Place the mixture onto the parchment paper. It will be a bit hot so use the back of a spoon to flatten it out onto the parchment paper. Depending on how finely you have chopped your nuts, seeds and dried fruit, 1/2 ” to 1 ” in thickness should be fine. Cover it up and place it in the fridge for 45 minutes to an hour. You want to give  the honey and the butter mixture  enough time to harden. When you take the mixture out, it  should look like a huge bar. So cut it into bar size of your choice and wrap them individually in parchment paper.

TA DA! Our finished product, wrapped up.   

Some of the many health benefits of this bar:

Oatmeal is well known for its cholesterol lowering properties and high fiber content. It also supports heart health. We roasted the oatmeal to add that extra crunch to the bar.  With heart disease and diabetes on a steady rise and contributing to obesity, oatmeal is the star ingredient in your bar!

Raw Honey has a lower glycemic index than most sweetners.  Glycemic index has you may already know is a number that represents a food ability to increase the level of glucose in the blood. The lower that number the better. You can also choose to substitute it with barley malt syrup which also has low glycemic index.

The nut butters provide great sources of protein, especially almond butter! Be aware that the nuts already have a fair amount of healthy “oils”. Choose your nut butters carefully so avoid the ones that have added sugars and added hydrogenated oils. Just keep it simple or grind your own at a local co-op food store.

Alternatives

You can expand your choice of dried berries for their anti-oxidant properties: goji, blueberries, cranberries. You can also add other dried fruits such as dried apples, bananas etc. However, keep track of sugar content, some dried fruit have added sugar as part of the processing. When in doubt use dehydrated fruits!

To top it off add 1 teaspoon of chia seeds or whole  flaxseed  to the mixture for taste and consistency. Whatever you do, remember your ratio of 2 cups dry:2 cups wet.

Don’t forget to hydrate after this bar. It is well worth at least two glasses of water to chase those nutritious fibers down. Enjoy and keep experimenting with fun and healthy foods!

I was so pleased to see this post this morning (11.18.2011) from the World Food Program. I passed by these rice fields every morning while in Torbeck, Les Cayes this past September. While in Haiti I consumed two major type of rice; The homegrown rice, “le riz du pays” and the imported rice, most likely from the US. The former provides a great deal of nutritious elements, is sweeter, softer and unfortunately sells at a much higher price than the latter which is believed to be genetically modified.  I got a chance to admire daily those rice fields, pick some grains and taste some of that delicious rice.

Indigenous, traditional medicine…

Monday night, September 12th 2011, here I was at the beginning of my (very packed) two weeks trip to Haiti. I was focused on the goals to establish relationships with a botanical garden and a farmer’s organization to plant indigenous medicinal gardens and compostable latrines.  On my parents’ native island of Ayti where there are thousands of medicinal plants and a rich history of indigenous/traditional healing practices, it only makes sense to blend my love for natural medicine and my medical training with my passion for the renaissance of edible and medicinal gardens in Haiti!

The rich south…

Well… in this rich southern green belt of Haiti, in the very rural part of Les Cayes where gravel roads are flanked by what looks like endless lanes of green trees, where water is  in abundance, and where there is more fresh fruits than can be consumed, I was in for the suprise (s) of my life.  There it was, one big (body the size of the palm of an adult hand and the legs the size/length of fingers) juicy, shiny, furry, ebony spider, than another one…and another one!  The jumping, screaming and erratic movements of my flash light in sync with my body, shocking the  calm darkness of the house, thoroughly amused and eventually annoyed my family members. These ‘lovely’ spiders came out at night seeking warmth inside our house…with me!

Sezisman

My aunt’s solution to appease the sezisman (nerves, shock in Haitian Kreyol) of this city girl was to take a warm bucket “bath”. I remembered that my mom used to take bucket baths en plein air ( in the wild outdoor in French), when she visited my grandparents during her summer vacations. So without hesitation, I thought “why not… let’s try”!

Of all the nice memories of my trip, this one is the sweetest… I don’t recall  EVER so deliciously enjoying a bucket bath, en plein air.  Picture it; a full, bright, shiny moon beaming on me, against the persistent darkness of the open yard.  As I slowly poured water and soap over my body, the sound the lather, the sound of my water scooper hitting the water container, the sound of water dropplets falling off my skin onto the cement, the sound of wild insects mating/singing along the very distant sounds of drums, created a veritable orchestra of sweetness flanked against a background of silence. All this natural cacophony suprisingly calmed me down!

Moonbath

Nevermind the spiders! With every splash of water, I felt the stress of my flights from Seattle, the anxiety of driving from crazy Port-Au-Prince traffic for straight 5 hours, the uncertainty of all my unanswered questions completely melt away and down my body.  It was the simplest, most cost effective stress reduction intervention: castile peppermint soap, freshly drawn well water from our yard, ”evening sunlight” in lieu of electricity, warmth and humidity against my skin and sweet rural wild life orchestra to my ears.

With this calming baptismal “moonbath” my trip could only be fantastic. And it was! I had just created a memory and planted roots upon which to build my goals.

If you grew up consuming coconut oil, you are either  confused or indifferent about the craze of this not so “new” superfood, because you  already knew of its greatness! Turns out this oil has quite the impressive resume and for good reasons. Our parents and grand-parents really knew how to benefit from its properties.  

Weight loss, Heart and Brain

Yes, it is one of the top recommended oils for anyone  going through a  weight loss program or a timely change in lifestyle – as I often refer to it. Coconut oil contains Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs), making it one of the easiest oils for our body to metabolize. It contains polyphenols, which have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This oil doesn’t have negative effects on cholesterol and heart disease and therefore helps promote brain and heart health. If you like its genuine, nutty and sweet flavors, buy the extra virgin coconut oil. Your coconut infused  grain, meat or vegetable dishes as well as condiments will love you for it and so will hungry bellies.

Skin and Hair

This extremely versatile oil is solid at room temperature and naturally dissolves once it comes in contact with skin or heat. I recently used it for those pesky dry spots on my elbows and heels. It can be mixed with other natural skin, hair products or pomades for a wonderful scent and texture. It is not too oily and gets quickly absorbed by the skin. some of my  fellow naturopathic physicians and massage therapists use it for body work. If you want to take advantage of its emollient properties without its sweet smell, buy the refined odorless version and mix it with essential oils such as lavender, geranium or rose. Heavens to the nose and skin….!

Other usages..

Sprinkle warmed coconut oil on top of freshly popped-corn, add a teaspoon in your smoothies for taste, and a robust flavor.  Apply as you would lotions or pomades on your damp skin after a shower and pad (instead of wipe) your body dry.  I hope to create herb and flower infused coconut oils for holiday gifts. If you have  other usages for this super oil let me know, I will spread the word!

In the meantime enjoy the slide show from my time in Haiti  where I learned how to make coconut oil from scratch.   Having a backyard full of coconut trees does help!

September is whole grain month. This is the perfect time to venture out and try a new grain: Quinoa.

What is Quinoa?

If you have never heard of Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), you are in for a treat. It is a tiny but whole grain that originates from South America. This nutrient-rich and complete protein grain is drought resistant, and can grow well in poor soils without irrigation or fertilizer. It’s been designated a “super crop” by the United Nations, for its potential to feed the hungry poor of the world. This  recently rediscovered ancient grain was once called “the gold of the Incas,” who recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors.  I feel I should let you in on a little secret  that even though we call quinoa a grain it is actually the seed of a plant related to beets, chard and spinach. So the leaves of the quinoa plants are also edible.