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Cereal…Why It’s Not As Healthy As You Think…Actually Not Healthy At All

Time to kick off my healthy lifestyle series. I’ll start with something near and dear to me…my beloved cereal 😛  I used to be the cereal queen. I ate it EVERY day for breakfast for years. From college to just a few months ago I’d say there were only a few days I didn’t have cereal for breakfast. And that was either on vacation (and even then I usually had cereal) or if I was too sick. In addition to my daily breakfast I snacked on it pretty much every day. I thought, like most people, that cereal was healthy. Low fat. Lots of vitamins. High fiber (the kind I ate was). But sadly that is not the case.

Cereal is quite unhealthy for multiple reasons.

*The obvious is that some cereals are full of sugar. Especially white processed sugar…which is like an anti-nutrient for your body.

*Then there is the white flour. Again, very processed and hard on your body.

*Most cereals are full of artifical ingredients…colors, sweeteners, flavorings, etc. Anything artifical is foreign to your body and hard to digest…putting more strain on your system.

*All big brand cereals contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Another unnatural ingredient that we don’t know the full effects of. GM foods have not been proven safe to eat. They increase the use of pesticides. I personally choose to avoid them at all costs. I want to know exactly what I’m eating…not some mutated, altered food with hidden ingredients. Corn is one of the  most widely used GM food. And it’s in just about every cereal. For example, take a look at the ingredients in a box of Kix (supposedly a great cereal for kids)…whole grain corn, corn meal, sugar, corn bran, salt, brown sugar syrup, trisodium phosphate, vitamin E (and some other added vitamins). It’s all GM corn and processed sugar. How is that good for a growing child?

*Most cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals. Sounds healthy. But in reality they are synthetic versions that your body can’t really absorb. So they don’t do you much good. Maybe some harm actually.

*Finally, cereal (even the organic “healthy” kind) is toxic. Here is some great information from The Healthy Home Economist:

“To make boxed breakfast cereal in the factory, the grains first have to be subjected to such intense pressure and heat that they actually liquify into a slurry. This slurry allows the grains to be quickly and easily shaped into the puffs, flakes, and other shapes that make each cereal distinct. The manufacturing process used to make boxed cereal is called “extrusion” and it is so violent and denaturing that the proteins in the grains are actually rendered toxic by the process. This is why organic boxed breakfast cereal is more toxic than nonorganic – because organic boxed cereal is whole grain and thereby has more protein in it! The more protein, the more toxic the boxed cereal.”

It saddens me that something so bad for you is marketed as being so healthy…and that so many people (myself included for a long time) buy into it. When in reality it can make you sick and is very hard on your body. It especially saddens me that I ate Fiber One (mixed with various other cereals) almost every single day of my pregnancy with Rebecca. Artifical sweeteners, fake fiber, syntheic vitamins, GMOs, toxic substances. I hope it did not harm her development. I don’t like that cereal is one of the first things most people feed their children…baby cereal, Cheerios, etc. I’ll definitely be taking a different route with any future children. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing all of that cereal had an impact on my digestive issues and my infertility. I wish I would have known sooner how bad it was.

I am happy to say I have not eaten cereal for breakfast for a couple months now. It feels good to be cereal free 🙂  My whole body is thanking me. And I’m glad to start my daughter off on a good path eating real food for breakfast from an early age.

It’s tough to make the switch if you’re a die-hard cereal fan like I was. It’s convenient. It tastes good. But it’s worth it to stop eating it. Honestly, now I think most cereal tastes like fake cardboard. It grosses me out. The skim milk I used to pour on my cereal does too 😛  There are so many other healthy things to eat for breakfast. Here are some of our favorite quick breakfasts. You can make them ahead of time or prep things ahead so breakfast only takes minutes to prepare in the morning.

chewy granola bars
crunchy granola bars
homemade granola
grain free granola
giant breakfast cookies
soaked coffee cake
oatmeal muffins
blueberry muffins
strawberry bread
fresh fruit w/ cream cheese dip
kefir smoothie

Scrambled, fried or hard boiled eggs are always good too.

