Kate Percy's crunchy granola

Kate Percy is a sports nutritionist and when I first skimmed through her book, 'Go Faster Food for your Active Family', I was impressed with the range of dishes she'd included and the way they were grouped into breakfast/brunch, quick/slow mains, sweets and drinks. I decided to start with breakfast because I believe in the old adage:

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

I need breakfast to be quick and healthy (including enough protein and healthy fats) to help me with several 5.00am cycle rides to work each week. I'm also a parent and my kids are pretty active themselves. Mornings at home can be a bit stressful t

rying to get everyone healthily fed, organised and out for the day. And I'm a vegan who runs 5k, 10k, half-marathons, marathons and ultras. Finding breakfasts that tick all those boxes and that we won't all get bored with is no mean feat!

There was a granola recipe and my wife and I plus at least one of the kids already like granola, so that was a good start! And we had all the ingredients in our cupboard (oats, seeds, nuts, oil, dried fruit) so I didn't even need to send one of the kids to the corner shop before I could get cooking! I changed one thing - instead of honey, I used maple syrup, a vegan-friendly option.

This recipe was really quick and easy to make. I used half the amounts at first (just in case I wasn't keen on the end result, but I needn't have worried!). After mixing the oats, seeds, oil and syrup (the fruit goes in at the end), the granola mix went in the oven and this was the best part - the smell that started to emanate from the oven was lovely! This dish is meant to be crunchy, but be careful not to overcook it - it might end up too crunchy!When the mix had cooled do

wn, I added the dried fruit and put my granola in an airtight jar. All that was left was to wait for breakfast the next day (ahead of a 5k Parkrun), add my favourite soya milk to a decent portion and enjoy! And the result? Tasty, healthy, vegan and definitely crunchy! Job done!

Kate Percy's Go Faster Food

28 October 2017