I recently went to the supermarket with a friend of mine. As we were leaving she exclaimed "Oh I have to get granola for the kids!". We walked to the cereal aisle to find the fancy bags of granola. Small bags, beautiful packaging, and high prices. I asked her why she buys granola at these prices and she answered the way most mother's answer, "It's something healthy that the kids actually like."
But how healthy is it? Just because it has eco-friendly packaging and says ORGANIC across the label doesn't mean it's healthy.
I love the explosion of "organic" shelf stable food. If you know like I know, then you know that the things they have to add to the product to make it shelf stable negates the organic properties the item once had. To be organic is to be perishable. Point blank.
Back to my friend. I asked her what was in this pricey granola. We looked at the package. Oats, dried fruit, and nuts. In Barbados, nuts can be pricey, but everything else, super cheap. Lets not talk about the high sugar content. How do we combat this? Make your own of course. Granola is easy to make and can be made with left over items. Oats, dried fruit, coconut, nuts, fruit chips, etc. Here is my recipe for Banana Coconut Granola. This is a nice recipe with a great texture and great taste.You can use this as a guide and add to or subtract at your leisure. If you remove the banana you would use about 1 cup of mixed fruit and increase the agave by 2 more tbsp.
3 cups of oats
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of grated coconut
3 tbsp of raw sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 mashed bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbps of agave, maple, or honey
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients up to the cinnamon. Mix well and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the mashed bananas, vanilla, agave and coconut oil. Mix well. Pour over the oats mixture. Mix well and place on to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes. Until dry and crumbly. Be sure to check and stir you granola midway through the baking process
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