Enjoy a healthy breakfast every day…that does not include boxed cereal 🙂

Sourdough Granola Muffins

I haven’t used my sourdough in a few weeks, and I’ve been trying to figure out what to make with it before it grew too much. Today I was trying to come up with an easy baking project that my daughter and I could do that would also use up a really ripe banana I had.

I thought sourdough muffins with banana. I’ve done that before in combination with both strawberries and blueberries. But I don’t have fresh berries to use up. So I thought I could do banana chocolate chip muffins.

As I gathered ingredients I also took out an open bag of butterscotch chips. Then my daughter said she wanted to use her “granola bowl” (the bowl she usually uses for “her granola” when we make it together). So I got out a little coconut to put in her bowl (she LOVES coconut).

Then I thought I guess I could add some coconut to our muffins. Then Rebecca came over to help me get out our mixing bowls and grabbed the nut chopper. I thought I guess I could add nuts too. So my muffins evovled into granola muffins!

I LOVE granola. I could eat it every day. So I figured a granola muffin must be good too. And it is!!! So good! My daughter scarfed down a whole one with lunch.

Sourdough Granola Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used sprouted wheat flour…really helps keep them moist)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 – 1/2 cup cane sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups total of granola add-ins (I used raisins, chopped crispy walnuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut.)
1 small very ripe banana, mashed (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl. Stir in granola add-ins. Combine wet ingredients (and mashed banana) in medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ones.

Mix quickly and spoon into muffin cups (I used silicon muffin cups…the muffins popped right out.).

Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes.

Grain Free Granola (dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I’ve been cutting back on grains lately to see how that impacts my gut and my fertility. And I recently came across a recipe on Heartland Renaissance for grain free granola. I just finished off my last batch of granola the other day, so it’s time to restock. It helped that I have crispy pecans, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds on hand. So everything was all set to go. I didn’t follow this recipe completely. I never measure anything when I make granola. And I didn’t heat the oil/sugar. My coconut oil is always liquid these days from the heat 😛  I just chopped the nuts together (instread of separately). Then stirred in seeds, dried fruit, coconut oil and maple syrup. Very quick prep! The verdict…awesome! It’s actually better than the versions I’ve been making lately with soaked/dried oats. I’ll just have to remember not to eat too much at once now so I don’t go totally overboard on nuts in one sitting 😛

*Edited 4/7/11 – I tried making an unbaked version of this today. Worked great!! I keep the granola in the fridge, and it’s always hard anyway from the coconut oil. So I figured it wouldn’t change much if I didn’t bake it. I was right. Plus it makes less mess (no pan to clean up) and makes sure you’re not doing any harm to the wonderful crispy nuts 🙂  I only used honey to sweeten it today to make it GAPS legal. I’ll add to the recipe below to reflect this update.

This post is linked to Wheatless Wednesday at Naturally Knocked Up.
This post is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers.
This post is linked to Grain Free Tuesdays at Hella Delicious.

Grain Free Granola

2 cups almonds (I used a combo of crispy almonds, walnuts and pecans)
2 cups walnuts
1 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1 cup dried fruit of your choice, chopped into bite size pieces (I used a mix of homemade dried fruit – strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, cherries and raisins.)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup sesame seeds, optional (I didn’t add these.)
1/2 stick butter or coconut oil or combination of both (I have used both. A combo works very well)
1/2 cup brown cane sugar, sucanat, muscovado sugar, honey or maple syrup (I have used maple syrup and honey. A combo of sweeteners works well.)
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla (I didn’t add this, but it would be good)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a food processor, place the 2 cups of almonds and pulse a few times until they are chopped up. Some pieces will be much finer than others, which is what you want. Those little, fine pieces will remind you more of what granola is supposed to feel like (i.e. mimics a cereal grain in texture) while the big chunks are welcome as well. Pour almonds into a large mixing bowl. Do the same thing with the walnuts. (I did all the nuts at the same time.) Add the remaining seeds, fruit and coconut to the bowl and mix well.

