Homemade Almond & Date Granola with no added garbage :)

Granola is awesome. Who doesn't love it? But I have 2 problems with it:

• 1) Store bought varieties are pretty awful for you because they are loaded with added sugars and bad fats and usually 1/4 cup servings pack a killer calorie punch.
• 2) Many people don't realize that they're consuming something that is actually more similar to a chocolate bar than to a healthy breakfast/snack alternative so they consume it....often and in massive quantities.

I decided to make a batch at home today to disprove the idea that to have tasty granola it has to be piled with added sugars. It has just a touch of sweetness from dates, loads of healthy fats from flax, almonds and coconut oil and has a great amount of crunch that will stand up to your favourite yogurt! It's also gluten and egg free :)

Date & Almond Granola
makes 12 generous 1/3 cup servings (let's be honest - no one actually limits themselves to 1/4 cup of trail mix so it's better to be realistic with serving size!)

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup flax meal (ground flax)
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp natural almond butter
1.5oz toasted almonds
15 dates, chopped
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2) Combine flax meal with water in a small bowl and let sit for approx 3-4 minutes. This will turn into a gel-like substance (using flax in this way makes a great egg-substitute for egg-free cooking/baking acting as a binding agent and a great source of healthy fats)3) In a medium sized bowl combine: oats, cinnamon, chopped dates & almonds. Mix well.

4) Once the flax meal has turned gel-like, combine almond butter, coconut oil, vanilla and flax together and stir.

5) Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and using your hands (***awesome kid job here!) mix well until clumps of oats form.

6) Spread in a thin layer on a shallow baking pan and bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want it) - after the first 15 minutes remove from oven and using a spatula shake around the mixture before putting it back into the oven.

**as I mentioned before this isn't meant to be a 'sweet' granola - rather than adding sweetness to the whole bunch, if you really want an extra bit of 'sweet', drizzle a tsp of honey overtop of it once
it's on your yogurt or oatmeal





Calories per 1/3 cup serving: 121; fat 6g; carbs 15g; fibre 3g; protein 4g