Real Food Recipe: Grain-free Raw Granola

I admit, this recipe was born out of a faux pas of mine.  At our One Day Intensive, I misunderstood the prep instructions and thought our guest, Csilla, who did our healthy breakfast and lunch demos, would be making Grain-free granola while we looked on. I failed to realize that her recipe called for an oven.  Thanks to my experience in the kitchen as well as with raw granolas, I quickly whipped up this recipe off the top of my head with the ingredients I had on hand. Fortunately, I'm pretty good under pressure and everyone loved it. Unfortunately, and to my amusement, everyone loved it so much, they wanted the recipe! So after spending some time in my own personal "test kitchen" today, I have recreated the recipe and can share it with you! 

Keep in mind a couple of important points with this recipe:

• Feel free to get creative! This recipe is easily altered based on your tastes and preferences.
• Make sure the nuts you use are fresh and not rancid. If they taste bad, they probably are and will be bitter.  Go for bulk bins or small bags and taste one before adding them to your batch!
• All of these ingredients were purchased at Wegman's.  Look for them. They're there. 
• Add ingredients in order listed and stir as you go.
• Buy organic when possible.

Grain-free Raw Granola

2 cups raw sliced almonds

1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup chia seeds

1/4 cup raw sesame seeds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup walnut pieces (I broke walnut halves into smaller pieces with my fingers)

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 cup chopped organic medjool dates (I chopped whole dates with pits for the best texture and flavor)

1/2 tsp ground cloves (or to taste)

1tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp Celtic sea salt (optional)

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp melted extra virgin coconut oil

Serve over Greek yogurt, with fresh nut milk, or eat out of hand. When I made this at home, I added about 1/2 tsp cardamom which I highly recommend you try. It was delicious! Some other optional additions: goji berries or other dried fruit, cacao nibs, bee pollen (just a dash! This can be bitter!), fresh berries, other nuts and/or seeds.

Enjoy!