In the meantime, combine butter/oil, sugar and honey over heat until combined. Take off heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour the hot liquid into the nut mixture and stir well until evenly combined and all pieces are coated.

Pour the granola out onto a greased (I use silpat), walled cookie sheet and spread out to an even layer. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until you can smell the nuts roasting. When done, remove and allow to briefly cool on the cookie sheet before decanting into your preferred storage jar while still warm, taking care not to allow it to cool completely on the cookie sheet as it can stick.

GAPS-legal Granola (modified, unbaked version)

4 cups any combination of crispy nuts (I have used walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts and peanuts)
1 cup crispy pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1 cup dried fruit of your choice, chopped into bite size pieces or raisins
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 – 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter or combination of both (dairy free w/o butter)
1/2 cup honey

In a food processor, place the nuts and pulse a few times until they are chopped up. Some pieces will be much finer than others, which is what you want. Those little, fine pieces will remind you more of what granola is supposed to feel like (i.e. mimics a cereal grain in texture) while the big chunks are welcome as well. Pour  into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining seeds, fruit and coconut to the bowl and mix well.
In the meantime, combine butter/oil and honey over heat until combined.
Pour the hot liquid into the nut mixture and stir well until evenly combined and all pieces are coated.

Scoop granola into glass jars and let cool. Store in the refrigerator or freezer (for long term storage). Serve right from the fridge or let sit at room temp for a bit to soften. Serve in yogurt/kefir, with milk or plain.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

I’m trying to use up the perishable food in our fridge before we leave for vacation. And that includes some plain yogurt. Yesterday morning I made a batch of blueberry sourdough muffins. And Justin asked if I was going to make “regular” blueberry muffins. So I did a search for blueberry muffins that use yogurt and found a great recipe from Simply Recipes. I used whole wheat flour instead of AP. They turned out great! So moist. Rebecca and I had one yesterday morning after baking them…even though we had just had some of the sourdough muffins 😉  A great recipe. A great way to use fresh blueberries. And a great way to use up plain yogurt. I’m assuming the original recipe intends you to use fat free or low fat. I use whole 🙂  The original recipe says it makes 12-16 muffins. I got 22 regular size muffins out of this…filling each muffin cup to the top. Some crispy walnuts would be really good in these. You could also add a cinnamon-sugar topping if you like a really sweet muffin.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
makes 18 – 22 muffins

3 cups flour (I used whole wheat. You can use all purpose.)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
10 Tbsp. butter, softened (this was impromptu baking, so my butter was cold. I had to warm the butter on the stove. It was partly melted, partly soft. Still worked fine.)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (This isn’t in the original recipe, but I added it to mine.)
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I used whole)
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 Tbsp. flour (if using frozen blueberries)

Heat oven to 375. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In large bowl cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in lemon zest (and vanilla). Add flour mixture and yogurt alternately, 1/3 at a time, beating after each addition, just until blended. Do not over mix. Fold in berries (if using frozen, defrost, drain, and coat with a light dusting of flour.)

Pour batter into greased muffin pan or muffin cups. Bake 25-30 min., until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 5 min. and remove from pan.

Kishk

Nourishing Traditions uses kishk in multiple recipes. And it is the only cold cereal it recommends. Plus it’s an alternative to my soaked/dried oats that I use for granola. So I thought I’d give it a try. You are supposed to make it with bulgur or cracked wheat. I made bulgur…flour. I forgot to do a course grind after I sprouted and dried my wheat. I did a fine grind as always. But I used it anyway. This tastes pretty much the same as soaked/dried oats. It has a pretty strong sour taste from the yogurt. I don’t know that I could eat this plain with milk on it. But I am excited to try using it to make granola. And I hope to try it again using both bulgur and cracked wheat. See how it turns out. It will probably just change the texture a bit. This is quite hard. My food processor had a tough time breaking it up. But at least it does’t break your teeth 😛  And making granola with it (all the liquid) will help soften it a bit too I think.

