If you only make one or two recipes I have on my blog, this recipe and the Peanut Butter Cups, should be the ones!

I LOVE cereal, I sometimes used to eat it for dinner! Several years ago, there was a cereal bar in my town called Cereality and I spent a lot of time there! After reading Nourishing Traditions, I found out how unhealthy cereal is, even the organic ones aren’t good for us 😦

One thing that makes most cereal unhealthy is the processing of then grains, you can read a quick article about that here. I stopped eating it about five years ago and initially I was pretty bummed. I often wished there was a healthy option I could enjoy occasionally.

Thankfully, a few years ago I found Three Stone Hearth’s version of granola, the grains are property prepared and it has all kind of good things in it, like coconut oil and warming spices.

My husband and I have been “addicted” to this expensive treat. We eat it plain, with yogurt, milk, or make Acai fruit bowls with it! Originally, it cost $8 a quart but when the price increased to $15 a quart this past spring, I was more determined than ever to try and duplicate their recipe myself!

I already have the equipment (dehydrator) so I just needed to duplicate their recipe, which was quite simple. Don’t worry if you don’t own a dehydrator, you can use your oven instead.

It’s taken me a few months to perfect my version but I’ve made it several times with consistent results so I’m finally ready to share my recipe.

Makes 4-6 cups  Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients

• 4 cups rolled oats (if you’re gluten free use Bob’s Red Mill or Edison Grainery)
• 1 cup whole milk yogurt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup  maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of chia seeds
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 2 TBSP cinnamon
• 2 tsp cardamom
• 1  tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup raisins (can be added before or after dehydrating, dried blueberries are also good)
• 1 cup crispy almonds (optional, add after dehydrating)
• Dairy free option: Instead of using yogurt to soak the oats you may use 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk, 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted, and 1 1/2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Combine rolled oats and yogurt (or non-diary option) in a medium size bowl. Cover and allow to culture overnight.

In the morning, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

If you have a dehydrator (I love my Excalibur, it was worth every penny!) line four trays with parchment paper, then spread the mixture evenly. I find that 2 – 2 1/2 cups fits on each tray. Dehydrate at 155 degrees for 2-3 hours, or until it becomes crunchy.

I usually double this recipe so I can fill up all nine trays in my dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator stick with original recipe, since you’ll need to switch out a few cookie sheets to get it all dehydrated.

If you’re using an oven, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly. If you can, set your oven to 155 degrees. Unfortunately, most oven’s don’t allow temperatures to be set below 170 degrees.

If that’s the case, you can still dehydrate at 170 degrees, it will just happen more quickly. I haven’t personally made it in the oven, so I suggest checking on it after an hour to see if it’s crunchy. If not, keep baking it until it becomes crunchy.

That is it – REALLY simple, and REALLY good!

---