Bird Seed Granola

April 21, 2011 By Leanne Vogel November 9, 2017

My dad is probably the last person in the world to be interested in eating healthy. He has always been madly in love with his Alberta beef, deep fried potatoes, meatloaf, perogies, kielbasa, licorice, [and his two daughters – but we’re good for his heart!]

[me, my Dad, and little sister in ’90 having a nap… or so he thought]

When I started eating healthier, I tried to encourage him to eat quinoa, millet, rice pasta, and sprouted beans, but he wasn’t interested in my “bird food” as he called it. When he was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2009, it wasn’t long until I was asked to come in and show him and my mom how to prepare quick, whole food, cancer supportive meals aka bird food. 1 point daughter, 0 points dad. One of my dad’s favorites quickly became a raw foods smoothie with strawberries, mango, camu camu, spirulina, sprouted grains and hemp.

I even got him to try some bird seed granola! His version was a mixture of sprouted grains [dehydrated] with stevia, protein powder, and chlorella. Although the recipe has changed over the years and has been inspired by others along the way, every time I eat my bird seed I’m reminded of my dad. Thankfully my dads cancer is in full remission. Despite the fact that he still enjoys far too much beer, sugar, and coffee, he does try to limit his late night snacking and opts for more veggies on his plate at dinner time. I don’t think I’ll ever get him to eat this granola again, but hey, he did give it a fair try!

Bird Seed Granola

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Gluten free, Dairy free, Refined sugar free, Yeast free, Corn free

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 7 cups

If you like your granola crunchy, this one is for you! Because the mix is filled with such a high amount of whole grains, you don’t need much to fill you up. Carry along as a convenient trail mix, sprinkle over top a fruit salad bowl, or soak overnight in some milk for a delicious breakfast cereal. Inspired by:Hey, that tastes good

Ingredients

Dry

1½ buckwheat groats, raw
½ cups quinoa flakes
½ cup millet, uncooked *see note
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup raw walnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup raw sunflower seeds
3 tablespoon ground flax seed
2 tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes

Wet

¼ cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened
2 tablespoon almond butter
2 tablespoon coconut sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon himalayan rock salt

Add-ins

½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup raisins
½ cup cherries or blueberries
¼ cup pumpkin seeds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300F. You do not need to line your cookie sheet with anything, just a plain old sheet will do the trick.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
Place wet ingredients in a small bowl and stir until combined. Pour wet over dry and stir well.
Spread mixture over a cookie sheet, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice.
Remove from the oven when the granola is golden brown. Stir in the add-ins, and let cool.

Notes

I used raw millet in this recipe but wouldn’t do it again. The grain was way too crunchy for me. Next time, I’ll replace the ½ cup millet with 1 cup puffed millet. I’ve done it in the past with other granola recipes and they’ve turned out great!

View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down)

On a completely different note, I took today off! Hmm… I seem to be doing that a lot lately. I just have so much to catch up on + so many vacation days to use up. I almost like taking a day off here and there than stressing over a week long vacation. On the plan for today:

Gym – strength training + Lori’s Dirty 30 [be warned, it may kill you]+ 45 minute run on the treadmill
Grocery shopping
Put away laundry
Work on our budget
Costco – almonds, raisins, oats, and strawberries [guess what I’m making this weekend. It rhymes with larfait :P]
Meet with some clients
Crate & Barrel – for my first purchase ever! I’ve printed a 2 page list of all the things I want.
Some more meetings
Chiropractor
Dinner at the coup with my best, most supportive friend, Emily

Looking for a fun [and healthy] Easter craft? Check out these naturally dyed Easter eggs! Are there certain foods/meals that remind you of your dad? Have you ever had someone in your life affected by cancer? How did you try and keep the experience positive? We did a lot of cooking and baking. My Dad naturally very positive, so it made it a lot easier on all of us. Is there someone in your life that eats unhealthy that you just can’t seem to get through to?