Just a side note that you need to oil your pan VERY well. I used EVOO spread over the whole pan. But I didn’t use parchment paper…I should have. This really stuck to the pan.

I only made a half recipe to try it out.

Here is what NT has to say about kishk:
“This fermented dish comes from the Middle East. It is traditionally added to soups but can also be eaten with milk or cream as a cold breakfast cereal. In fact, it is the only cold breakfast cereal that we can recommend.”

Kishk
Makes 1 quart

4 cups cracked wheat or bulgur
4 cups yogurt

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and soak at room temp for 24 hours in a dark place. Spread as thinly as possible on oiled cookie sheet and bake at 150 degrees until dry. Place in batches in food processor and pulse until coursely crumbled. Do not overprocess. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

My husband is a big fan of english muffins, but I stopped buying them a while ago since they aren’t healthy. Since then I’ve been looking for good recipes for healthy english muffins. I’ve made a couple kinds in the past. One turned out very well…but it was made with white flour.

A couple weeks ago when I was searching for new sourdough recipes I found a lot of sourdough english muffin recipes. I’d never thought of that. So I did a search for whole wheat sourdough english muffins. And the first good one I came across was from GNOWFGLINS. I tried it yesterday. The verdict…awesome!!!

My daughter and I shared one with dinner last night, and we had them for breakfast this morning. Yum!! If you don’t like sourdough, you won’t like these. But if you do (like I do…can’t believe how much I love it now), you will definitely like these. And they are quite simple to make.

When I first read the directions it seemed like a long process. But really each step goes very quickly. The first day you just mix a few ingredients together. The second day you add a few more ingredients, shape the muffins, let them rest a bit and cook them. Not much hands on time at all. 

This is a keeper recipe for sure! They are light and moist. Perfect. I used bulgur flour for this batch. Any flour will do…and will produce a slightly different texture. I also added a little ground flax seed. And I used kefir for my liquid…made them even healthier! If you’re looking for a way to use your sourdough starter (or use up some kefir :), give these a try!

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

1/2 cup sourdough starter (thick or thin)
1 cup liquid (water*, milk, fermented dairy, coconut milk…)
2 cups flour (your choice – bulgur flour, splet, kamut, einkorn, whole wheat)
Add-ins like seeds, dried fruit, or chopped nuts
1 Tbsp. raw honey (or any other sweetener)
3/4 to 1 tsp. sea salt of choice
1 tsp. baking soda

*Note: The English muffins will turn out if you use water instead of full fat or fermented dairy and if you add more flour initially for easier kneading. However, the results will not be as soft on the outside or as tender on the inside once you’ve finished the cooking.

Day 1:

Place 1/2 cup sourdough starter (thick or thin) into a medium size bowl. Pour onto that the 1 cup of liquid. This is the first place where the recipe is very flexible. Your liquid could be water, milk, any fermented dairy, coconut milk… Stir to combine starter and liquid. If your sourdough starter is very stiff, you might need an extra 1/4 cup of liquid.

Once combined, add 2 cups of flour to the mixture. This is the second place where the recipe is very flexible. Use any combination of flours. Stir well to combine. Along with the flour, I often add in a couple Tbsp. of ground flax seed or poppy and caraway seeds (when I make delicious rye sourdough english muffins). The soaking affects the seeds as well as the flour. So, great! Cover and let your dough sit overnight, even up to 24 hours.
 
Day 2:
 
On top of your soaked dough, sprinkle 1 tsp. unrefined sea salt, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1 Tbsp. honey. Use a wooden spoon to push/cut/stir in your newly added ingredients. Don’t worry about incorporating it perfectly; you will be kneading it in just a moment.

