The best gluten free muesli

The Best Gluten Free Muesli – Greenola

Happy new year everyone!

2013 appeared to be the quinoa and kale year, and if my inclinations prove me correct, watch out for cauliflower and brussel sprouts in the coming 12 months (apparently the food trend world and the sulphur containing cancer fighting vegetable world have finally collided…in a good way!).

So just to sneak one last taste of 2013 in here before Kale becomes “totally yesterday”, I thought I would share this great grain free granola made from kale for this weeks #TDapproved!

I know it might sound a little different at first, but I suppose if you think about how kale is being dehydrated into healthy “chips” these days, then this concept might start to not appear so foreign.

Greenola is a superstar product that I discovered a couple of months ago when I first arrived back in NYC. Greenola is made from all natural ingredients, and can be used in place of a normal granola or muesli….sprinkled on yogurt, used as a cereal, or however else you would usually use crunchy granola! Greenola is made and manufactured by the Kale Factory, right here in Brooklyn, New York.

I know not everyone reading this would be based here, or even in the States, but if you look at the ingredients list, you could potentially use this as a guide for your own recipe creations at home and innovate on your own mix.

The ingredient list proves that Greenola is a purely natural product (a term that doesn’t seem to have much meaning anymore on food labels, I know, but in this case, I feel does hold true and some value) made from only whole foods.

This ingredient list is for the ‘Cranberry Nut Crunch’ variety, sounds delicious right?

Ingredients: Kale, Dates, Almonds, Coconut Flakes, Sweetened Cranberries (Cranberries, Cane Sugar, Sunflower Oil), Sesame Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Walnuts, Cinnamon

Greenola also comes in Cherry Chia, Spirulina Crunch, and Raisin Coconut. Yum! I like how they selected one of the “trend” ingredients in each of the varieties (chia, spirulina, and coconut).

Greenola is made from “toasted” kale, which is used in place of the usual toasted oats or grain base in granola. On their website, the manufacturers claim there is around half a pound of kale in each box. This obviously changes the nutritional profile pretty significantly to a regular granola or toasted muesli that one might have been consuming in its place.

Check out the nutrition panel on this product:

Greenola Cranberry Nut Crunch

A serving size is 1oz and there are 3 servings per package (that’s almost 100g a serve for our Aussie friends). One serve will dish up only 116 calories (not even 500kJ), no fat, 16g carbohydrate (equivalent to approximately that in 1 slice of bread), 3g of fiber (equivalent to an apple) and around 30% and 20% of your daily requirement for Vitamin A and Vitamin C respectively. Pair this with some delicious Greek yogurt for added protein, probiotics, and calcium, and you have a fantastic breakfast or snack alternative!

I would say that I think there could be some ingredient substitutions to enhance this product even more, such as not having dates as the second ingredient (which is almost like saying sugar as the second ingredient) and also having the sweetened cranberries not made with added sugar or sunflower oil (which would provide unnecessary omega 6’s).

It would be interesting to see if someone tried a similar mix but used unsweetened cranberries that were just dehydrated, used a little less dates, and potentially drizzled some isomolto-oligosacharides (a dietary fiber that tastes sweet like honey/molasses) on it to bump up the fiber and make it sweeter, whilst simultaneously reducing the sugar content (evidently this is me just playing food tech here…sorry, I can’t help myself at times!).

Greenola close up image from the Kale factory website

Not only are these products nutritious, all of the Kale Factory’s products are gluten free, vegan friendly, and kosher…..oh and the ones I tasted, tasted really good too!

The kale chips in the Greenola have been dried at below 115 degrees to avoid heat degradation, and destruction of the enzymes and other nutrients (this information is popping up more and more on food products as the raw food movement continues to grow).

Spirulina Crunch (one of the varieties) is nut free too actually, for those that have a nut allergy.

Lastly, if you don’t live near a store (I found it in wholefoods), and you don’t want to make your own version, you can of course order online, with all of the shipping materials they use being eco-friendly! (They really have thought this one through!). I can see that they have a cyber Monday sale..so I guess its a good thing that I posted this today!

I know the addition of kale makes for an unusual granola substitute, but trust me on this one and give it a go, the sweetness and harmony created with the other ingredients is truly delicious.

Until next week….

TD x