What’s in your granola? I searched out several popular brands of granola and checked out their ingredient labels, and what I found was disappointing! The good news is you can make this easy spiced coconut granola in just minutes!
Some Granola ingredients to look out for!
To the consumer words like “natural” and “nourishing” can be far from true and definitely misleading! When I simply turned them over to read the label, these popular granola brands were full of hidden MSG, GMO’s, soy, and even BHT! This is the last thing we want when we are trying to make healthy choices, and it can be very frustrating. Who wants to think they are starting their morning off healthy only to feel side effect symptoms like nausea, rapid heartbeat, headache, and drowsiness. These are just a couple of the symptoms that these processed pre-packaged foods can cause.
As if it wouldn’t be enough to stop there, some of the brands had added “vitamins”. That’s good right?….. Wrong. While this may look good on the box, all the synthetic vitamins we ingest from juices to fruit snacks, cereals, and milk can cause health problems in the long run. I recently read that synthetic vitamins in large quantities can have a drug-like effect, and can cause the same symptoms as the vitamin deficiency itself. These vitamins are treated like toxins in our bodies! It is mind-blowing how misinformed we can be when it comes to what we are putting in our bodies. The bottom line is what we are putting in our bodies is one of the most important things we can do!
You may ask….What should we do?
Make our own! You may think you don’t have the time, but this simple recipe mixes up in less than 10 minutes, and the best part…. You are in control of what you put in! There are so many options for what you can add to your homemade granola!
Options for add-ins for homemade granola
- Dried cranberries, raisins, or cherries.
- Seeds. (pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are great choices!)
- Your choice of nuts. Almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts.
- Banana chips or chocolate chips.
Easy Spiced Coconut Granola
Ingredients
- 3 cups quick oats or old fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds Buy organic chia seeds here
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened coconut flakes
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans optional
- ½ teaspoon pink salt or sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250.
- In a medium bowl mix all dry ingredients.
- If coconut oil is solid melt in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Pour melted coconut oil and syrup over dry mixture.
- Stir well with a wooden spoon.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I bought a non- toxic cookie sheet and I love it!
- Spread granola mix evenly over cookie sheet.
- Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly brown on top.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Store in a ziplock bag or mason jar.
Notes
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