Homemade Granola

These days, watching our food means 90% of the time, I’m abstaining from sugar and white flour. Most store-bought cereals (save shredded wheat) aren’t really a good choice then. Granola is great but store brands are either sugar loaded or too expensive. I have found a fabulous recipe for homemade granola and make this recipe sugar-free by substituting sugar-free syrup for the called for maple syrup. Accompanied by a half cup of yogurt and fruit feels good to eat. That “Yay Me” feeling of eating something good for you.

This versatile recipe comes from a cookbook that changed the way I saw living a lifestyle of wellness and cooking and eating this way daily. Written by Pam Anderson of Cooks Illustrated fame, The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Feeling Great is my go to for this granola recipe, as well as pita and tortilla chips, the multi-grain buttermilk pancakes we had for breakfast, fruit salsa, roasted vegetables, and salad dressings. She’s a wealth of knowledge and I would never have had the confidence to make soup were it not for the template recipe she provides. Another post perhaps.

Great Granola

Makes 1 Quart

2 cups old-fashioned oats

½ cup wheat germ

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup Extra Ingredients (fruit, nuts, coconut flakes)

¼ maple syrup (sugar-free syrup)

3 TBS flavorless oil

2 TBS warm water

other flavorings

• Set oven rack to middle and set oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit or 135 Celsius
  

• Spray 13-x-9-inch (metal) pan with veg cooking spray (or just wipe oil in it).

• Mix oats, wheat germ, salt, and extra ingredients, except the fruit, in a medium bowl.

• Quickly heat syrup, oil, water, and flavoring ( extracts, cinnamon, or ginger) to simmer in saucepan over medium heat.

• Drizzle over oat mixture and stir up.

• Pour mixture into prepared pan and work the granola in your hands to create small clumps.

• Bake for 30 minutes.

• Stir in dried fruit.

• Continue to bake for another 25 minutes until golden brown.

• Let cool and serve and store in airtight tin for a month.

The original granola recipe’s extra ingredients calls for 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 1/3 cup sweetened or unsweetened coconut, and 1/3 cup golden raisins plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon. The cherry and almond version has 1/3 cup sliced almonds, 1/3 cup coconut, and 1/3 chopped dried cherries with 3/4 tsp almond extract. There are a few more luscious combos but I end up doing almonds or cashews and craisins or raisins, maybe cherries with vanilla and cinnamon.

According to her recipe, it’s 121 calories for a ¼ cup. But since I use sugar-free syrup, it’s much less. And it’s satisfying with ½ cup vanilla yogurt and some fruit as a snack. Perhaps around 225 calories. And her tip on the sidebar of this page? Don’t skip breakfast. I usually eat this for my 3 pm snack and Eamon has it after school. Alas, Fiona doesn’t care for chunks in her yogurt but she’s never met a peach fruit cup she didn’t like. Bon Appetite.

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