New year, new bigger pants and easy homemade granola…

Having five kids automatically means you are broke AF in the month of January. And kids or not, if you are living life right than you are chubby AF in the month of January.

So I am keeping it simple for a month, cutting out (as best I can) white sugar. Not white carbs, let’s not get crazy…I am still eating the shit out of pasta and bread. But things full of refined sugar…I just need a damn break. I am pretty sure I ate roughly 19,956 grams of refined sugar in the last few weeks, so I need to chill the f–k out.

And since I also need to save money cause my five kids broke me, yet again with the holidays, I am homemaking things I would normally buy. Enter this easy homemade granola.

I am almost too embarrassed to post this, as I can’t believe I buy granola instead of making it. It is SO DAMN easy to make! I mean like, stupid simple. And it is so much better for you.

Do you buy granola?

Most likely you do…I do. It’s $5+ dollars too, and the bag lasts maybe a week in my house between me and my husband (we eat a shit ton of yogurt for breakfast). That’s expensive people!!

When you buy granola, do you read the label?

You should, or maybe you shouldn’t. If you do read the label then you already know…but if you don’t, then let me be the first to tell you something. Most packaged granola has a shit ton of sugar in it. It is like the second ingredient. Even if it is ‘honey oat’ or ‘maple’ whatever, the second ingredient after oats is almost always SUGAR or some kind of syrup that is basically a fancified word for sugar. And for the record, organic sugar is still sugar and it is still refined.

So why am I being such a bitch right now about something I buy, and probably will buy again (let’s face it, we can’t homemake everything all the time)? Because making your own and NOT using sugar is so easy, that you should definitely try it, even if you still plan to buy it. You won’t be sorry, and you can put good things into it, use up nuts and oats and coconut you didn’t use in holiday baking, anddddd you can take a lil sugar break in the process.

Win-win all the way around if you ask me.

Here is my recipe below, but you can use any nuts you have on hand. I also threw in some unsweetened coconut because I didn’t end up making coconut macaroons for the holidays. For the sweetener I used a combo of maple syrup and honey. I like the deeper flavor of maple syrup, but also wanted a little extra sweetness that comes from the honey. Finally, since I used coconut in the granola, why the hell not use coconut oil for the fat, it was the perfect compliment.

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Homemade granola

Ingredients

• 4 cups of old fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups of sliced almonds or whatever you have on hand, a variety of nuts mixed together is also great
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 7 tablespoons of coconut oil
• good sized pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 325. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Mix oats, nuts, coconut and cinnamon together on the lined sheet pan.
2. In a sauce pan heat together the maple syrup, honey and coconut oil. When fully warmed and mixed together, stir in the salt. Pour over the dry ingredients and toss together.
3. Bake in the oven about 45 minutes. Make sure to check and toss around about halfway through so nothing burns. Cool completely on the pan and then stir to break up large pieces.