#gastrochef

 Just because you have decided to cut down or eliminate grains from your diet doesn't mean you need to sacrifice the foods you love. You just need to find substitutes that make you wonder why you didn't make this choice sooner! Personally I have always loved granola, whether it be granola bars or as part of a fruit and yogurt parfait. After doing some searching and getting ideas from different sources i came up with a few great granola recipes. One the ingredients that helps the granola bind and form clumps after baking is your choice of nut butter. I personally love cashew butter but this recipe is great with any nut or seed butters you love. I chose to use a pumpkin seed and a cashew based butter to make a few variations. One great thing about this recipe is that it is a basic one, you can add or take away ingredients you love! Just remember you will need to increase your honey oil mix and your nut butter with the more ingredients you add!

Finally, if you are looking for a really crunchy bar I would recommend changing the cooking time to an hour or two on 275 to slow cook the granola.  I like mine a little chewy so i do a quick 20 minute bake on 350! This is all up to you so play around with it and see what you like. Alternatively you could always throw the mix in the dehydrator over night instead of the oven!

Enjoy! And post any ideas or modifications you have made to share!

-GC