Soaked Oatmeal with Wild Honeycomb, Mascarpone and Fried Bananas
Steel-cut oats are soaked overnight in cool, filtered water with a little lemon juice before being cooked with cinnamon and freshly-grated nutmeg. Topped with banana slices fried in cultured butter with Tahitian vanilla, mascarpone thinned with fresh cream and a sprinkling of wild-harvested bee pollen..
For the Oats
1 cup traditional, steel-cut oats
1 cup cool, filtered water for soaking
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups filtered water for cooking
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons wild honeycomb
1 teaspoon wild-harvested bee pollen (not propolis)
Combine oats, water and lemon juice in a non-reactive bowl. Cover and allow to stand overnight. Transfer oats to a heavy saucepan, add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and keep warm until ready to use.
For the Bananas
1 just-ripe banana, bias-cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 tablespoons cultured butter
1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split and scraped
Melt butter in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium-low heat. Scrape vanilla into pan and swirl to disperse. Add bananas and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook until the other side is browned, about 8 minutes. Total. Pour remaining butter into oatmeal.
For the Mascarpone
1 pint raw, fresh cream (ultra-pasteurized cream will not work)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon filtered water
Heat the cream in a double-boiler until it reaches 185 degrees. Mix water and lemon juice and add to the cream; it should thicken right away. Keep mixture at 185 degree for a full 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Transfer to a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a clean bowl, refrigerate allow allow to separate 12-24 hours. Mascarpone will keep in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
To serve, spoon warm oatmeal into a bowl and drizzle cream-tinned mascarpone around the perimeter. Top with fried bananas and a spoonful of honeycomb and sprinkle with bee pollen.
Chocolate Maya Nut Cake
(you might also like this recipe for Mayan Banana Bread)
“With one tree able to produce as much as 400 pounds of food a year, using the Maya nut prevents rain forest clear-cutting to harvest other foods and increases populations’ food supplies. Dried, the Maya nut can be stored for up to five years — a lifeline for regions with frequent drought.
The Maya nut has high levels of nutrients including protein, calcium, fiber, iron and vitamins A, E, C and B…
It is also less susceptible to climate changes than the crops that had been brought in to replace it.” -CNN
Adapted from a recipe by The Equilibrium Fund
1 1/2 cups sprouted wheat flour
1/2 cups Maya nut, ground
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon aluminum-feee baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon true cinnamon
1/3 cup panela or other non-refined sweetener
1 cup strong coffee (use decaf if you prefer)
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
2 teaspoons coumarin-free Mexican vanilla
2 tablespoons organic cider vinegar
Grease an 8″ deep-dish pie pan (or two 4-inch ramekins) with coconut oil. Sift together the dry ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly stir back into the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Take care to not over-bake. Allow to cool 15 minutes before inverting onto a large plate and glazing.
1 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coumarin-free Mexican vanilla
2 tablespoons warm, filtered water
Melt the chocolate in a pan set over steaming water. Whisk in vanilla and water, then spoon over cooled cake. Garnish with coconut flakes, cinnamon and ground, toasted Maya nut.
- Chocolate Maya Nut Cake
The Equilibrium Fund in partnership with Alimentos Nutri-Naturales, BanRural, Rainforest Alliance, the Guatemalan Ministry of Education and the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture started the Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests Program in September, 2008..
Please visit The Equilibrium Fund to learn more
Roasted Banana Walnut Ice Cream
Ripe bananas roasted with raw brown sugar, walnut butter and a touch of fresh cream..
Makes 2-3 servings, no ice cream machine needed
4 large ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 inch sections
2 heaping tablespoons walnut butter
2 tablespoons (more-or-less) unrefined high-molasses sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh cream
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Slice bananas into 1/2 inch pieces, sprinkle with sugar and roast in a 400 degree oven until caramelized, about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool, then freeze at least 4 hours or overnight.
Pulse frozen bananas with walnut butter, lemon juice and cream. Place mixture in a seal-able container and freeze at least 2 hours (longer is better).
- Roast Banana Walnut Ice Cream
Black Quinoa and Mango Pudding
“Quinoa (pronounced ‘keen-wah’) is an ancient whole grain that has been cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America for more than 5,000 years. Locally referred to as ‘chisaya mama’ or the ‘mother grain’, it kept the Incan armies strong and robust…”
1/2 cup black quinoa
6 oz fresh whole milk
2 oz fresh cream
2 pastured eggs
1/2 ripe mango, diced
1 modest pinch sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons non-refined sugar or raw honey
1 2-inch section vanilla bean, split and scraped
Rinse quinoa under filtered cold water to remove any debris.
Bring 6 oz fresh whole milk to a low boil.
Add vanilla bean and stir in quinoa and sugar, if using.
Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until almost all the milk has been absorbed, maybe 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whisk 2 eggs into 2 oz of cream, then slowly whisk the liquid into the quinoa.
Add the diced mango and return the quinoa to the burner over low heat and stir continuously until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Quinoa pudding may be served warm or cold, as you prefer.
Champurrado (chocolate atole)
Champurrado is one of a family of hot drinks called atole (Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl atolli), a thin corn masa gruel sweetened with piloncillo and flavored with anise, vanilla and soft Ceylon cinnamon. It tastes kind of like a hot chocolate chai, but earthier and thicker.
Goat milk, masa harina, Mexican chocolate sweetened with piloncillo, anise, vanilla, cinnamon and Kahlúa (optional).
Whisk masa harina into warm milk until thoroughly combined. Add chocolate and spices and simmer until tick and smooth, about 15 minutes, whiskin frequently with a molinillo.
Serve in a heavy mug (with a shot of Kahlúa, if using).






































