Usual disclaimer: If your teeth are delicate, and if any of them are porcelain, they might need a more consistent tender texture in the finished product — even if you bake it extra soft and moist. My groatnola came out with a few random tiny harder bits after baking. The fault might be in my cooking technique. I would need to soften this by cooking it in with oatmeal, which kind-o defeats the purpose of granola.

Update: I made this again, this time with peeled grated organic apple mixed in. I also added some extra Ceylon cinnamon. But I left out the little pinch of clove powder. That way on the street I can pass out samples to not only the neighbors, but their dogs. (Dogs can eat Ceylon cinnamon, but in theory they can get sick eating cloves or clove essential oil. Better safe than sorry.) But honestly, I don’t plan on making this again for just me. Raw soaked buckwheat groats and rolled oats cook up in just a couple of minutes, and it’s no trouble to steam sweet potatoes, so I really won’t need granola in general.

Still, for cereal fans, it’s a nice recipe — ready to eat with no salt, no sweetener, and no oil. It’s wholesome and filling with pleasant-tasting groatiness, and a good unique use of the ingredients. And if kids can enjoy kneading up a batch and can still believe that this is what we mean by “cereal,” that’s all to the good. Now, since it has no salt or sugar or preservatives, then unlike the cereals on grocery shelves this does not have a long shelf life. But a batch could stay in the freezer, as something to throw into porridge during cooking. As it cooled it softened a bit, making it a nice trail snack to chew while hiking the neighborhood.

It’s 4 ingredients: sweet potato, buckwheat groats, rolled oats, flavoring (spices & vanilla). That’s it!

For the YouTube video, search for “Dr. Greger in the Kitchen: Groatnola.” He is way more entertaining as a performer than I am as a recipe reporter, and his presentation is fun to watch. While following along, check out the vertical column of subtitles and cute commentary. (The burpee joke referred to his other clip “Dr. Greger in the Kitchen: My New Favorite Beverage.” In that clip while waiting for the blender to puree the ingredients, he powers through 10 burpees on the kitchen floor.)

I soaked the raw buckwheat groats for a few hours, then rinsed and drained and cooked them soft; that takes just a few minutes, so stay close and keep an eye on them. I steamed, mashed, and peeled the sweet potatoes. Then I mashed the two together with a good dose of vanilla and (my own notion) a little teaspoon of coconut oil for two quarts of cereal. I used a smaller amount of rolled oats than the ratio shown in the video, mixing it first with cinnamon and cloves. Then I mixed and kneaded all the ingredients together and spread it on parchment paper on cookie sheets. In the oven that baked at 250 F for two hours plus the half hour it took for the oven to cool. Dr. Greger’s mixture looked flaky and crisp, but mine was more chewy and tender.

You could stir in a dash of bitter cocoa powder with the spices, and some ground unsweetened coconut toward the end of baking.

Dogs: As Dr. Greger points out, you can feed this to dogs first, and then add the spices after. It’s easy to see that dogs would like this. Of course, dogs are a good sport about putting all sorts of items in their mouths. Still, Angelina is getting a sample for her own snack and a taste test for Super Pup and Bingo. They prolly won’t mind a little spice. (Last week, the doggos were very enthusiastic about my soaked & sprouted & boiled & roasted chickpeas. Maybe that’s just because there was Bragg’s Aminos sauce on them. Maybe the dogs were crawling all over me not for my cooking but only to get at the salt.)

I’m eating a bowlful of groatnola right now with rice milk and blueberries. This has a pleasant gently subtle sweetness, and makes a nice cereal.