Will I, won’t I? Well, actually, I will: eat in a vegan fashion for four weeks that is, but just not at the moment. I had thought I might do so in January, but I have decided against. Truth be told, every time I contemplate a meat, poultry, egg, and fish free four-weeks (and these are just some of the food stuffs I would need to forego) I wonder might it be dizzingly difficult and would I have will-power wobbles and throw in the towel in the first week. Quite likely, so I need to get my head properly wrapped around the idea and suss out some vegan recipes before I give it a go.
Because the trouble at the moment is that every time I read a recipe I haven’t made before and think oh, that would be good for my vegan interlude when I examine closely the list of ingredients I usually discover it has some ingredient that makes it vegan unfriendly. A case in point is this chocolate granola which has honey in it, and honey is a vegan no-no. Anyway it sounded delicious so I made it and it was fairly ambrosial. The recipe comes from Trish Deseine’s ‘The Paris Gourment’ which isn’t a cookbook but a comprehensive guide to the best of Parisian cafés, restaurants, shops and other food havens but it also includes some recipies and tips. Making the chocolate granola is super simple.
INGREDIENTS
4 oz (125g) chocolate, chopped
half a cup (40g) rolled oats flakes
1 tablespoon (5g) pistachios
1 tablespoon (5g) flaked almonds
1 tablespoon (5g) pecans (or hazelnuts or macadamia nuts)
1 tablespoon (5g) coconut flakes
1 tablespoon (5g) pine nuts
1 tablespoon (20g) runny honey
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (35o°F)
- Mix together all of the ingredient and spread them out on a large baking sheet.
- Bake until they are golden brown – about 5 – 7 minutes.
- Shake the baking sheet so the mixture doesn’t stick together.
- Bake for a further five minutes and then leave to cool.
Serve with fruit and yogurt.
Just Add Attitude 
This is a lovely recipe, B. and the photograph is so beautiful. Brava!!! Vegan? Seriously? I don’t think I would have the strength or the determination although maybe it would be the change I need to shed a few pounds. 🙂
I am not sure I do either Francesca, but I will give it a try even if I cave in after a few weeks. Ironically for almost the first time in my life I don’t wish to loose a few pounds! I can’t quite believe I wrote that but I did loose some weight last year and I am happy with the size I am at the moment. Praise be! But I do think that loosing some weight is a side effect of vegan eating – Bill Clinton is often cited as a poster boy for a vegan diet, I believe he changed the way he eats after a health scare and he definitely shed pounds. 😉
This recipe looks wonderfully simple and delicious. Matt loves to eat granola for breakfast and I love it as a snack in the afternoon. I admire your goal to eat vegan for four weeks. I don’t think I would have the will power to make it through more than a week!
It was so very easy to make and totally yummy.
I am not sure about my will power when it comes to giving up so many food foodstuffs( especially eggs and fish) which is why I didn’t dive in and start eating in a vegan fashion in January. But I am going to give it a go.
Chocolate granola! Yum! I would find it very hard to give up honey. At the moment, anyway, because I am in a very honey phase of my life. What about one vegan meal a week to start with? Perhaps you already do that?
I like honey too!
Thank you. That’s an excellent idea – one vegan meal a week to start with and I am going to give it a try. 😉
I used to have a house worker from Ethiopia. She shared our meals so when she was fasting for religious purposes we always had meals without meat, dairy or eggs. I suppose that was vegan. It was challenging at first but very enjoyable.
I think it’s interesting how we change our tastes, I know that when I eat in a very simple fashion for a few weeks something plain, like say grated apple sprinkled with cinnamon, becomes ambrosial once my taste buds adjust. 😉
Indeed it does!
😉
I was just thinking about possibly making some chocolate granola the other day and voila here is a recipe. I had thought that the recipe would use cocoa powder but love that this uses bar chocolate. Vegan, well I would last maybe half a day or a day at the most. I applaud you for doing it when you do. I like my dairy too much to give it up.
It’s the only recipe that I have come across that uses chunks of chocolate rather than cocoa and I confess I did worry about the ratio of chocolate to other ingredients as it seemed high. But it worked fine and the chocolate granola was delicious and I very quickly eat the batch I made!
I think you’ve got all it takes to make this transition or project highly enjoyable! 😉
BTW vegans can sub honey with:
agave sirup (my opinion: empty calories)
medjool dates puree (my opinion: I happen to hate dates)
maple sirup (my opinion: like it has the same taste! – by now you know: I’m a very grumpy and hard-to-please plant eater)
rice sirup
– and a lot more sirups, depending on what for.
I admit my culinary crush of the moment is coconut sugar; I don’t eat anything else in the sweets department. coconut sugar has a fantastic, rich caramel-like taste and is really good for our health.
Thank you for the detailed review of subs for honey, you are a veritable mine of information and I appreciate the time you took to pass it on.
I had never heard of coconut sugar, it sounds interesting and delicious – I especially like that it is good for our health so I am going to seek it out. 😉
always my pleasure 🙂 I’m an impertinent well of unrequested facts. here’s one more:
make sure to buy organic coconut sugar!
(has to do with farming; a bit like the sad tale of palm oil)
I will get organic coconut sugar. 😉 😉 😉
phew! 🙂
😉
Well now, this is a bit decadent, isn’t it??!!! Can’t wait to make it!
Yes highly decadent but also delicious!
I like chocolate and this sounds like a wonderful treat and very simple to make. Thanks!
It’s pretty good and soooo simple to make. 😉
That looks scrumptious – I’m going to make it! Thank you. I could never go vegan – good luck 🙂
Thanks. Enjoy the chocolate granola. 😉
Sounds and looks delicious. Of course, I’m up for anything chocolate.
Me too! It is delicious and, of course, I used chocolate with a seventy per cent cocoa content. Anything else is just not chocolate!
That is the plain and simple truth.
So true. 😉