Wikipedia moment! Apparantly, the same person who invented the graham cracker was also a major catalyst in the vegetarian movement. Reverend Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American dietary reformer who, around 1829, invented the Graham Diet – which consisted mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat and high fiber foods, and excluded meat, milk and all animal byproducts in an effort to purify our mind and body. Graham was also amongst the first to argue that chemical additives used to make bread whiter in color and more commercially appealing also made it unwholesome. Well at least that was a far cry from 1590 when the city of Paris actually declared it legal to use the bones of dead Parisians to be ground into flour and baked into bread during the famine!

Unfortunately, Graham also believed that vegetarianism was essential to an asexual lifestyle, and that consuming animal byproducts caused sinful lusts. So next time you feed your toddler a graham cracker just remember that it was invented as a substitute for sex!

Today I am invoking my inner free love hippie and sharing a rather pleasant recipe for Quinoa Granola.It’s mild cinnamony sweetness combines well with the tartness of the dried cherries and the nuttiness of the quinoa and almonds.

QUINOA GRANOLA
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
1 cup slivered or roughly-chopped almonds
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. melted coconut oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 oz. dried apricots
6 oz. dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together oats, quinoa, almonds, honey, coconut oil, salt and cinnamon until combined. Spread the mixture out on a foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, stirring once halfway. Remove and let cool, then stir in dried fruit and toss to combine. Serve immediately or store in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.