I love making my own granola. It is delicious, and can be eaten as a snack, with yogurt, or as a cereal with berries. I used to eat it mixed into Activia, but we gave up dairy over a year ago, so now I eat it as a cereal with almond milk. I toss in a few blueberries when they’re in season.
I enjoy making my own because I like to know what’s in our food. We’ve recently gone gluten-free, and surprise! This recipe was already gluten-free. Now it’s almost sugar-free. I didn’t have to do a thing. If kept tightly sealed, this granola will keep in your pantry for weeks.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups rolled oats or “old fashioned” oatmeal
- 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup sliced raw almonds
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)
- 4 tablespoons stevia
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Place the dry ingredients in a large baking dish or broiler pan (I leave out the cranberries, as dried fruit is high in sugar.)
- Stir until well mixed.
- Add apple juice, and stir well.
- Add honey, and stir well.
- Bake at 350 F. for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring every 10 – 15 minutes, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking.
- Allow to cool in the baking dish. Mixture will be soft and moist before completely cooled, so be sure it is completely dry before putting it into your storage container.
- Store in tightly covered containers.
You noticed I left out the dried cranberries, right?
Don’t get me wrong. I love dried cranberries, but they, as do all dried fruits, have a high percentage of sugar. So, because we are trying to reduce our sugar consumption, I omitted the cranberries, and replaced the turbinado sugar with stevia.
