Cardamom Macaroon Granola

gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, soy-free, cane sugar-free

There are many different levels of knowing another person.  There are acquaintances.  There are friends.  There are better friends.  There are best friends.  Then, there are the friends whose absence in your life for whatever reason would render you unable to stop throwing up.  For me, Marian falls into that last category.

Two days ago, Marian hopped on a plane because she was missing 1) her favorite city in the world, and 2) a certain someone.  Now she is in London.  In other words: she is happier than she could have possible imagined.

This is only one of the reasons why my friendship with Marian is classified as the potential-throw-up-inducing type; she knows what will make her happiest and she just does it.  No questions asked.  No excuses.  No unnecessary, ultimately destructive worrying about her job, money, change.  She figures out what she wants first and then finds a way to make that happen.

Why don’t more people follow Marian’s suit?  The risk.  The idea of it alone turns some people around right in their tracks.  Even the word “change” instills fear in the hearts of many.  A significant number of us will do everything we can to avoid facing the unknown.  We dodge risk-taking as if it were a curse.  We tell ourselves it is somehow better to keep doing what we’re doing because we know exactly what to expect from that.  And then we call this “toughing it out.”  That’s funny.  ”Toughing it out” isn’t very tough at all.  It is no act of bravery.  It’s safe.  It’s the label we give to doing things we feel we “should” be doing but don’t want to.

What’s brave?  Banishing “should” from our vocabulary and doing what we really want to do instead.

Ordinarily?  I am brave, and proud of it, too.  I repel the word “should.”  Me and Marian: Two peas in a pod.

Lately?  I haven’t been very brave.  I am plagued by “shoulds.”  I am ignoring my own “London-calling” because words like “responsibility” and “practical” ring in my ears at the mere thought, and names of people I want to please resound louder in my head than my own.

And that is just not cool anymore.  Just turned over: new leaf.  Voila: dawn of a new day.  Step 1: spoonful of a new granola.

=)

Cardamom Macaroon Granola

2 cups gluten-free rolled oats

3 Tbsp gluten-free oat flour

1/2 cup puffed millet

2/3 cup sliced almonds

2/3 cup shredded coconut

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup brown rice syrup or agave nectar

2 Tbsp coconut sugar or coconut syrup

2 Tbsp unrefined coconut oil or applesauce

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1/2 tsp cardamom

pinch cloves

1. Spread out oats on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 300˚ (until lightly toasted).

2. Meanwhile, combine millet, almonds, coconut, salt, cardamom, and cloves.

3. Whisk coconut oil, syrup and coconut sugar in separate bowl.

4. Stir toasted oats into dry mix.  Add liquid mix.

5. Spread out mixture evenly onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

6. Bake until golden (about 15 minutes) and stir occasionally.

I think this granola is best served in a bowl with Pacific Food vanilla hemp milk because the vanilla complements the flavor of the granola and it adds just the right touch of sweetness!

YUM…