Thursday, May 7, 2009

Healthy Granola Cereal with magic seeds

Know what you Eat : Studies show that eating chia seed slows down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrate calories into simple sugars.The chia seeds may have great benefits for diabetics so they are considered as magic seeds. Eating the seeds helps dieters by making them feel fuller faster so they will be less hungry. Oats an excellent source of iron, dietary fiber and thiamin. They also contain antioxidants that are believed to protect the circulatory system from diseases such as arteriosclerosis, which affects the arterial blood vessel.


Cooking Time : 20-30 mins
Preparation Time : 5 mins
Serves : 4 to 6

Ingredients

Extra thick rolled Oats - 2 cups
Almonds - 3/4 cup (Crush or pound them)
Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup
Chia(magic) seeds - 1/2 cup
Wheat Germ - 1/4 cup (You can use wheat rava with small pieces of broken wheat & bran)
White Sesame(Til) seeds - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup (If not using brown sugar, substitute it with honey)
Honey - 1/4 cup (Increase this if you want the granola to be sweeter)
Oil - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1 tbsp

I love granola but the store bought ones are too sweet, so i thought of making them at home as you can control the amount of sugar and add the ingredients you want and like. You just can put it in the oven, stir once in while and get on to your other things and a healthy breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Now let us get on to the recipe.

Method

1) Preheat oven to 35o degrees F.
2) Crush or pound the almonds with a thick bottom pan or hammer, rolling them in a paper towel and putting them in a ziploc bag.
3) Combine all of the above ingredients except the raisins and bake till the oats slightly browns and the rest of ingredients are crunchy.
4) Remove and add the raisins and serve with milk and fruits of your choice.
5) During the bake time keep stirring and keep a close watch so that it doesn't get overcooked.
6) Do not forget to crush the almonds as smaller kids will have harder time to chew and eat them.
7) You can mix and match any ingredients, add baked sweetened banana chips, cranberries, apricots, dried apples, walnuts, cashew, dates, Peanuts etc. Don't add the dry fruits when baking but combine after baking.
8) With the addition of chia seeds, this keeps you filled up for hours.

Event Participation

1) This dish is our contribution to Srivalli's Mithai Mela hosted by Cooking 4 all Seasons.
2) This dish is our contribution to WYF Quick Meals event hosted by EC.
3) This also goes to Show me your Breakfast event hosted by Divya Vikram.
4) This also goes to Original Recipe Monthly Round up event hosted by Lorie.

13 comments:

chef and her kitchen said...

first time here..lovely granola..never heard of those magic seeds.

Parita said...

Very Healthy dish....looks yummy...never heard of chia seeds..where do we get these?

Unknown said...

Thanks Pratibha and Parita for your comments.


The CHIA seeds if taken before meal create physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into Sugar. This is a boon to people with diabetes preventing instant spike of sugar in the blood stream so called magic seeds. This should be available in any health food store, I order it online at nutsonline.com, i think they deliver only locally in US.

Suparna said...

Hi,
I can relish this feast only visually :) most of the ingredients are not available here :( neverthless am glad u come out with new and healthy stuff with a backup info on the ingredients used :)good job!
TC

Srivalli said...

Thats a healthy one!..thanks!

gluten free pammy said...

where can I get these chia seeds?

Correne Quigley-Faysal said...

Looks delicious. I make a granola very similar to yours, but I use maple syrup instead of sugar or honey, and I use walnuts. I eat it every morning! Nice website!

Unknown said...

Thanks Motor home & Correne for visiting our blog.

Chia Seeds are available in any health food store, I order it online at nutsonline.com, i think they deliver only locally in US.

EC said...

Looks yumm and is so healthy...thanks for the entry

Unknown said...

That sounds so healthy. Thanks for sending this to Show me your breakfast event!

Lore said...

I don't think I've ever tasted Chia seeds before but I am definitely intrigued now. I'd love a bowl of youghurt topped with your granola this morning :D.
Thanks for sending your mix to the Original Recipes Round-Up.

Anonymous said...

Hi ..
Really ur recipes and information about foods...are great and very helpful for me to get these healthy cereals from the local stores in US from which i kept away for long time since i dint know about them ..ur blog is a boon n am trying ur dishes like hw i follow my moms dishes she says thru phone..A big thanks to U...
if u dont mind can i ask some queries abt using oven..

Unknown said...

Thanks Anonymous for your comments, ofcourse please do post your questions. Will be glad to answer.

 
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