What’s great at midnight, midday & breakfast with milk all over?

…….Granola.

Ok, my granola riddle is a little lame (post your better one’s below), but it is true! Granola is a great cupboard staple. Kids love it and their kids too. It’s easy to make, stores for a long time in airtight containers (although usually doesn’t last long enough to find out how long it stores!) and it can be frozen to last really long periods of time.

I like to make my own to avoid all the added junk in the store bought kind (granola and cereals are one of the #1 sources of added sugar, not to mention fake coloring and flavoring). I’ve included a recipe below so you can get creative too. It’s really, insanely easy! And is cheaper than buying it from the store. The best part, is you have control over what fruits and nuts get added so it can be exactly what you’re taste buds want.

Prep time: 1 hour. Makes 8 cups (unless you double it, which is a great idea when making granola because it is a fabulous snack as well as breakfast).

3 ½ cup organic old fashioned rolled oats

½ cup sesame or chia seeds

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup pumpkin seeds

½ cup almonds, chopped (or other nut, like pecans, cashews or walnuts)

½ tsp ground cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg

½ tsp sea salt

½ cup coconut oil or organic butter

½ maple syrup or honey

½ cup dried raisins or other dried fruit

½ cup dried dates, chopped

½ cup more dried fruit of your choice (cranberries, banana, apricots, apples, etc)

1 tablespoon nut butter (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

¼ tsp almond extract (optional)

NOTE: So long as you have the oats, sweetener, & oil then you can basically add whatever dried fruits, nuts and seeds that you would like.

Directions: Preheat oven to 325. In large mixing bowl, combine oats, seeds, nuts and spices. Mix well. In small bowl, mix together oil or butter (melted), sweetener and nut butter and stir. Add the optional extracts. Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry then use a spoon to stir, evenly coating the dry ingredients with the wet. Spread on a cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake until granola is dry and golden (15-30 minutes). To toast the granola more evenly, turn/stir it on the cookie sheet every 15 minutes. Once the granola is baked and cool, add your dried fruits. Store the granola in a airtight jar or tupperware container.

One for the road…Don’t judge, it’s the only granola joke I could find…
The human race is like granola. Take out all the nuts and fruits and all you have left are flakes.

If you want to learn how to navigate the grocery store like a health NINJA click here.

For more clean delicious recipes check out my E-Cookbook "Recipes to Thrive."

Granola Making for the nutty, fruity and flakey.