Happy Friday to you!! The weekend is here and we are ready for some FUN. Pizza night has been canceled as we plan for a sleepover for the boys and a DATE NIGHT for me and my Honey!!!!!
The weather is suppose to be amazing with cool mornings and just down right spectacular sunny afternoons. At least through Monday. So we will be getting outside to enjoy it.
I can't let a Friday go by without sharing a good recipe. And it is THE BEST granola I have ever made. I have made many different recipes of granola over the years. And lately have been trying a few more. I made this one last night on a whim and it turned out great!
On a side note......granola always makes me think of hippies. You know those cool, bare foot people getting back to nature and loving life. I always thought I should have been born to grow up during that time. For some reason those far out people who gave a preference to freedom, love and peace remind me of granola. Maybe it's just me????
OK moving back to the granola.......is that a beautiful breakfast or what?!?!
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| Greek yogurt, granola, strawberries and a little treat. |
Of all places I found this recipe (which I adapted a little) in our old Better Homes and Garden Cookbook....Copyright 1989-the only reason I give the Copyright is because I have found some recipes to be different on Better Homes and Garden's website now days than when it was written for the cookbook years ago. Not sure if the newer books are the same or not.
Anyway I went by the book and not the site. And like I said I tweaked it a tad. The house was smelling delicious as it was baking. Everyone longing to take a bite! It cooled a little and me and the boys stood at the counter enjoying fresh granola. And then the boys enjoyed fresh granola with a few mini chocolate chips---a nice little treat for dessert. Contrary to what you may think chocolate chips are not an ingredient for granola......at least not in my book. A nice addition? Yes.
Here is my version of the recipe.
Granola
2 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/3 Coconut oil
In a bowl stir together oats, coconut and nuts. In another bowl combine honey or syrup and oil; stir into oat mixture. Spread mixture evenly onto a greased baking sheet and press down firmly on the pre-cooked granola. Bake at 300 for 30-35 minutes stirring after 20 minutes. Do not overcook!!!
Remove from the oven and immediately turn granola out onto a large piece of foil. Grab children and stand at counter and eat the warm goodness. Once cooled (if any is left after your children took over) store in a air tight container.
Tips:
-When I make granola I typically go by the recipe, BUT use whatever I have on hand in many cases. Same with my No Fail Granola bars found here on my blog. For instance, last night I used all the maple syrup we had, but still needed about a 1/4 of a cup. So I used honey and maple syrup making my 1/2 cup for the sweetness. Which BTW it was perfect on the sweetness. You could change this to 1/3 cup if you prefer less sweetness in your granola.
-Dried fruit is great in granola, but make sure you add it AFTER it comes out of the oven. Otherwise the fruit gets super hard.
-On nuts....because pecans brown quicker adding them half-way through the cook-time is the way to go. Mine got a little too brown....I forgot!
Update-I have since starting making this granola with plain old vegetable oil after having what appeared to be an allergic reaction to coconut oil. It tastes the same to me. So feel free to use either.
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| Kicking off my Friday with a chocolate treat! |
1 comment:
Thanks for posting an easy granola recipe...it has always intimidated me.
Have you posted before about your pizza night? We are on a new budget that includes way less eating out. I want to do pizzas on Fridays but healthy with less nitrate-filled pepperoni topping. Wondering what you use....
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