Hey guys welcome back to my blog! I am back today with another baking post but this time a little healthier than my last one.
Today, I am going to be showing you how to make my famous homemade granola. I've been making this cereal/granola for a few years now, and I eat it every morning religiously. The reason I started making my own cereal/granola is because I hate buying them from stores. First of granola can be so expensive, like 10 dollars for a small container? No way! Secondly store bought granolas can be super sugar infested, I mean, the granola is so sweet it tastes like candy let alone whole ingredients. ....which is why I started questioning how good it ACTUALLY is for you.
With this granola, there is just something satisfying about knowing everything that goes into it, you just feel better about whats going into your body. Anytime I have an excuse to create something like this thats yummy and convenient I will!
This granola is gluten free, vegan, organic and 100% delicious. It can be eaten on its own or as I like to have it with a cup of almond milk or a cup of soy yogurt.
The batch I am making and that I usually make is pretty large, but if you use it as cereal (as I do) you'll find you through it very quickly. A side note for before we start is that you can sub in anything and add in your own flavours (chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc.), heck you can make this granola your own and change everything! This recipe is just my preference and what I enjoy eating, so do what you want with it :)!
Ingredients
3 1/2 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds
1/3 Cup Pumpkin Seed
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/4 Cup Crushed Walnuts
1/2 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Pinch of Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon of Flaxseed Meal
3/4 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1/3 - 1/2 Cup Honey (Vegan option is to use a mix of agave and a little bit of coconut oil)
This granola also doesn't have any dried fruit in it, which isn't for any specific reason, I just hate dried fruits so you can add those in if you're a fan!
Before delving into the creation of my granola I wanted to talk a little bit about Flaxseed Meal, because I know a bunch of you were probably reading the ingredient list like "what the heck is that. .."
Flaxseed meal is something I really enjoy adding to recipes. It is probably one of the most powerful seeds on EARTH. Providing your body with Omega 3s, Lignans and lots and lots of FIBRE. Not only is it filled with various nutrients but it also helps fight against cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. When I was in my last year of university and eating basically just white rice and chewing gum, my mom nurtured me back to health with this stuff. It was one of the first "power foods" I learned about on my quest for health (I'll blog about this later), so I highly recommend you look into it and buy some for yourself!
Okay so lets get started with baking the even better stuff: my granola!
Set the oven to 350 degrees F on BAKE CONVECTION. This way the granola will bake evenly.
Take all the dry ingredients first, put them into a bowl and just mix. Mix until everything looks consistent and even.
After all the dry ingredients are mixed together take all your liquid ingredients (if your not vegan you should just have honey), and pour them into the same dry ingredient bowl and mix until the ingredients are sticking together. Place the granola on a parchment lined baking tray , even it out with a spatula and voila! Your almost done.
Once the oven is warmed up take your baking tray and place it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes for some delicious deliciousness. (side note:make sure to mix the granola in the oven every 5 minutes to make sure you aren't burning the top or the bottom)
colour with darker edges. After those 20 minutes, look to see if the granola is a light brown color, it should be light in the centre and then a darker brown on the edges. Once the granola has reached this level of darkness, take it out of the oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes.
Take you spatula separate the granola, and there you have it, some delicious granola ready to be eaten!! Easy eh? Now put it in a cute container and you are all set.
I hope you enjoyed this post! I love making healthy food posts partially because I just photograph what I do regularly anyways, which is easy and fun for me. Health and whole foods have recently become a passion of mine so let me know if you would like to see more posts like this!
I hope you all have a wonderful evening and until my next post I will talk to you guys later.
Nicole J