Strawberry Quinoa Granola

Crispy, crunchy and swirled with sweet strawberries! This is one granola that I dare to put up against any boxed cereal in taste!

Last weekend we celebrated strawberry season in Michigan!

I don’t know that Michigan is the first place that people think of when they think of berry season, but in all actuality, it is a great climate for many berry growers – especially strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We grow raspberries in our backyard with the greatest of ease – there is something about the lakeshore climate that is just perfect for growing summer berries is what I have been told!

And after the winters we have to endure, I would say being rewarded with some of the sweetest strawberries you have ever tasted is definitely due!

This year I kept things pretty simple and very useful with our 30 pound load. No fancy desserts for me this year – I need functional to keep my sanity right now!

I froze the majority of it for smoothies, yogurt, and oatmeal during the school year. I kept a few pounds in the fridge for us to eat this week. And I poured some pureed strawberries into my popsicle molds to stash away for this summer.

Strawberry granola was on my functional uses for my strawberries as well. Granola is nice for cool summer breakfasts – and don’t even think I’m not already thinking about those first weeks of school coming up at the end of August! Granola makes a great breakfast for busy mornings too!

Last year I created this grain free strawberry granola for my friend Jessica over at Delicious Obsessions – and it went FAST! The girls loved it – as did my husband and I. This year I decided to try some different ingredients to switch things up. It isn’t grain free this time, but the grains and flours I chose had specific purpose – nutrient dense and filling!

The girls have been sneaking handfuls here and there over the last week and it really turned out so good!
If you can’t or don’t have access to raw milk for pouring or whole yogurt, you can use coconut milk or coconut yogurt!

Granola also packs up great for school lunches – the kids can sprinkle it into a cup of yogurt or just eat it by the handful. I frequently pack a handful of granola for a snack for my preschoolers school snacktime.

A quick note on dehydrators! I have a simple, middle of the road dehydrator and I really love it – it gets the job done very well! I have quite a few extra trays that I stack up and I can do pretty large batches. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can oven dry or oven bake – there are instructions for this in the recipe below!

Print Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

Strawberry Quinoa Granola

Crispy, crunchy and swirled with sweet strawberries! This is one granola that I dare to put up against any boxed cereal in taste!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Dehydrate12 hours hrs

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade granola, strawberry quinoa granola, strawberry quinoa granola recipe

Servings: 12 servings

Author: Renee - www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

• 6 cups oats not quick oats! If you are gluten free be sure your oats say gluten free on them likeTHESE
• 2 cups quinoa I get the linked brand at Costco - the regular color or the red quinoawork fine - I used the red this time!
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup melted friendly fat butter, coconut oil, avocado oil
• 1/3 cup raw honey If your kids are used to a much sweeter cereal go ahead and double this. I get mine from a local farmer. If you don't have access THIS is a good brand.
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 4-5 cups strawberries chopped. (I didn't take the time to slice them nicely - I just pulsed them in my food processor!)

Instructions

• Put the oats, quinoa, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Add water to cover the grains, combine, and let the mixture soak 8-12 hours. This soaking process breaks down phytic acid in the grain, makes it easier to digest, and makes the nutrients more available to absorb!
• After the grains have soaked, drain the liquid and return to the mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine.
• Spread onto your dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 135 degrees overnight (Or over the course of a day. I tend to soak during the day and dehydrate overnight). If you are using an oven you can set your oven at the lowest heat and stir throughout the day - or you can go at a higher temp and bake it off, again stirring often until it dries out.
• Once the granola is dried out you can crumble it into containers for storage.

For more real food breakfast ideas you can follow my Breakfast Ideas board on Pintrest!

More real food ideas you might like ::
Simple Cinnamon Granola

Grain Free Apple Granola

Honey Rhubarb Granola

Molasses Breakfast Bars