Monday's Meal 2/22/10

Monday, February 22, 2010

This Monday's meal isn't really a meal - although if you poured milk over it, it could be breakfast! Today I made granola - and my son had to eat some before I could even get it completely cooled, LOL! It's really simple to make:

 
some of the granola ingredients


Homemade Granola
4 c. rolled oats (not instant)
1-1.5 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/ tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. cooking oil
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. raisins

Mix oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
In a saucepan, warm oil, honey, and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture, and mix gently until blended. Spread the granola mix on a 15X10X1 baking pan, and bake 40 minutes at 300 degrees - stirring mixture every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, cool, and mix in raisins. Store in an airtight container.

You can add just about anything you want to the granola. I added ground flax seed, walnuts, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, and extra raisins to my mix.

Also, if you prefer your granola to be chewier, you can let it air dry rather than bake it in the oven. If you dry your granola, you can add fruit any time - if you bake it, you should wait until after the granola is baked & cooled before adding fruit.

 
oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon
 
 
oil, honey, & vanilla
 
 
dry mixture - oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, walnuts, & almonds
 
 
wet & dry ingredients mixed - granola ready to be baked
 
 
baked granola at the cooling stage
 
 
the finished product!

If you try it, let me know! 


2 comments:

Jessica said...

Have you made it in another pan size? I don't have a pan that size, but I may need to buy one just to make it. Yum. :)

Kim said...

I haven't, but you probably could. I think this size just spreads it out more so it gets crunchier. With a smaller pan it would just be chewier or you could increase the baking time. Or if you like it chewier then it's all good! LOL!