Make It, Eat It: Homemade Granola

Well hello again. This has certainly taken a while. I hate saying, "Work's been too busy to even think about blogging!" but it's unfortunately true. Thankfully the crisis is dying down a bit and I have room to breathe now, although I still go to bed every night thinking about all the things I meant to do, but didn't.

One of those things I finally got around to doing at the weekend: making my own granola. It was the result of seeing a lot of recipes recently for it, and also having a bowl of Jordan's granola and wondering whether they'd just tipped a bag of sugar into it for fun. Seriously. I thought my tongue was going to burn off. So on a sunny Sunday morning I woke up and make some just in time for breakfast, and it was delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup desicated coconut/coconut flakes
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds (put them in a blender for a little while)
• 1/4 cup whole almonds
• handful sunflower seeds
• handful pumpkin seeds

Melt the coconut oil, and then mix it all together. Put on a lined baking sheet at 150 celcius for around 25 minutes, and then try not to eat the whole lot all at once.

Step 1: arrange ingredients on aesthetically pleasing wooden chopping board

In my second batch I forgot the cinnamon and it tastes just fine without. You could also use nutmeg instead.

If you don't already own a jar of coconut oil then you are missing out, largely because of its prowess as a moisturiser.

Don't take any notice of my quantities when it comes to adding extras. Go crazy, live a little, take your life in your own hands. As long as it makes you happy it won't hurt you, so add whatever takes your fancy. I just used what I happened to have on hand. Aldi is great for cheap nuts and seeds, about half the price of Tesco etc.

You can tell it's done when it's golden and beautiful and crunchy and tastes like heaven.

Granola is for life, not just for cereal. I had mine with melon and passion fruit. Twice. Partly because I had two halves of a melon, but also because it tastes great. I'm waiting for this weekend to try it on top of a smoothie bowl. Unless I've eaten it all out of the jar by then, in which case I'll just have to make some more...

This made 3-4 servings. I think. I don't think I've ever eaten a 'serving' in my life, not intentionally. If you want to eat the whole lot at once, why not?! It should keep for a good few weeks in a sealed container so just multiply the recipe accordingly. I'm hoping everyone here is going to enjoy this so that I have to make more, it's going to seriously help me get through the remaining 7kg of oats I bought back in November...