I’ve been making this everyday for about 6 months now, and it is still a massive hit with me, my husband, and our two year old boy (the girls, 4 and 7, are stuck on Rice Krispies). I’ve passed the recipe on to countless friends and relatives who are equally smitten.

It’s so easy to make……..5 minutes to mix the ingredients together, and 30 minutes in the oven. It smells AMAZING when it starts to brown in the oven (a sign that it is ready if you forget to time it, like I always do)

Dietitian bit – why it’s good for you:

• high fibre carbohydrate from oats – chunky oats are filling and full of soluble fibre, energy
• protein – from the milk, seeds and and a little bit from the oats, muscle maintenance & building
• fruit – raisins, chocca block with antioxidants and fibre
• healthy fats – vegetable oil and seeds, help to keep you full up, good fats are essential, but in moderation. If you are watching your weight, then please keep the portions of granola small (about 1/3 to 1/2 a mugful).

And here’s something I’ll tell you for free, from my MSc research on antioxidants in oats: toasting oats produces something called the Maillard Reaction which increases the ‘antioxidant capacity’ (antioxidants are good for you). During the summer of 2001 I spent unhealthy lengths of time in a lab at the University of Ulster with a lot of oats, an oven, a blender and a large expensive machine to come up with that gem!

Granola Recipe:

300g oats (or about 6 handfuls) – I mix 200g chunky with 100g finer oats

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (you can use melted coconut oil, but it doesn’t produce the same ‘crunch’)

3 tablespoons honey

1-2 handfuls pumpkin/sunflower seeds

handful raisins or sultanas

generous sprinkle of cinnamon (about a 2 teaspoons)

Method: mix the oil and honey together in a bowl. Add the oats, cinnamon and seeds, stir throughly ensuring the oats are coated. Spread on to baking sheet and put in the oven at 150c for 30 minutes. Half way through cooking time (after 15 minutes), add the raisins/sultanas. Remove from oven and allow to cool.