Coconut Granola...NUTRITIOUS, not healthy.

Sister, oh dear sister. Asking me the other day, she was, about healthy snack ideas, because she is a grazer and is bored of fruit and nuts and dried fruit and stuff. But when she said healthy, she meant that weird version of healthy that means just fruit and nuts. When I mentioned cheese, WoooW, you’d think I’d told her to go and down a whole fondue. And then, AND THEN, The bloomin’ One Show (yesyes I watch it ironiiicallly) had a feature this week all about how much sugar is in the drinks we buy and WHAT? Fruit juice and smoothies have loads of sugar in them? WHAT? Implying that we should only evER eat fruit and drink water.

Helllllooooo. Have we forgotten that, hold the front page, we need calories to survive, and, WHAT? fruit juice has sugar in because fruit has sugar in? NEVER? Yes, sugar and vitamins and good stuff. Take a look at my 'in regular rotation' smoothie recipe and you tell me not to make them because they’re bad for me (I warn you, don’t actually do that, it will not go down well). And cheese? Yes cheese has fat, but I’m a girl, and a veggie and I need lots of calcium and protein thank you very much and cheese is full o’ the stuff. 

Yesyes, I go along with the whole, we should probably remember how much sugar is in Coke because it is a lot so we shouldn't drink Coke and Coke alone, and I know that this isn't exactly a place that preaches the gospel of celery. But come ON, we need to be clever about this eating thing if we aren’t all going to be the size of houses in 50 years time. Telling people to only eat fruit and drink water is not clever.

I think of it like this...healthy doesn't really mean anything when you’re only talking about one aspect of life. Yesyes my dessert habit? Not so healthy. But hang on, I make ALL my food from scratch, I make it mindfully, and it is NUTRITIOUS...plus, I work HARD at being a fitty because I know how to make myself love it. It doesn't mean I never have to go to the doctor, or that I won't get hit by a bus tomorrow, but it does mean that my life is HEALTHY and I am happy. So here’s a NUTRITIOUS snack for you to munch on you big grazer you. Yes there’s sugar, but, errm we neeeeeeeeed sOMe sugar, and heck, there’s a whole lot of other good stuff in there as well. Don’t you tell me smoothies are bad. With Love and Cake.

Coconut Granola.

A result of fiddling with this recipe

A few notes:

• I am stating the recipe in cup measures, because, to be honest, I couldn't quite be bothered with playing with conversion charts and transferring to grams; it's the sort of recipe that doesn't warrant that. Don't worry if your don't have an exact cup measure just use a small coffee or tea cup, a bit bigger than espresso size, and you'll keep the proportions near enough perfect. 
• As with most granola recipes, you can chop and change as you feel like it. Want to use all the same nut? Go ahead. Want to leave out the spices? Feel free. Stir in dried fruit at the end...use other grains....you make it tasty for you.
• I managed to find some dessicated coconut that was quite moist, if your's is more dry and sandy, have a look at this little tip from the folk at nigella.com.

Make 1 large jar

You will need

1 x baking sheet, greased

2 cups oats

3/4 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1 cup mixed whole nuts

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

4 tbsp flavourless oil, like groundnut or sunflower

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

• First, preheat the oven to 160°c.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
• Add all the other ingredients and mix so everything is really well combined.
• Lay out the mixture on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
• Use a big metal spoon to turn the mixture over and mix it up a bit.
• Pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so; you want it bronzed all over.
• Once out the oven, leave to cool completely on the tray, before putting the spoon through it again and breaking it up into clusters.
• Store in a jar and add to it what you will....this morning I had it with almond milk and grapes.