It is a beautiful day today in Okinawa. It has been raining a lot this winter so it is nice to have a warm, sunny day. The temperature is in the low seventies, the ocean is calm, and there is not a cloud in the sky—a pretty good Wednesday if you ask me 
.
Although I’m a New Englander at heart and love a snowy winter, I would be lying if I said I do not enjoy the balmy winters we have in the tropics. We have lived on this little tropical island for close to four years now, and I’m pretty sure in that time my blood has thinned because last week when it was cold, rainy, and windy, I actually referred to the weather as “freezing” and turned the heat on in my car on the way to work! It was 62 degrees :0! Can I still call myself a New Englander?!
The beautiful day was followed by a beautiful sunset. Sometimes it is the little things in life that we need to be grateful for
Today I have another delicious granola recipe to share with you because you all know how much I looooooove granola. In case you missed my previous posts about granola, you can find them here and here.
This recipe is for a grain-free granola. I got the recipe from my friend, Phoebe, who follows the Paleo diet. Although I don’t follow Paleo, I love a good recipe—no matter what the source—so I could not wait to try this one.
Phoebe warned me that this granola is so addicting that she has to give away half the batch when she makes it. Well after making this granola I can attest that she was not kidding. I made it last week and all five cups of it are almost gone! At least it’s healthy, right?!
I thought it would be fun to post this recipe today—in honor of Phoebe—because she gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday! Looks like I’ll be making a fresh batch of this soon to take over to her house . Congrats, Phoebe!
This “granola” does not have any grains in it so it is a fun twist on traditional granola. The slivered almonds in the recipe act as the oats in the granola and the rest of the granola is made up of any combination of nuts and seeds you would like. Throw in a little unsweetened coconut, dried fruit, and natural sweetener of your choice and voila….you have a healthy, delicious, and very addictive grain-free granola!
I love to eat this granola with almond milk and a cut up banana—yummy!
The beauty of this recipe is that it is very versatile and can be adapted in any number of ways. You can use any combination of nuts and seeds that you like and throw in any kind of dried fruit (or chocolate chips) of your choice!
Ingredients
2-3 cups slivered almonds
2-3 cups nuts and seeds of your choice* (chop the larger nuts)
1 cup unsweetened coconut, shredded
3 T honey**
2 T maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300° F.
- In a small saucepan, combine honey, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, almond extract, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and then let it cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, spread the nuts, seeds, and coconut out on a greased baking sheet (or silpat) and pour the cooled honey-maple syrup mixture on top. Mix it around until all the nuts, seeds, and coconut are well coated. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes.
- Allow the nuts, seeds, and coconut to cool slightly and then transfer to a bowl. Add the dried fruit (and/or anything else you would like to add) and enjoy!
Notes
*You should have 5 cups total of nuts and seeds. I used 3 cups slivered almonds, 1 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), and 1 cup pecans.
**This was a little sweet for my taste, but still really good. Next time I might try using a little less honey.
*Recipe adapted from Jordan Morchat at Memoirs Strong
Questions of the Day: Leave me a comment and tell me What combination of nuts and seeds you would use for this granola? What add-ins would you throw into the granola?
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That’s exactly how I eat mine – almond milk, banana. I can barely get thru a whole bowl tho – it’s so filling!
I agree Trisha, this cereal is sooo filling! If I eat it for breakfast I’m full at least until lunch if not the afternoon!
Hi – This granola sounds VERY GOOD. Since I am not crazy about raisins I think I would use chopped up dried apricots in their place. Could one use some Grape Nuts (cereal) in this recipe or do they qualify as “grains”??? I also never pass up an opportunity to have some chocolate, so I am wondering about using some of the tiny little chocolate bits. I am also thinking about buying a jar of “mixed nuts” and using them (chopped up) as the nuts in the recipe
I think I will try this recipe soon.
All of your suggestions sound great. Grape Nuts would count as a grain, but you’re welcome to add them if you want. Be careful when buying the mixed nuts from the store because sometimes they are loaded with extra salt, but I bet you could find a good bag of them at Trader Joe’s that don’t have any additives. Let me know how you like it!
Hi, again, Kristen – I just noticed that you added the opportunity to PRINT your recipe. I LOVE this option. I have printed some of your previous recipes and they are all over the place and it takes a LOT of paper to just get one recipe when you just print off the internet.
THANKS FOR ADDING THIS OPTION!!!!
I’ll be back.
Thanks, Mom! I was excited to find this option as I’ve been looking for a print option for a long time. This service also allows you to save recipes to a recipe box and I think it will create a shopping list for you! I have to learn more about it, but I’m glad you’re enjoying it already and thanks for noticing!
Hi, again, Kristen- Now that you mention it, I DID see the “SAVE” function on your blog and I think I am going to start saving the recipes there. I have WAY TOO MANY on paper. This would be a GREAT way to keep them – paperless.
Thanks for pointing out the difference between buying mixed nuts (for example) at Costco vs at Trader Joe’s where they will surely have far less salt. I am going to investigate that soon.
Keep the recipes rolling!!!!
I think you can save recipes from many sites to this same recipe box (not just my blog), but I’ll have to investigate that further and let you know. I can’t wait to hear how you like this recipe and what you added to your granola!
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Oh my goodness, that looks so good!! I will have to try that for sure. I love granola and my hubby eats it almost every day.
Andres it is soooooo good! I’m sure you and your husband will love it
We’ve already gone through 2 batches and I’m going to make more tomorrow! I melted some unsweetened chocolate in the last batch…yum!
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I am definitely going to try this one! (Kristen– are you pumped about my comment??)
This is really fun to read and I look forward to getting more great recipes from you! Btw, can I get unsweetened coconut at the commissary?
Yay! I’m super excited not only that you remembered the name of my blog, but that you commented too!! I’ve never seen unsweetened coconut on base. They might have it off base, but otherwise I’m sure you can buy it online. Please come back again soon!
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