Morning routines. There are three general situations. Number one, slam the snooze button and choose sleep over breakfast. And over being punctual. Number two, get up with barely enough time to brush your teeth, change out of pajamas, and scarf something down for breakfast. Or number three, wake up ridiculously early to the point you have enough time to flip pancakes and put them through a photoshoot for the blog. I won’t specify which category I fall under. All I’ll say is I’m an advocate for breakfast-eating; it’s vital for optimum brain function and it tastes really good. ‘Nuf said.

But really, I do have a “usual” routine on school days. I’m an extremely routinely person, to the point where I’ll have the exact same breakfast five days a week. Even seven days a week sometimes. Call me over-compulsive, but it means less to think about at 8am.

A bowl of cereal soaked in almond milk topped with sliced bananas. This has been my breakfast for so many years, my brain associates it with school. I used to fly through cereal so quickly that on my shopping trips to the US of A, I’d come back with nine huge boxes. Keep in mind I (used to) go on these trips at least three times a year.

Even though I’ve narrowed all the available types of cereal down to the healthiest possible options (which are original Cheerios, Kix, Rice Chex, and Trader Joe’s high fiber cereal), it’s still not the most ideal breakfast. The listed cereals are yes, healthy, but also yes, rather tasteless. To combat this, I always add a small amount of granola to sweeten things up. Unfortunately, pretty much all granola has way more sugar that any human being needs during breakfast. Even if it’s a “natural, organic, so-called-healthy” variety, refined sugars are still involved.

The last box of store-bought granola is officially gone from my basement, so it is time to experiment with the homemade variety. I’ve been waiting for this moment as granola is insanely easy to make at home and super cheap as well! The store charges us a ridiculous amount of money for baked oats and a sad amount of dried fruit and nuts. When made at home, granola can be customized to your preferences. Sweetness, flavours, textures, ratio of mix-ins… For me, it’s clumpy with lots of nuts.

School is peering at me from around the corner (gah!) so it’s almost time to get back into my “usual” morning routine of eating cereal. But this year, I plan to eat a lot more homemade granola, starting with this Banana Nut Granola. Clumpy, filled with crisp pecans, coconut chips, and spiced with warm cinnamon, this naturally sweetened granola is friendly to both your health and your wallet. Perfect for everyone, from kids to university students to business men and women. So hunt down a super ripe banana (and maybe a few more just for snacking) and make this! The smell it will fill the house with is a bonus gift.

Get the super duper easy recipe below!