Grain Free Granola

[SimoneS]

This is also posted in the almond milk pulp thread, but I wanted to re-post it in it's own, since people looking for granola recipes wouldn't necessarily look there...

I think I just discovered my favorite thing to do with the nut milk leftovers- Grain free granola! I'm about 90% gluten free, and I also try to keep my grain intake low, but LOVE cereal as a snack and with yogurt for breakfast.

(I apologize for being awful at timing things.... )

I've been making my nut milk with about 1/2 C ea almonds and cashews, 1/2 C shredded coconut, 3T sesame seeds and 1T flax seeds.  It's delicious.

I then put the pulp in the oven at 250 until it was dry (you can forget about it for a while- it takes some time, maybe a couple hours) and then mixed it with 2T ea coconut oil and maple syrup and 1t vanilla extract.  (melted gently in a pan, mixed well)  I also added more almonds, for some interesting texture. You can put just about anything in there- it's granola!  I put it back in the oven at 325, stirring often, until it was golden brown and toasty.  I'm not sure exactly how long I left it in there, I pretty much checked it obsessively until it was done.

I immediately had it with the nut milk I had just made, and it was fabuloso.  I also love how it feels like FREE granola, because I made it out of something that was the by-product, so to speak, of making something else  

[Marlina E]

Thanks for culling this out, what an awesome recipe!

[SimoneS]

Thanks! I'm pretty excited about it...  Once I'm done doing this cleanse I'm doing I'm going to experiment with different flavors/additions.  In the meantime, I'm collecting a giant jar of dehydrated nut milk leftovers   (I wish there was a more appealing name for whatever that is) 

[celinel226]

Sounds like a great recipe, and I love how you're using the nut pulp leftovers!
I've been happily experimenting with raw granola and love it!  I think that you could use the nut pulp leftovers in a similar way but dehydrate them to preserve the enzymes... just an idea

for my raw granola, i sprout (soak overnight) and rinse 1/2 cup almond, 1 cup sunflower seeds, and 1 cup buckwheat. I food process this and mix in about 1/2 coconut shreds, raisins, and anything else I like (fruit), and dehydrate at 115... about 12 hours or so...

I imagine using your nut pulp leftovers, mixing in fruit, maybe coconut oil, etc, spreading and dehydrating would work well.  honey is a nice binder and sweetener as well.  these might make good snack bars as well...

love to hear more about your granola!

[SimoneS]

Yours sounds great too!  I'd love to try it.

I totally would experiment with making it raw if I had a dehydrator... Can't justify taking up the counter space at this moment.  (I'm a chef first, nutrition educator second)  When I have my very own commercial kitchen, a dehydrator will be in there for sure    

I am however experimenting with different flavors, and will update if I discover anything worth noting! 

[Elizabeth]

This is a great idea.

I do the same with the nut pulp, but instead of using it as granola I put it in the food processor, grind it to flour, and then use it to make almond/zucchini bread.

Just another way to use all of the nut!

Cheers,
Elizabeth