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Greetings Hive foodies! What an amazing, crazy few weeks we had. From finishing my back tattoo and being crazy busy at work to having a short break and falling from one amazing adventure into another.

Though we had a lot of fun and our bakery remains closed for another week, starting from tomorrow, it's back to work. We are painting and refreshing the whole bakery and mobile shop before we open our doors again next Tuesday.

Though I really enjoyed being away, the one thing we always miss is eating our own food. In Cambodia, it is really hard to eat yummy vegan food, even if you visit the hipster places. We are so used to eating food that contains many different herbs and spices, so for us eating out usually ends up being a bland and pricy disappointment.

We arrived back home yesterday afternoon. The first thing I did was make sure we had breakfast today - meaning culturing the cashew yogurt, making granola, and whipping up a batch of blueberry jam.

FIND THE RECIPES HERE:

🫐 5-MIN BLUEBERRY VANILLA CHIA SEED JAM

🍶DIY VEGAN PROBIOTIC CASHEW YOGURT

🥣 HOMEMADE GRANOLA

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WHY WE SAY NO TO STORE-BOUGHT AS MUCH AS WE CAN

Even if we would live somewhere else where items like granola and vegan yogurt would be easier (and cheaper) to find, we still would go through all the trouble to make our own.

Yes, it takes dedication and some of our precious time to prepare all these things at home. BUT... not only does homemade taste better, we are also in control of what's ending up in our bodies to protect our health.

PLUS - we both love cooking! This helps a lot too.

Processed or convenient foods - whether they are vegan or not - usually contain a lot of added, refined sugars and yucky chemicals such as colorants, preservatives, and other additives you don't want to feed your family.

I fully understand that making everything from scratch is just not possible. We are all too busy for that. So we have to make some compromises.

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Below I'll share with you how we decide whether to make it ourselves or buy it at the shop

There are a few questions we ask ourselves when deciding if we should make it at home or buy it at the grocery store. The first question I like to ask myself is whether there is a good, clean store-bought alternative available.

Though many of the storebought alternatives usually contain a variety of not-so-good-for-you ingredients and chemicals, that doesn't mean that just because something is sold in a shop is bad for you. There are still a handful of companies out there that value our health above profits and are making really healthy and yummy products.

When this question is answered and there is a good, clean alternative, the second thing to consider is the time and money we will spend on making our own. Is it worth spending our precious time preparing this item? How much can we save by making this from scratch? Are we prepared to pay a little more and use our time for something else? Time vs money saved... another important thing to consider.

Taste vs money vs time - Sometimes making (or even growing) your own from food scratch, might be more expensive than buying them in a store. But some things are just better when you make or grow them yourself! Even if they take a long time to make and will end up costing more.

After taking all this in consideration, we still prefer to make these 3 staples - jam, yogurt, and granola - ourselves. We do not have a vegan yogurt alternative available. And using nut milk in our granola instead of yogurt is just not the same. I like a thick, creamy yogurt for my morning bowls... no soggy granola mess. Plus, it is so easy and quick to make.

As for the granola, we have some decent products available, but they are very expensive and mine just tastes better and again it almost takes no time and effort to make. The same goes for the jam.

Though Cambodia can be a very cheap country to live in as an expat, once you want Western ingredients such as yogurt, granola, and jam you are usually paying way more than what you were used to back home.

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THIS MORNINGS BREKKIE - GRANOLA CASHEW YOGURT AND CHIA SEED JAM MORNING BLISS BOWL

As mentioned earlier, yesterday I made cashew yogurt, chia seed jam, and granola. How long did this take me... not too long to be fair.

I made a big jar of granola which will last me about 1-2 weeks. Gathering all the ingredients took me less than 5 minutes. While the granola was in the oven, I blended the cashews and water for the vegan yogurt. then I cooked the cashew milk until just boiling and let it cool before adding the starter. By the time I finished the cooking the granola came out of the oven (10 min). While the granola was cooling down I made the chia jam. This took me another 5 minutes or so.

Though I didn't exactly time the whole process, let's say it took me about 15 minutes to make granola for a week or 2 and jam and yogurt for 4-6 days.

Considering the things I talked about earlier in this post.... totally worth the money, time, and effort to make these 3 staples from scratch!

INGREDIENTS FOR MY MORNING BLISS BOWL: