Sunday, July 22, 2012

Oat Free Granola Two ways


My Dear Old Dad has recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He has found gluten free cookies he likes, dinners that fill him up, and a few good breads. But breakfast is still a problem. Many Celiacs are sensitive to oats too which limits cereal options even more. For a hearty cereal lovin' man, Rice Chex just wont cut it. I decided to make oat free, gluten free granola. I was a bit skeptical a decent granola could be made without oats, so I made two recipes. Just in case.

 My first stop for grain free recipes is always the Spunky Coconut. The author, Kelly, is Celiac and writes grain free, dairy free, refined sugar free recipes. She has some super delicious looking baked goods (and donuts which I'm going to try) on her site and granola. I love how each she explains the reason behind choosing the ingredients she uses. You really get an education in food when making her recipes.

This granola was fantastic! After blending a slurry of wet ingredients, I mixed in the nuts and spread it all on the racks of my dehydrator. I used the tray liners to make life easier. I was doubtful that the mush would turn into something crunchy.


But, a little over 24 hours later we had delicious crunchy granola. And the house smelled fantastic! Kelly used strawberries and I used blueberries. Other than that I didn't make any changes. If you like a subtly sweet, clumpy, crunchy granola you'll be thrilled with this recipe.


The second recipe was from a site I'd never been to before. The author is battling cancer and using her food choices to help heal her body. Her recipe called Rice and Spice Granola sounded perfect for my dad and very different from Kelly's. Anna's recipe calls for nuts and seeds mixed with oil, agave, and lots of spices (I loved the nutmeg) then baked for an hour. The nuts toasted, spice flavor warmed, and it turned a nice 'granolaish' brown. This granola didn't clump and wasn't easy to eat as a snack.

  But in almond milk with fruit on top... delicious.



If you love granola, you'll love either one of these recipes. For snacking try Kelly's for delicious 'toasty-ness' try Anna's.

Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment