Super Healthy No-Grain Granola

I'm not even sure I should be calling this granola... I wouldn't go near traditional granola.. Grains & sugar are a no-go area for me... You did know that commercially produced granola is generally toasted in vegetable oil & sugar right? You're basically having a big bowl of sugar for breakfast, and by 10am you're hungry & lacking energy again... sound familiar? Yeah that'll be all the sugar causing a massive insulin spike, and an even worse crash shortly after... 

Honestly, when you look at the contents of some "healthy" granola in the supermarket, you may actually be better off eating Coco Pops! 

Being open to trying new things is really important when you decide to eliminate certain foods from your diet. It's really exciting experimenting and discovering new flavours in the kitchen. One of the main questions people have when I tell them I don't eat grains is "What do you eat for breakfast?".... 

I've stopped thinking of meals in terms of breakfast, lunch and dinner.... I just consider them as meals and eat whatever I fancy. There's nothing wrong with steak for breakfast... it's the marketing execs in the food industry who have convinced us that cereal is the only breakfast food we should be eating... 

A lot of people have said recently that they really miss a bowl of cereal now and again... so  I've come up with an alternative that is actually really really healthy...

Grain & refined sugar free granola really shouldn't work, but this does! 

• 50g almond flour
• 50g walnuts
• 50g flaked almonds
• 30g hazelnuts
• 50g dessicated coconut
• 50g milled flax seed
• 50g sunflower seeds
• 50g pumpkin seeks
• 25g poppy seeds
• 25g coconut flakes
• 4 dried figs, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp coconut oil melted
• 1 tsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150d. 

Add all the dry ingredients to food processor & pulse for about 30 seconds. You want to grind up the nuts and seeds so you have some finely ground & some coarse pieces. 

Next, melt the coconut oil with the honey & vanilla. 

Add the the dry ingredients and mix well until everything is evenly coated. 

Spread mixture onto a baking tray & bake for approx 35 minutes until everything is toasted. Toss the mixture mid way through to prevent burning. 

Turn off the oven and allow to cool in the warm oven. This allows the mixture to dry out further & crisp up without over cooking. 

Once cool, toss the granola up & break up any large clusters (or leave the large chunks alone... they're pretty delicious too)

You can store this in an airtight container for around 2 weeks. 

Now... I never usually look at calorie content of foods, mainly because I just adopt a common sense approach to eating these days, but I just know someone is going to ask about the calorie content & nutritional value. Obviously there are a lot of nuts in this mixture which are pretty high in calories... BUT... firstly, all the ingredients have excellent nutritional benefits... healthy fats including MCTs from the coconut oil, anti-inflammatory & metabolism boosting properties as well as being 100% natural.... who wouldn't want to eat that? 

I'm not recommending that you chow down on a massive bowl of this with milk like traditional granola... what I am suggesting is that it's a great way to kill off cravings for sugar laced cereal & if you add healthy ingredients like fresh berries & Greek yoghurt, you're having a super healthy & tasty breakfast!**

**50g of this granola with 100g of Greek yogurt & 50g blueberries comes in at around 430kcal.