Easy, Healthy Granola

This is inspired by my mom’s granola recipe, however, she uses 1-14oz can of condensed milk, so I had to come up with an alternative. There are recipes to make a dairy-free condensed milk using soy milk powder and sugar, but it looked like a bit of work, plus I couldn’t find soy milk powder. So…with the need for sugar and milk in her recipe, I decided to use maple syrup and soy milk. You can also use brown rice syrup as well. Log Cabin makes a nice maple syrup that has no high fructose corn syrup, which I like. This isn’t a super sweet granola, so if you prefer it be sweeter, add 1/4-1/2 C brown sugar to the mix or a tsp of cinnamon, which happens to be rich in antioxidants. Don’t forget, sunflower seeds, walnuts and almonds are a great source of calcium and protein. Plus, wheat germ itself is miracle-working superfood!

Check out the benefits here.

INGREDIENTS:
2 C old fashioned oats
1 C shredded coconut
1/2 C wheat germ
1/2 C chopped almonds
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C sunflower seeds
1 tsp salt
1/4 C maple or brown rice syrup
1/2 C soy milk
1/8 C vegetable oil
1-6oz bag craisins (try orange-flavored craisins–they add just a bit more sweetness)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 300. Combine oats, coconut, wheat germ, nuts and salt. Stir in syrup and soy milk and add oil and mix. Spread evenly on a large greased and foiled pan. Make sure you grease it well, or it’ll “stick something awful,” as my mom said.

Bake until it starts to brown, 45-50 mins. Transfer to a large bowl and add the craisins. Makes about 8 C. Store in an air tight container. Serve over vanilla soy yogurt, soy ice cream, in a bowl with some soy or rice milk, or just snack on it! Try other dried fruit like blueberries, apricots, apples, cherries…you name it! Enjoy!