It started last week when my husband mentioned that he'd been craving cereal. I took it upon myself to create cereal that is a) nutritious, b) did not contain too much sugar as most cereals do, c) was tasty - my husband is someone who has a rather big sweet tooth and, d) did not have any preservatives or additives as a lot of regular cereals that are bought today do. Since granola isn't too hard to make, we started there. We started off with two batches, one I mistakenly pressed down on the baking sheet and turned into granola bars and the other turned into really good cereal! In a week both the cereal and the bars have disappeared rather quickly and another two batches have already been made.

With the start of school quickly approaching, this is a recipe that can be make for cereal or for a great, healthy snack for the whole household.

Nutty Seedy Granola & Granola bars

2 cups of oats
1/2 cup of raw almonds
1/2 cup of raw walnuts (mash nuts into pieces using a mortar and pestle if possible, I found it worked best, better than a food processor)
1/2 cup of chopped dates (give or take to your taste)
1/2 cup of flaked coconut
1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
2 tbsp of flax seeds
2 tbsp of sesame seeds
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1/4 tsp of nutmeg

3/4 cup of coconut oil
3/4 cup of raw honey
1/2 cup of nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew etc)
1 tsp of vanilla essence or 1 inch of a vanilla pod

Nutty Seedy Granola Directions:
Mix all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

In a pan on a low heat, add the wet ingredients and stir slowly until you have a sweet nutty smelling sauce and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Pour sauce over the dry ingredients and mix making sure all oats, seeds and nuts are covered in sauce.

On a parchment lined baking sheet, pour out your mixture and do not press down, just make sure that the mixture is evenly spread over the baking sheet.

Place in a preheated oven at 300 degrees and roast for 20 minutes, checking midway to turn over the mixture. Once 20 minutes has passed, remove baking sheet from the oven and leave the granola to cool, again, turning over so that all of the mixture dries through properly. Store in an air tight container and eat with some home made almond milk.

Nutty Seedy Granola Bar Directions:
Mix all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. In a pan on a low heat, add the wet ingredients and stir slowly until you have a sweet nutty smelling sauce and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Pour sauce over the dry ingredients and mix making sure all oats, seeds and nuts are covered in sauce. On a parchment lined baking sheet, pour out your mixture and press down with the back of a spoon. You'll want to make sure that the granola is spread evenly across the pan.

Place in a preheated oven at 300 degrees and cook for 20 minutes, checking often so as to not burn the granola. After the cooking time, take the granola out of the oven and allow to cool a little before placing in the fridge to cool. I transfer the parchment paper onto a plate first but that's not totally necessary if you have fridge space.

Cool for half an hour to an hour.

Once the bars have set, remove from the fridge and chop into bars or squares and enjoy!

Store them in the fridge although these won't last long. Be prepared to be making another batch within the week, even less if you're sharing them with family and friends! These bars are a wonderful snack that everyone can enjoy.