We love to make things from scratch in our home. From bread to tortillas, I like having food with ingredients I can pronounce. One of the first things we started making was granola. My husband loves how filling it is for him, and our kids love to snack on it dry. Since we make it ourselves, we have complete control over what goes into it. And best of all, it’s far cheaper than the grocery store counterparts.
GRANOLA
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups oat bran
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup olive oil
Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix dry ingredients together. In a liquid measuring cup, add olive oil first and then honey. Heat the oil/honey mixture in the microwave for 30 seconds. Pour the oil/honey mixture over the oats and mix well. If the oats seem too dry after the addition, add more honey, olive oil, or even a little maple syrup to ensure the oats are totally coated. Bake on a well-oiled cookie sheet (or wax paper or a baking mat) for 25 minutes, mixing once during baking. Remove and let cool before storing in an airtight container.
This is a base recipe. In the past, we have added nuts and dried fruit. We love using local honey and one day hope to have our own hives. We also purchase our oats and bran from a local food co-op in bulk, which cuts costs dramatically. When I picked up some oat bran last week, the woman who helped me said that the simple addition of oat bran to her oatmeal in the mornings helped dropped her cholesterol from being borderline high to a more normal level. As a breastfeeding mom myself, I’ve found an increase in milk supply when I eat this due to the oats. And besides, everything tastes better when you make it yourself!
