Pecan Sesame Granola {grain-free}

 Granola is great to have around for snacking or adding to yogurt, fruit, and smoothie bowls. Here's my latest granola combination, using pecans, sliced almonds, sesame seeds, and shredded coconut.

I go through phases where I make a granola recipe for several weeks and then I move on to another version or forget about it for a while. First it was carrot cake granola, then gingerbread granola, and now it's this recipe.

There are few reasons to love this rendition. First, the crunch is great and it's just sweet enough. The ground cinnamon and vanilla extract help with this. Second, it's very simple, using only three main ingredients, and then some supporting ingredients.

One of the supporting ingredients is ground flaxseed, which helps brings the sesame seeds, almonds, and pecans together in small crunchy bites. Flaxseed is also know to improve digestive flow, so there's that going for it also. For SCD, leave out the flaxseed and substitute with more sesame seeds.

To grind the flaxseed into flour, I use a small coffee bean grinder. You can use any herb or bean grinder, or grind it by hand with a mortar and pestle. A small food processor will work as well. I do occasionally just add whole flaxseeds, so if you prefer to leave the flaxseed whole, that works as well.

For the dried cranberries, I add those after the granola has come out of the oven and has cooled. I buy them in my local market, but you can find dried cranberries sweetened with apple juice and no added sugar. They usually have oil added to them to prevent sticking, but that should be it.

And one last add: sometimes I add an extra tablespoon of honey if I'm in the mood for a slightly sweeter granola. Enjoy!