my granola

claire's granola

I am a  type 1 diabetic and require insulin to live.

My days are spent monitoring my blood sugars at least 8 times a day and carefully counting and measuring my food so I can adjust my insulin to mimic what my body would need if I were normal.

Foods like granola are very tricky. They are usually packed with sweet and sticky and chewy with little nuggets of even sweeter and stickier. Granola tastes great but I have avoided the "regular" kind for a long long time thinking I couldn't ever get my insulin needs to match up with it.

The raw way of eating has allowed my food choices to include things I had previously excluded. Eating raw I can tolerate carbohydrates much more efficiently than before. I need less insulin, which creates a smaller margin of error. That is a good thing. I find myself eating raw desserts and other sweet treats with the confidence that I am not only eating healthy, but I am also giving my whole digestive and endocrine system a break so I don't have to fight as hard. Eating sweet things. I think that is really cool for a diabetic.

In my epicurean adventures with raw foods, I tried making a granola recipe that turned out really well. It tastes sweet but not too sweet, and has a hint of salty. It is crunchy and chewy. It is also raw so I can eat it and deal with my insulin needs easier- much easier than if I ate conventional granola.

What I like about this recipe  is that it is complex, like most, but it is deeper than most. I think adding in coconut oil brings to it a richness that I don't find in others I have tried. 

Here goes:

Mix together in these amounts:

2 cups soaked almonds

1 cup soaked sunflower seeds

1 cup soaked buckwheat ( keep it to 30 minutes and rinse well!)

1 cup coconut shreds

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

2 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 cup raw honey

1/2 cup raw agave

all ingredients should be raw and organic if you can manage it.

dehydrate at 108 degrees at least 12 hours but more like 18 for crunchy. I start it on teflex and then flip it over 12 hours into it.