Rustic Organic Granola

My daughter loves granola. I mean, loves it. I’ve searched around the grocery stores for the best, non-GMO, organic, least processed granola. I’ve found some good ones but the sugar content is always high and there is always the inevitable “soy lecithin” or some other filler that I’d rather not have in a breakfast cereal.

Packaged foods are still foods that have been denatured. We’ve taken the raw ingredients that Mama Nature put together and then we turn them into something hyper-palatable. These big food manufacturers know what they're doing to keep us coming back for more!

I decided to try to make a granola that my daughter would love but that I would feel good about her consuming. This granola recipe is just that. It’s packed full of healthy fats (thank you coconut oil) and warming spices (hello, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and ginger).

The best part is that it is sweetened with maple syrup that has been tapped from the maple trees in our backyard. It doesn’t get any better than that!

There’s something that feels really great about making homemade versions of foods that we could, and do, so easily pick up from our grocery store. Food, like everything else in existence, has a vibration. And I would much rather be consuming food made by my own loving hands (who loves my family more…me, or a food manufacturing company that really has a bottom line as its bottom line?)

And I know what we tell ourselves about our busy lives. We tell ourselves that we don’t have time and that it’s simply much easier to pick it up from the store. And sometimes, that’s what we have to work with, and that’s okay. And yet other times, we do have the time. It’s just not a priority. And that’s okay too.

We will all come to prioritize what is most important to us and that will change, depending on what your life looks like at any given time.

I’ve really had no option other than to prioritize healthy, homemade food. It’s just become a huge part of my healing journey. As a result, food actually tastes different to me now. I no longer crave heavily processed food like I once did. And really good, homemade food just feels different in my body.

So if I can whip up homemade granola in under 30 minutes (from prep to cooling on the counter) I’ll do it.

I think you’ll love this super simple granola. I don’t add any nuts or dried fruits, but knock yourself out if you want some dried cranberries or raisins or pecans or anything else that will enhance this granola.

The spices in this granola are my favorite; warming and almost chai-like. Come to think of it, this granola would pair wonderfully with a steaming cup of chai tea.

My daughter enjoys this granola with almond milk and sometimes a handful of frozen raspberries on top.

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients

3 cups rolled old fashioned oats (organic)

1 cup of hemp hearts

¾ cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tbsp ginger

1 tsp cardamom

Wet Ingredients

¾ cup maple syrup

¾ cup melted coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and then add in the liquids.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the granola evenly onto the baking sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes, stirring the granola halfway through and turning the pan in the oven.

Remove and cool completely before transferring to glass jars.