Homemade Tropical Granola

Let’s make a basic breakfast not basic. Let’s give granola an island twist. Let’s check off both boxes with homemade tropical granola.

In reading up on what the amiable folks of the Marshall Islands eat, it was apparent that they like food, and eat three square meals a day. My kind of people, clearly. However, in all of my internet readings, I simply could not find a definitive source on what they eat for breakfast.

Breakfast! My favorite favorite meal of the day. Seriously, I wake up every day and look forward to it, even though 5/7 of the week I eat the exact same thing, and only change from a winter to summer version as the weather turns.

Anyway, all I could find about Marshall Islands’ breakfasts is that the Marshallese enjoy cereal and coffee. Lovely. What was I going to do, take a picture of a box of Cheerios and call it a day? Didn’t think so.

The solution? Make my own cereal!

While I did find a very intriguing recipe on how to make homemade Rice Krispies using ginger ale, I figured I’d play it a bit safer and make my own granola, adding a few island-ish twists of my own.

If you’ve never tried your hand at homemade granola, you should. It’s ridiculous easy, and ridiculously good. And definitely cheaper than buying it already made at the store.

I took half of my batch to work figuring it’d be easier it leave it there than to do a daily transport, and I found myself unconsciously reaching for the jar all day. It’s almost gone. Make at your own risk.

Recipe adapted from 100 Days of Real Food

June 30, 2013

Servings: 32

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 1 hr 15 min

Total: 1 hr 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Easy homemade tropical granola is full of nuts, seeds and dried fruit and is a healthier, cheaper alternative than buying in the store.

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

3½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup raw sliced almonds
1 cup raw cashew pieces
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup diced dried mango or bananas
½ cup raw sunflower seeds
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
½ cup whole flax seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
4 TB coconut cream
½ cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover two rectangular baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2 Mix the dry oats, almonds, cashews, coconut, mango, banana, seeds and spices together in a large mixing bowl.
Step 3 Heat the coconut cream and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the cream melts stir in the vanilla and salt.
Step 4 Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.