I had some spare time today, so I made granola. Inspired by this Deliciously Ella recipe – I did a freebird classic and was characteristically slapdash about the whole thing.

Although it did need stirring fairly consistently – it wasn’t too much faff, and as I was putzing around in the kitchen anyway it was fine to keep popping in and out of the oven. Plus, as an added bonus, my house smells like actual heaven. Seriously. I might start making granola candles. (That would be flammable AF. Don’t try that.)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups oats (whatever kind you have)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa (not strictly necessary)
• 2 generous handfuls of nuts
• ½ cup of ground linseeds
• ½ cup of pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup desiccated coconut 
• ½ cup of sunflower seeds (any seed will do – chia, flax, sesame – you do you)
• ½ cup coconut oil
• ½ cup date syrup (or maple syrup… or I imagine honey would be fine too)
• Juice + zest of half an orange
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg

Method:

• Preheat the oven to about 160C.
• Melt oil and syrup together in a big pan with the orange juice.
• Chuck in the oats and quinoa (if using), with the spices and mix it all up.
• Bash up the nuts in a blender or pestle and mortar.
• Add the nuts, coconut and seeds to the pan and stir.
• Spread on a baking sheet (easier if you line with paper or foil) and put in the oven for 45 minutes, being sure to stir every 5 minutes so the edges don’t get too crunchy.
• Allow to cool completely before you put it in a jar otherwise it’ll go limp and horrible.
• Serve with berries and a dollop of yoghurt, or on top of your smoothie to post on the ‘gram.