This next part of the directions might feel a little strange, because you are kneading something that could be quite wet. Pour about 1 tablespoon of olive oil onto the counter and spread it around with your hand and then rub hands together. Dump out the dough onto the oiled spot and knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes. The purpose of this kneading is to incorporate the honey, baking soda, and salt. After this, take a pizza cutter and separate the dough into 8 equal portions. (Be sure you use plenty of oil…the dough is wet and sticky.)

The dough is quite wet. At this time, it is helpful to dust hands with flour before shaping each muffin. You might prefer to use all-purpose flour for this dusting, or sprouted flour where the sprouting has done the work of soaking.

With dusted hands, pick up a portion and gently shape it into your muffin – about 1 finger thick and maybe 2-1/2 inches wide. Size and shape are not important here. Place your muffins on a lightly floured or cornmealed (greased might work if you want to stay away from newly added flour) sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

About 5 minutes before you want to griddle/skillet your muffins, set the heat to medium. You don’t want the muffins to brown too quickly because the insides need a chance to cook. You do not need to grease the skillet/griddle.

Carefully transfer the muffins onto your heat source. Cook the muffins for about five minutes on each side. You can take a little peek every now and again to make sure the bottoms are not getting too brown. When it is time to flip, do this carefully. Your muffins will plump up beautifully, and you do not want to deflate them by being too rough. Cook for the second five minutes. Now, if you find that the outside edge of your muffin is not as done as you like, feel free to pop these into a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.

They last for at least a week in a sealed container on the counter. They also freeze beautifully. Might want to slice them first. And it most definitely works to double or triple the recipe.

Strawberry Banana Sourdough Muffins

It’s strawberry season, and we have a bunch in the fridge. And my sourdough starter is getting big. So I figured I’d use them up together. While searching for sourdough muffin recipes I mostly found recipe for blueberry muffins. And most of them are very similar. So I just picked one as my base. Then I used strawberries and bananas (I have some bananas to use up too) instead of blueberries. Any berry would work. I bet diced apples would even be good. I made these yesterday morning for breakfast. Yum!!! Very good. All 3 of us really like them. They taste great warm with a healthy spread of butter 🙂  Butter and sourdough are such a great match. These are mildly sweet and still have a hint of the sourdough flavor. I used the recipe from Sourdough Home. I’ll post the original recipe and add my adjustments. This said it made 6 muffins, so I doubled the recipe…and got 21 muffins! I filled the muffin cups to the top too. Maybe it makes 6 jumbo muffins. I fed my sourdough starter the night before and let it sit on the counter so it was ready in the morning. I don’t know if this step is necessary, but most recipes suggest it (although this one didn’t). Some chopped crispy walnuts would be really good in these.

*Edited 8/5/10 – I made another batch of these today with a little mashed banana and some blueberries. So good!!! And more moist than with the strawberries. I used about 1 cup of berries instead of 1/2 cup. I got 12 muffins out of it.

Strawberry Banana Sourdough Muffins
make 10-12 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup sugar or fructose (You can double this if you want them sweeter. For a double batch I used 3/4 cups…worked well.)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
1 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup blueberries (I added diced strawberries. I also added some mashed banana and some small banana chunks.) (I think they’re better with 1 cup of berries…blueberries work very well.)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl. Stir in blueberries (strawberries and banana chunks). Combine wet ingredients (and mashed banana) in medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ones.

Mix quickly and spoon into muffin cups (I used silicon muffin cups…the muffins popped right out.).

Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes.

