Granola

Oh my have I been busy! 

I thought summer was supposed to be a break.

I suppose I'm still disillusioned. 

I've been cooking quite a bit, actually.

Here's the thing: not everything I make is blog worthy. 

Shocking, I know. I'll give you a moment to recover...better now?

There are a few reasons for this fact.

1. Not everything I make works out. (Gasp!)

Take rice balls. Typing that, it doesn't even sound good. It tasted worse.

2. Not everything I make is all that original. (Double gasp!)

But say I try a recipe from someone else's site and I don't make it my own. Its already been done and it therefore not blog worthy. However, if someone else's recipe is a real coup for me, you'll hear about. Remember bagels?

3. I forgot to take pictures. (Oh #@$%!)

Darn it! This usually happens when I'm wrist deep in food and the hubs is not around. 

On to lovely granola. 

Remember how oatmeal is one of my favorite foods? Well, this recipe put it up on a pedestal.

I don't know why I ever bothered to buy granola at the store. Especially for $8 a pop!

The homemade stuff is so very, very, (very), tasty! My husband doesn't like store-bought granola, he'd rather just have cereal. Well, after making the first batch, I came home later to him devouring my newly made granola as a snack. 

Bye, bye breakfast. 

Kidding, this isn't really a problem. It's super easy to make.

However, I did hit a couple of hiccups in my recipe research. One of them being nuts.

I'm super-duper allergic. Can't touch the things with out breaking into a rash. Don't even get me started on the worst culprit of all-- PEANUT BUTTER!!! (I hate peanut night at bars).

EVERY granola recipe has nuts in it. Not a huge problem though, I just eliminated the culprit. 

The other issue was the necessity of ingredients I don't ordinarily keep on hand (flaxseed, coconut flakes, dried cherries, etc.). It's not that these ingredients are hard to come by, I just don't keep them in my pantry. And I didn't want to make a homemade batch of granola that cost $12 because I had to buy ingredients. 

Plus, I don't want the same thing every time. Granola, like oatmeal, is a blank slate for adding all types of nummy toppings (strawberries, bananas, dates, yogurt, chocolate & cherries, etc, etc...). Who wants to eat the same flavors everyday with all the possibilities that are out there?

Solution...I picked and chose what I liked from a variety of recipes and developed my own. 

(Yay for originality in a common food!)

The result is basically a spiced and sugared baked oatmeal. Or Amy's Granola (I like the sound of that).

5 cups old fashioned oatmeal or, one entire small canister.

2 t cinnamon, 1 t ground ginger, 1 t sea salt, 1/2 t nutmeg

Add spices to oatmeal and mix together.

In a saucepan, cook over medium heat: 

1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 brown sugar.

Here's a trick: measure out oil first, then use the same measuring cup to for the honey. 

When you pour the honey out, it won't sick to the sides of the measuring cup!

I discovered this by accident and thought, "Nice..."

Stir it up...

...until smooth and combined.

Pour over oatmeal mixture and stir to combine.

Spread over baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone sheets. I needed to use 2 baking sheets.

Bake at 300 for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely on baking sheet. 

Then you can break apart the granola. 

Place some in a bowl. Add milk and your own unique toppings.