“Nut-ola” Recipe

I miss cereal.  There, I said it.  I miss the crunchy, sweet texture with milk.  I used to make my own granola but now that I can no longer eat oats, those are out of the question.  So what’s a girl to do?? Then a friend of mine told me about LARABAR brand of “Renola” which is like granola but only nuts ,seeds, raisins, etc. However, it has tapioca syrup on the ingredients list which can be a no-no for the likes of us.  Then I thought, “Hey, how hard can it be to make my own??”  Based on my previous experience making granola and granola bars I improvised.  Since it turned out really well (if you ask me 😉 ) I thought I would share my recipe.

Ingredients needed (what I used): 

• 1 c. each walnuts, pecans ( chopped) and almonds (I like sliced), shredded coconut, raisins (optional).  You can add in any type of nuts or seeds you would like.
• 1/2 c. cocoa nibs (since cocoa is not on our acceptable list use in moderation and omit if you have problems.)
•  1/4 c. melted coconut oil
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1tbsp cinnamon
• 1tbsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. ground almond flour or coconut flour
• 1 tbsp stevia

Directions:

Set the oven to 325 degrees. Put the walnuts into a medium sized bowl and crush (I like to crush manually to get size differentiation), then add the chopped pecans, almonds, coconut, raisins and cocoa nibs (I also a few banana chips for more texture-watch sugar content.) Mix together thoroughly.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg and mix.

Melt the coconut oil on low heat. Once melted add the honey and vanilla and melt together.

Once the oil has cooled slightly, pour a little at a time into the nut mixture while stirring until it is completely coated.

Place evenly on a cookie sheet and bake on top rack for 15 mins, turing mixture over every 5 mins. so that it browns evenly.  This can burn quickly so be sure you aren’t busy with 10 other things at the same time like I usually am. (Burned my first attempt-No Way, Jill!!) It is done when it is a toasted, golden brown.

While the “Nut-ola” is in the oven, grind up almonds into almond meal and place into bowl.  Mix with stevia; a little more cinnamon and nutmeg. (You can always use coconut flour if you don’t have almonds.)  Cool the “Nut-ola” for a while then coat with the almond meal, stevia mixture so that it doesn’t clump together in storage.  I put mine into a glass jar on the counter for storage.  It usually goes fast in our house, however!

Top your favorite grass-fed yogurt, lactose-free milk (mine is Fairlife!) or salad.  Or just grab handfuls for “dessert” after dinner.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post.  Please let me know what you think of my recipe!

(Disclaimer: I usually “wing” my recipes so measurement may not be exact.)

Have a Happy and Healthy Day!

Jill