For the quinoa
If you already have cooked quinoa on hand, please continue on to the next step. If not, use about 50 g of uncooked quinoa. Wash the quinoa and cook in boiling water on medium or low heat for 20 minutes. In the meantime, you can continue with the following preparation steps.
Cooking quinoa: You can either cook the quinoa in more than enough water and then drain it off at the end or use the ratio 2.5 to 1 for water to quinoa, and the water will then be fully absorbed by the quinoa during the cooking process.
Sprouting quinoa for the raw food version: For this version, you will need a sprouting jar. Make sure to factor in the time required for soaking and sprouting (approx. 1½ days). Soak the seeds in a bowl for 3 to 4 hours, rinse with water in a sieve, and then transfer the rinsed quinoa to a sprouting jar. Place the jar with the sprouting lid upside down so that the excess water can run off. After sprouting about 4–5 hours at 18–22 °C, rinse with water, pour the water out, and set the jar upside down. Do this again 2–3 times over the next 24 hours. You shouldn’t let the quinoa sprout too long so that the seeds retain their firmness.
For the cranberry and nut mixture
Chop the hazelnuts and then place in a small bowl.
It works well to use a cheap coffee grinder for this step, but make sure you don’t grind the hazelnuts too long. You don’t want them to be chopped too finely. If you don’t have an appliance that will work for this, you can also wrap the hazelnuts in a dish towel and carefully crush them using a wooden mallet or hammer.
Cut the cranberries into medium-size pieces and then add to the bowl with the chopped nuts.
Combine the agave syrup, chia seeds, vanilla extract, and quinoa and stir well. Then add the soy milk and serve the Quinoa Muesli.
In the original recipe, the author uses liquid stevia (1–2 spoons) as well as ground vanilla (1 tsp) instead of the alternatives we have listed here. For “Milk,” Ilia Lauber lists “Plant-based milk (300 ml)”. You can also use other plant-based milks than soy as we have described under “Alternative preparation.”
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
"Quinoa Nut Muesli with Soy Milk and Hazelnuts" is a good way to use cooked quinoa. See also a raw food version under “Alternative preparation”.
Stevia as a sweetener: If you decide to use stevia as is listed in the original recipe and described in the section “Alternative preparation,” you can use the following as a rough guideline:
Just 1 g of dried stevia leaves is equal to about 15 g of sugar. That would be about the same as 5 cubes of sugar or a little bit less than 1¼ tbsp granulated sugar. If you are using liquid stevia as the author does, 1 spoon is equal to about 10 g of granulated sugar. However, this value can range depending on the brand you are using. It is therefore best to first determine how sweet the stevia concentrate is in comparison to traditional household sugar before you make your purchase.
Buying stevia: Stevia, also known as candyleaf, can be purchased in its most natural form of leaves at organic grocery stores.
Sweetness of vanilla bean pods and vanilla extract: A vanilla bean pod is about as sweet as 1 tsp vanilla sugar or 3–4 drops vanilla extract.
Tips
Tip from the author: “This is a great way to use leftover quinoa and is a nice change of pace from the grain flakes that are usually included in muesli. If you don’t add salt when you are cooking quinoa, you can then use the quinoa for a wide variety of dishes — including sweet ones.”
Using vanilla bean pods: The following steps describe how to use vanilla bean pods. On a cutting board, cut the bean pod open lengthwise in the middle using a sharp knife, making sure to only cut through the top layer. Press the vanilla bean pod flat on the cutting surface using the dull side of the knife. Then collect the seeds by carefully scraping along the length of the vanilla bean pod with a small spoon. At this point, you can either combine the seeds, called the vanilla pulp, with the milk for this recipe or use the bean pods to flavor the milk. For the latter option, place a bean pod and the plant-based milk of your choice in a saucepan and heat briefly. This will cause the vanilla bean pod to release some of its flavor into the milk.
Alternate preparation
Raw version: If you would like to make a raw version of the recipe "Quinoa Nut Muesli with Soy Milk and Hazelnuts", you can use sprouted quinoa and homemade almond milk. Strict raw foodists should consider an alternative for vanilla because bean pods are blanched and are therefore not truly raw.
Sweeteners: If desired, you can use stevia, as in the original recipe, instead of agave syrup. We recommend dried leaves if fresh stevia is not available. Simply rub them together lightly and use as a sweetener — this is a common practice in many Asian countries. Depending on the desired consistency of the cranberry and nut mixture, liquid stevia may be a better choice than the leaves. Another alternative is to use high-quality maple syrup.
Substitutes suggested by the author:“Instead of quinoa, you can also use millet for this recipe, and the nuts and dried fruit can be replaced with other nuts and dried fruit. Cinnamon and cocao can be used in place of vanilla.”
Plant-based milk/drink: The original recipe calls for “Plant-based milk” as the main liquid ingredient. Although these products may not be labeled as milk in certain countries, they are indeed good alternatives to dairy milk. Feel free to use other varieties than the soy milk we have listed. For example, spelt, oat, and almond milk are nice options, and for almond milk, we would like to recommend our recipe Raw Almond Milk.
