For the Health of It

As the blog world so kindly informed me, Monday was National Cereal Day.

Even though I inadvertently celebrated with a bowl of Cocoa Bumpers for breakfast, I feel as though I didn’t pay the holiday the sort of respect it deserves.After all, as the self-proclaimed Queen of Cereal, it really seems like I ought to have made a more appropriate hooplah for my most beloved breakfast food.

With the stash in my pantry dwindling (to a measly two and a half boxes!) it seemed only appropriate to bolster my supplies with a homemade cereal endeavor!

The flakes are basic and quite versatile and could easily include any number of healthy add-ins, yet I opted to turn it into a “healthified” version of an old favorite – Special K’s Red Berries. Unlike Kellogg’s version, my handmade cereal is free from any added sugars or high fructose corn syrup. Additionally, it contains a significant amount of fiber from the bran and omega-3’s from the flax!

A number of healthy variations could be made on this basic bran flake recipe, however, depending on your choice of add-in. I have visions of vanilla blueberry cereal and perhaps even a mint chocolate flake! The possibilities are truly endless!

Homemade Bran Flakes

Inspired by Mr.breakfast.com

Vegan, serves two

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1 tablespoon (3 individual packets) Truvia Natural Sweetener
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• Various add-ons for flavoring (I used cinnamon and flax – other ideas include nutmeg, chia seeds, cocoa powder, almond extract, protein powders or vanilla paste!)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
• Sift together your dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

• Add in your wet ingredients and stir well.

• Grease a large baking sheet and spread out your “batter” as thinly as possible without leaving any bare patches.

• Top generously with add-ons (in my case, freshly ground cinnamon and flax meal)

• Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges begin to crisp. It should start to flake apart on its own:

• Because the inside of the giant flake should be still somewhat soft, tear apart the large portion until you have an entire sheet full of cereal-sized bites:

• If you’re adding any fruit, slice it now. The thinner the slices you make, the better the fruit can dehydrate in the oven.

The fresh berries I picked up at the market are delicious just the way they are, but I wanted to replicate Kellogg’s dried fruit add-in. If your fruit is at its “use-it-or-lose-it” point, this is a great way to stretch its lifespan!

• If you’re dehydrating berries in the oven, spread them across another baking pan. Drop your oven temperature to 200 degrees and cook the berries until they have lost their moisture (this took around an hour for mine.)

I left my bran flakes in the oven while my strawberries dehydrated. They seemed to be perfectly fine, but check on your flakes every 10-15 minutes to make sure they don’t burn!

Once your goodies are baked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. Mine stayed out overnight, but I assume they would be good to go in around an hour.

Top with your favorite milk or milk substitute and enjoy the no-sugar added all-natural homemade cereal!