Hippie food (aka Granola)

Granola is sometimes considered “hippie” food.  I love hippie food.  Back in the 60′s, people made granola from scratch (what a novel concept) with lots of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit in it, and ate it as a healthy breakfast or snack food.  Most of today’s granola comes from boxes at the grocery store, which are loaded with additives and preservatives and words I can’t pronounce.  When you do come across homemade granola these days, it tastes fantastically different than what you find in a box.  At work we make homemade granola and it is so so yummy compared to what I have been eating from a box (I confess, sometimes I eat it from a box), that I was inspired to make my own granola loaded with healthy foods, using good quality oil and no refined sugar.  And guess what– my boxed granola days are over!  The hippie side of me wishes I could try some granola from the 60′s, but mine will have to do for now.  Put some old vinyl on your record player (Grateful Dead was my granola making music of choice), and try this:

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 cup refined coconut oil (melted down if it is solid)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I used blueberries, cranberries, and apricots)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine oats, coconut, almonds, and pecans in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt.  Pour wet mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.

Spread evenly on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, stirring approximately 3 times before it is done to ensure even cooking.  When done, allow it to cool in the pan.

Then add the dried fruit,

stir to combine,

and pour in a glass jar to store.  It will keep well sealed in a glass jar for a couple weeks.

Feel free to get a little wild with the ingredient list.  I was planning on adding sunflower seeds to mine but forgot to add them to my grocery list.  Swap out the almonds and pecans for your favorite nuts, or try adding some flax seeds or pumpkin seeds!  Dried cherries or dried strawberries would also taste mighty fine in this granola.

The maple syrup is the perfect sweetener here– it gives the granola some sweetness without making it sickeningly sweet like some boxed granolas.  This one tastes a little more earthy, a little more healthy, but fabulous nonetheless.  Try topping your next bowl of greek yogurt with this granola, or just eat it plain with some almond milk.

It’s only been a couple days since I made this and I’m already workin’ my way through the jar.  I think the next batch will be with coconut, almonds, sunflower seeds, dried strawberries, and dried cherries.  Looks like there’s more experimenting to come…