Healthy Homemade Granola

I absolutely love LOVE granola. I could eat it all day, err'day... either on its own or drenched in some vanilla almond milk (I guess regular milk is okay, too..). BUT. I've been faced with a granola roadbump - SUGAR. It seems like all store-bought granola brands absolutely LOAD UP on the stuff. Well, that's not okay with me! So I've decided to boycott these sugar fiends and create my own granola! Muahahaha!

So here are my secrets.

Ingredients:

- 6 cups oats

- 2 cups nuts*

- 1 cup seeds*

- 1/3 cup flax seeds

- 2 cups applesauce

- 1/3 cup honey

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- 1 tbsp ginger

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 mashed banana

Whahcya gotta do:

- set the oven to 300°

- mix your dry stuff

- mix your wet stuff

- mix all the stuffs together!

- add in the nuts/seeds

- mix as evenly as possible. It won't be super moist at all, but that's okay.

- spread everything on a cookie sheet

- bake for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 mins or so.

- if you want it crunchy (like me), bake it a bit longer on a lower heat (try 250°), then let it sit in the turned-off oven.

Before baking

After baking... nice 'n crunchy!

Approximate nutrition for a quarter cup:

125 calories
4.25 g of fat (from the nuts/seeds and oats)
18 g of carbs (from the oats, bananas, nuts, and honey)
3.5 g of protein (from the nuts/seeds and oats)

A very healthy alternative to store bought granolas that tend to add in mass amounts of unnecessary sugar! This all natural alternative not only TASTES amazing, but you can also eat it guiltlessly :)

So add it to yogurt, milk, or mixed berries. Or - if you're anything like me - just eat it by itself!

Enjoy! :)