Maca Magic

March has been a month to remember here at TGBK. We've had the best time celebrating National Nutrition Month by teaming up with Navitas Organics as Insiders of the Month and sharing recipes featuring their superfood products. Maca has been one of this month's highlighted superfoods and by now we hope you've given it a try. If not, it's definitely time to get some maca in your pantry! Like other superfoods, the benefits one might experience from maca in the diet are based on consistency - we suggest about a tablespoon of maca daily. Maca can simply be added to yogurt, smoothies, and drinks or incorporated into recipes to make things more interesting and fun. And that's where we come in! We've been filling the blog this month with maca packed recipes and decided to finish up with an oldie but goodie. We created this recipe for Magical Maca Maple Granola over year ago but are still enjoying it frequently in our recipe rotation. We love this granola over yogurt, handfuls as a snack, or simply with homemade nut milk. It's definitely a delicious way to add maca to your diet. If you don't already have this recipe printed and posted on your fridge (wink, wink), we've provided it for you again. Enjoy!

Magical Maca Maple Granola
PREP TIME: 15 mins
TOTAL TIME: 45 mins
Servings: 18-24 quarter cup servings (note that granola is quite rich and best eaten in small portions or as a crunchy topping)

Ingredients
2 cups thick rolled oats
1 cup rolled barley*
1 cup rolled rye*
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup Navitas Organics maca powder
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups Navitas Organics cashew nuts
1/4 cup Navitas Organics hemp seeds
1/8 cup unbleached, white sesame seeds*
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup Navitas Organics coconut sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean pod (insides scraped out) or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, barley, rye, oat bran, maca, flax, salt, cashews, hemp, and sesame seeds.

In a sauce pan, combine coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Turn burner on to medium heat and stir until the oil has melted and sugar has dissolved. Pour warm oil and sugar mixture over dry ingredients and stir until evenly covered. Add 1/4 cup water to the mixture and stir to combine.

Evenly spread mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until granola is golden brown. Let sit until cooled. Using a large spoon, break granola into large chunks. Place granola back into the oven and continue cooking for an additional 7-10 minutes. Make sure to stir granola at least once while cooking. Allow granola to completely cool before storing in an air tight container. Adding granola to the container before it has completely cooled will add moisture and soften the granola.
 
*Note that you can use 4 cups of rolled oats and omit rolled barley and rye which may be more difficult to find. Hemp seeds and sesame seeds can also be used interchangeably, just keep the total amount the same (~2/3 cup).

Well friends, that should do it for our maca-filled month. We hope you've had as much fun as we did and have started your own experiments with Navitas products. The nutrient quality of your food and brands you support with food purchases DOES matter. Your body will thank you and your money can be well spent - now is the time to put ideals into practice.

Go for it!
Jess and Cecelia