Friday, January 18, 2008

Favorite Ingredients Friday for January 18


I made some homemade granola yesterday -- something I used to do all the time, but had gotten away from. My husband had bought some granola last week and I happened to have some of it for breakfast one day. It was good, but it reminded me that I could easily make my own and save some money. I did, and it turned out so well! Right now I am just going to share the granola as I made it, but later I want to share the formula I use, which is so helpful when making this cereal. There really are endless variations to the basic formula. But here's the recipe for yesterday's

HOMEMADE GRANOLA

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup dry uncooked hot cereal (I used Hodgson Mill Multigrain Hot Cereal)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tblsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla
Chopped dates to taste
Raisins to taste

Preheat oven to 300º. In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, cereal, seeds, nuts, dry milk and spices.

In another bowl or a large measuring cup, combine the oil, brown sugar, water, and vanilla and mix well. Pour over the dry mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Transfer the mixture to a greased 13x9-inch pan and bake at 300º for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven; stir in dates and raisins, and let cool before storing. I store granola either in a plastic bag inside a recycled oatmeal canister, or in a large plastic container intended for cereal storage.

5 comments:

  1. I have been wanting to make this for awhile!

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  2. I haven't made granola in years. Thanks for a great recipe. I really need to make a big batch of this. Thank you and have a great day!

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  3. This sounds really yummy. I love making granola. Do you ever make yours into granola bars? I'm still looking for a bar recipe we like. The hard thing is that we don't care for peanut butter and most of the recipes call for that or a lot of egg (which because of cholesterol we have to limit).

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  4. I made granola for the first time during the holidays. I loved how easy it was.

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  5. Hi ladies,

    So nice to see you all here! I love sharing recipes at my kitchen table! Hope you will try this and that your families will enjoy it.

    Elisha, I haven't made granola bars in a long time, but I went and looked up the recipes I used to use. They both make a 15x10-inch pan. I don't know how many eggs would be too many for you, but one of the recipes calls for 1 egg and the other calls for 2 eggs. I also saw a good-sounding recipe in a Gooseberry Patch cookbook that doesn't have eggs or peanut butter at all. But I haven't tried that one. Let me know if you'd like any of these, OK?

    God bless,
    Mrs.T

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