Strawberry Shortcake

I’ve never really been a fan of strawberry shortcake. I don’t like biscuit-type things or the sponge cake kind either. And I don’t like whipped cream. So that leaves the strawberries 😛  And that is what I would eat growing up when my mom made it…just the sweetened strawberries (sometimes on ice cream) while everyone else ate the shortcake. It’s strawberry season right now. And I decided I’d try making shortcake…never have before. Laura on Heavenly Homemakers posted a simple, healthy recipe the other day…that looked good to me…because it’s not a biscuit or a sponge 😛  Rebecca and I made it yesterday. So easy! And really good. It is very mildly sweet. And goes really well with strawberries. I still have mine with ice cream instead of whipped cream, but at least this time I actually ate the shortcake 🙂  All 3 of us love it. Of course Rebecca is a girl after my own heart…I got her a little dish…but she wouldn’t eat it until I added ice cream and chocolate 😛

Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (I use some freshly ground sprouted whole wheat and some freshly ground whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup oil (I use coconut oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (I used my mild kefir)

4-5 cups of fresh, sliced strawberries (I gave it to Rebecca with fresh strawberries. I mashed some strawberries with cane sugar for ours 🙂  It’s good both ways.)

Whipped cream (fresh cream whipped to form soft peaks, with a bit of stevia added for sweetness) (Justin had readi-whip on his…have some on hand to use up from a dessert I made for church last week. I had ice cream on mine.)
—————————-
Mix together flour and baking powder. Add in eggs, honey, oil, vanilla and milk. Stir well (or mix well with hand mixer). Pour into a well buttered 8×8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes (Mine took about 30 minutes).

Allow cake to cool completely. Top with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. (9 servings)

Sourdough Pancakes

Now that I have a sourdough starter I’m trying to find ways to use it. This morning I made sourdough pancakes for breakfast. YUM!!! They were so good. And so easy. I served them with real butter and local maple syrup and a sprinkling of crispy walnuts. What a great way to start the day. I’ll be making these again for sure. And I’ve got a few in the freezer now. I got 10 pancakes out of 1 batch. In addition to tasting good it is fun to make these pancakes…to watch them come alive as you mix the batter and add the baking soda. Very cool. I got the recipe from Naturally Knocked Up.

Sourdough Pancakes
makes ~ 10 pancakes

2 cups sourdough starter
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (or equivalent sweetener) (I used honey because it was convenient)
1 beaten egg
3 Tbsp. coconut oil (or melted butter)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. water

The night before:
Start by feeding and setting your starter out the night before (make sure you have at least 3 cups starter). You want it at room temp in the morning.

In the morning:
Preheat pan to a medium heat. Mix the baking soda in the water and set aside. Mix starter, egg, oil, and salt until well combined. Add water mixture right before your ready to place on pan and stir gently.

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake (I did about 1/3 cup). Cook until the bottom is a nice golden brown and the bubbles have popped on top (watch for the popping and the holes staying open).

Flip, cook a bit more, top with butter and syrup (or nuts, fresh fruit, or fruit topping), and enjoy!

Kishk Granola

This morning I made a new batch of granola. Last week I made a batch of soaked granola. I made it the same way I always make granola. But it got a bit overdone. Today I decided to try a “raw” granola…meaning unbaked. I got this recipe from Nourishing Traditions. The main ingredient is kishk (a fermented dish made with cracked wheat that is soaked and dried). I substituted my soaked and dried oats. I also added some flax seed and a few sunflower seeds. It’s kind of strange to just have it all mixed together unbaked, kind of loose. We’ll see how it works. I’ll try some later today. I only made a small batch to try it out. I think my next experiment will be somwhere inbetween…only bake it for 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe that will be the perfect balance. It will hold together, but not be overdone.

 

Kishk Granola
Makes 6 cups

4 cups kishk (I used soaked oats) (this can be gluten free if you use gf oats)
1 cup crispy pecans, almonds or cashews, chopped (I used pecans and walnuts…if using walnuts be sure to store the granola in the refrigerator since walnuts can easily get rancid)
1 cup dried sweetened coconut meat (I just used some organic, unsweetened coconut flakes and added a little extra sugar to compensate)
1 cup dried fruit (I used raisins)
1/2 cup Rapadura (I used organic cane sugar)

Mix all ingredients together. Store in zip-lock bags or airtight containers in refrigerator. Eat like granola with milk or cream.

This cereal will actually keep well for several weeks at room temp and is a good provision to take when one is traveling and wants to avoid hotel breakfasts.