I haven’t had a lot of time lately for posting things but this needs to be posted. I’ve been flat out with study, and being mum and wife. My husband and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary, he surprised me with a weekend away. All three Lord of the Rings…extended versions of course, wine, massage, sitting down for extended periods of time…BLISS! A mini retreat from our hectic but loveable life.

I have been wanting to experiment with some paleo granola as an another alternative to eggs in the morning. I have best intentions to cook breakfasts, but its just too hard most of the time. Some mornings work better than others, but we need some good healthy nutrition laden alternatives for breakfast. My other alternative is this: Sweet pumpkin breakfast frittata. Which is also delicious and easy.

I should mention this… If you are after precision cooking, this isn’t really the place to be…I rarely make anything the same twice, but this is a way for me to try and document some of my experiments. My cooking and sharing of recipes reflects my life desire to redesign, reconfigure, change things up, and be creative. I want people to take essence of my recipes and find how they work best for them. I like it when people can work things out for themselves, and find happiness in doing so!

So without further ado…This recipe makes a pretty big batch, and I didn’t really measure my things, this is an estimate of what went into it 🙂

Apple & Ginger Granola

500g nuts – I used a mixed bag of brasil, macadamia, hazelnut, almonds, cashews
about a cup of chopped dried apple
30g crystalised ginger (this depends how spiced you’d like it, just put in what you’d like)
handfuls of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas
about a cup of sultanas
3/4 c dessicated coconut
1/2 c organic coconut oil
1/2 c honey
1 tsp himalayan salt
sprinklings of mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg)

Put half of your nuts, crystalised ginger, and apple in the food processor. Blitz it all up until its somewhere between finely and roughly chopped. Pour the mixture out onto an oven tray. (Make sure your tray has sides on it. Makes it easier for stirring it.)

Put in the remainder of your nuts (you can either chop them roughly by hand, or leave them whole) and sultanas. Sprinkle on your seeds, coconut, mixed spice, and salt.

Melt your coconut oil and honey in a small pot, and pour all over the mixture, stir it around and make sure everything is coated.

Cook in a moderate oven for about 15 mins, stirring 2 – 3 times, or until you see a bit of toasty colour.

The idea is to get some varied texture with the different sizes of nuts and fruit, and the salt is actually what makes this so delicious. The sweetness of the coconut and honey offset with that saltiness is soooo good. Its like healthy salted caramel flavour. I keep this in a big container in the fridge, and eat for breakfast or just a snack. YUM. Enjoy!