NutritiousMeg

Growing up my mom always had homemade granola kicking around, it has been a family favourite for many years.  Granola is a breakfast food that usually contains rolled oats, nuts, honey, butter, and dried fruit; when baked, how can those ingredients combined not be delicious???

I decided to make granola over the weekend and I challenged myself to make it gluten-free and sugar-free, here’s what I came up with:

Gluten-free granola

• ½ cup raw almonds
• ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup raw walnuts
• ¼ cup raw sesame seeds
• ½ cup raw cashews
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut
• ½ cup raw filberts
• 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
• 1/3 cup cocao nibs
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• ¾ cup Thompson raisins
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• Be creative with your nuts and seeds and use your favourites
• 2 tbsp agave nectar: optional if you like your granola a little sweeter

1. With a sharp knife, crush nuts and seeds into desirable chunks on a cutting board.  Mix in a large bowl with cinnamon, cocao nibs, and quinoa flakes then set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 275C
3. In a sauce pan, boil raisins in ½-1 cup of water, press and soften raisins with a wooden spoon. Add coconut oil and optional agave nectar to the raisin mixture and stir while lightly boiling for 3-5 minutes.
4. Pour raisin mixture over nuts and seeds and stir in until entire mixture is moist. Spread onto a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.
5. Once cooled store in a glass jar

*optional: add agave nectar to raisin mixture for added sweetness

I love eating this granola with almond milk and banana or you can have it with plain yogurt and berries.  For some reason, eating it with a parfait spoon gives me a lot of pleasure, try it!  I will say that becasue this recipe is made mostly of nuts and seeds it can get a little pricey to buy the ingredients, however, because nuts and seeds have a higher fat content you can eat less and still feel satisfied.  Eat this granola for breakfast and it will keep you going for hours or pack it as a snack.