From our Kitchen: Homemade Granola

Remember a few weeks ago when my friend Emily spent the night? Well, we had asked her what she usually eats for breakfast so she'd feel right at home in the morning (and be energized for a full day of travel home). She said usually granola with yogurt. Jay picked some up at the grocery store that afternoon and since Emily left without eating any of it, Jay enjoyed it throughout the week. 

Fast forward to a week later when we're at the grocery store. Jay is about to throw some in the cart & I realize that we have everything we have at home to make our own! And guess what? It will be cheaper AND we can make some that even I can eat (no nuts)! 

I found this recipe that I used as a guideline and got started. 

Here is what you'll need:

Oats (not the quick kind), maple syrup, raw seeds or nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit. The one thing I'm missing in this picture is the butter. You'll need some of that too.

Mix together the oats, raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas), raw sunflower seeds and nuts if you are going to use them. Then melt 2T of butter and mix with 1/2 cup of maple syrup. (Please don't even THINK about using that nasty fake stuff). Slowly drizzle the butter/syrup mix into the dry components and stir until they are coated. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the mixture.

Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The longer you bake, the crunchier it gets. WARNING: Your house will smell REALLY good at this point. 

Put the pan on a cooling rack for about 10-20 minutes until cool. Then layer on the fun stuff. Here I used things that were already in our pantry - raisins, dried apricots, chocolate chips and a few butterscotch chips. You really don't need much of these ingredients - keep in mind that you want to have a nice balance of sweet & salty, crunchy & soft. 

Then mix it all up until it looks like this.

I put into a labeled ziploc freezer bag so that we know which one is mine (no nuts) and Jay's (w/almonds). 

Since it's warm in our place, I store it in the fridge so the chocolate & butterscotch chips stay firm. 

This really is such an easy recipe and it's great to have around the house! So far I've eaten it like cereal (w/milk & sometimes strawberries), mixed into plain yogurt (with or without strawberries), or just by the handful. It would also be really good on ice cream!! 

Enjoy & have a great week!!

xoxo