healthy breakfast granola clusters.

I have been a bit awol lately as we have been pulling long hours at work (eating every meal at work and long 15 hours days are the worst) but they have finally ended and I'm back to my food love. It turns out that eating every meal at work, generally takeaway, and not exercising makes you feel like absolute s**t and gain, what felt like, a lot of weight. So I decided one free weekend to make myself some healthy homemade granola that I could eat at work and have at least one healthy and home cooked meal each day.

This granola is PACKED full of healthy and good for you ingredients that will sustain you throughout the day. You can really put your own twist on this base recipe and add whatever you like. This recipe can easily be made this vegan by substituting the honey with extra rice malt syrup or a liquid sweetener of your choice.

I love having this with coconut yogurt, strawberries and banana 👌 it's the best way to start the day and keeps me going for quite some time!

Base Granola Recipe

Dry Base Ingredients

1 cup black sunflower seeds

½ cup white chia seeds

2-3 cup puffed amaranth

1 cup pepitas

3 cups coconut chips

1 ½ cup puffed millet

1 ½ cups LSA

1 cup slivered almonds

2 cup puffed rice

3tbsp golden flax meal

7 cups rice flakes (try and get the healthiest and least processed possible, I got mine from a wholefoods store)

1 cup raw buckwheat

250g mixed nut

Wet Mix Ingredients

600g coconut oil

2 cup coconut sugar

8 tbsp honey (or extra rice malt for a vegan version)

500ml rice malt syrup

Salt, to taste

Method

In a large bowl (you will need a very large bowl for this or you may choose to use two bowls) mix all of the dry ingredients together. Make sure they are well combined and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 100 C
In a saucepan over a medium heat, add all of the wet ingredients and heat until combined, let the mixture bubble a little. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool a little.
While this cools a bit (you don't want it to cool too much) lay baking paper on a large baking tray (or two trays) and pour the dry mix onto the tray/trays (you can use two trays if one isn't big enough (if you are using two trays, make sure you split the mix).
You may find it easier to mix through a little bit of the wet mixture at a time to make sure you don't get clumps of wet mixture and clumps of uncoated dry granola mix (I know, this would be a catastrophe), if you are using two trays just make sure you split the mixture evenly.
Once the mixture is evenly combined put the trays in the oven for 20-30 mins until you start to smell the granola.
Take the trays out of the oven and leave to cool for around 5 mins and then start to mix to get the clusters to form.
Leave this to cool fully and then it is ready to be bagged, bottled or stored in an air-tight container of your choice!

The base recipe is perfect for some experimenting with your favourite flavours but I have done some experimenting of my own and one of the recipes is below.

Pear, Vanilla, Almond and Goji Granola

Dry Mix Ingredients

½ portion of dry granola base mix

½ cup goji berries

7 pears, cubed (small) dehydrated*

¾ cup coconut sugar

1 cup almonds, chopped

1 cup pecans, chopped

Wet Mix Ingredients

300g coconut oil

4 tbsp honey

4 vanilla beans, scraped

2 tsp mesquite powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Method

In a large bowl (you will need a very large bowl for this or you may choose to use two bowls) mix all of the dry ingredients together. Make sure they are well combined and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 100 C
In a saucepan over a medium heat, add all of the wet ingredients and heat until combined, let the mixture bubble a little. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool a little.
While this cools a little (you don't want it to cool too much) lay baking paper on a large tray (or two trays) and pour the dry mix onto the tray/trays (you can use two trays if one isn't big enough (if you are using two trays, make sure you split the mix).
You may find it easier to mix through a little of the wet mixture at a time to make sure you don't get clumps of wet mixture and uncoated of your dry granola mix (I know, this would be a catastrophe), if you are using two trays just make sure you split the mixture evenly.
Once the mixture is evenly combined put the trays in the oven for 20-30 mins until you start to smell the granola.
Take the trays out of the oven and leave to cool for around 5 mins and then start to mix to get the clusters to form.
Leave this to cool fully and then it is ready to be bagged, bottled or stored in an air-tight container of your choice!

* to dehydrate the pear turn your oven on at around 100C (you can go lower but this will take a bit longer, just depends how patient you are). Place all of the cubes flat on a lined baking tray and keep in the oven until crispy, dried and all of their moisture has disappeared into the great abyss.

* this recipe keeps a couple of months if it is stored correctly. I have stored it in airtight bags and ensure that the most air is removed from the bag before sealing it. Keep it in a cool dark place and ensure that your mix is properly dry before you store it.

A new recipe of chocolate granola clusters is coming soon (a little sneak peak below of the chocolate version on the left)!