But it is a place where I like to share my favorite things. And one of my favorite things as of late is spending the good part of a Sunday making (and eating) granola. I found a recipe for "healthy granola" online awhile back and have modified it somewhat to suit my own tastes and needs. It's super easy to make; just dump ingredients in bowl, stir, toast, and eat. But it can be a bit labor intensive with all the mixing and round after round of brown time in the oven. But that sweet smell! That golden taste! Yes, it actually TASTES golden. Makes it all worthwhile. I would eat it with low fat vanilla yogurt and frozen berries or mango or pineapple pretty much every day if I could. Which means I tend to tear through it pretty quickly. Below I present my recipe for one batch of healthy granola that I recommend you double because you cannot STOP yourself or others from putting it on everything or eating it straight out tha container. Enjoy!
DRY INGREDIENTS:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raw sliced almonds (or whole, roughly chopped)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar*
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
WET INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir until evenly mixed. Then combine all wet ingredients in separate bowl and slowly pour the wet mixture incrementally into the dry ingredients in the large mixing bowl, constantly stirring until thoroughly mixed.
Spread mixture onto rimmed baking sheets in an even (not too thick) layer and bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown and well toasted. After you remove pans from oven when you have reached desired level of golden deliciousness, push granola around with a spatula a bit so that it doesn't become one giant hard granola bar as it cools. Once cool, store in airtight containers and enjoy for days to come!
*When doubling recipe, there's no need to double the sugar if you want to cut back on calories. It's pretty sweet as is.
- Cathleen
Looks awesome! What substitute do you recommend if you dislike nuts?
ReplyDelete- Your Bestie
hmm...good question. i'd say you don't necessarily need the nuts if you loathe all nuts. there is no substitute for nuts. just make sure you add the coconut cinnamon and vanilla. toasting it is really what makes the flavor so good. and if you're into dried apricots or raisins, add one or the other too. just toss them in AFTER the toasting cycle. otherwise you'll get a gooey sticky mess.
ReplyDeleteShall we make some Easter granola upstate?? You think we can add peeps and chocolate eggs?! :-)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE granola :) You should try it with coconut oil instead of olive oil. Uh-mazing!!
ReplyDelete