Yum! A Surprising Granola

     Recently I came across two completely different recipes making granola with red lentils as one of the ingredients. Today I wanted to try one of these recipes and hope to try out the other recipe another day. I just love recipes that have unique and clever healthy twists. The first recipe I am trying out today is Sweet Pumpkin Seed Protein Granola from I Love Vegan blog. It is actually in the oven cooking as I write about it! Not only is this a great breakfast idea using lentils, I can already tell it can be an addicting snack. Click on the recipe name above for a link to the recipe.

     I only made a few ingredient variations from the recipe. I chose to use safflower oil instead of the coconut oil. I just didn't have enough coconut oil today. I omitted the buckwheat groats since I didn't have any and increased the coconut flakes to one cup. I also didn't have coconut palm sugar and substituted it with brown sugar. Other than that I followed the ingredients and directions exactly. I think you can easily make this gluten free by using an all purpose gluten free flour and certified gluten free oats.

Lentils cooked, dry ingredients combined and ready for the 

wet ingredients and lentils to be stirred in. I cooked my lentils

until al dente. There was still a little water in the pan so I drained 

the lentils rather than over cook them until the liquid was absorbed.

Granola mixture ready for the first baking.

Granola mixture after 3rd baking. 

It tastes so good!! 

I almost can't wait for it to cool!

 Granola completely cooled and lightly 

broken up into chunks.
Lightly sweet taste, packed with protein, fiber, high in
manganese, good source of iron and as I suspected
a very addicting snack!!

This made 8 1/2 cups. 

Enjoy and share!

5/7/15 Note: My granola did not stay crunchy after storing it. It was still good to eat but had more of a chewy texture. I think next time I will try dividing the mixture, place on two baking sheets and bake a little longer.