So...

If you knew me, you would know how strange a blog about healthy eating is for me. I have the diet of a four year old. No, seriously!! I could live on goldfish crackers, string cheese and juice boxes. Now, my waist line is...who am I kidding, I have extra fat to take off for years. Over the past twelve months, a friend has begun to show me that paleo is not as scary as I thought, as bland as I imagined or as constricting as my corset collection (more on that later...if you're lucky).

So, I thought I would start with a recipe that I made over the weekend to go with my yogurt (I KNOW! - not totally paleo, but also amazing with coconut milk)

Paleo Granola 1 cup almonds
1 cup Pepitas (pumpkins seeds)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup cashews
1 cup dried apple bits
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cups large cococut flakes
1/2 cup honey (I use local raw honey)
1 tsp cinnamon (more or less is personal)
2 tsp vanilla extract (again personal)
1/4 c water

1. preheat oven at 350
2. add coconut to food proocessor and pulse a couple of times till it looks a little mealy and remove and set aside
3. add almonds and pumpkin seeds and pulse to break up a bit
4. add coconut and all previous ingredients togehter and toss to mix
5. in seperate bowl add vanilla, cinnamon, salt, honey and water and mix.
6. pour over nut mixture and coat well then spread out onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper - all nice and even
7. bake for 15 minutes and then CAREFULLY stir and even back out - stir again after 10 minutes. They may or may not need another 10 minutes. I find my time varies between 30 & 40 minutes for the mixture to get a nice golden color
8. Remove from oven and with a spatula, press the mixture down into the pan. let cool for 10 min on a rack. It should handlable now, and getting hard. Break into large granola-y clumps allow to completely cool and then store in airtight bag or cannister.

Enjoy!

PS...Over the next couple of weeks, I will TRY to get pictures to make it all prettier :) This really was a spur of the moment thing so I dont have pictures of the granola being made