My fantastically talented brother Jay who is one hell of a writer and a smart cookie recently asked me for some healthy snack ideas. What a challenge! Is there technically such a thing as a healthy snack? Well I think so! Above you see lots of pieces of fruit with some high quality vanilla yogurt drizzled with honey and sprinkled with homemade granola. Not too shabby! The hardest part of this kind of snack is the granola. Most granolas are full of the fat and preservatives. I had never made granola myself so I thought I would give it a try.
I turned to the every inspiring Alton Brown’s for his recipe of granola. You put a bunch of oats in a bowl with two cups of nuts, sweet coconut, brown sugar, maple syrup, oil and salt:
I had all these almost-empty little bags of nuts so I just threw them in. I also added some cinnamon to the granola which felt like a perfect fit for the recipe.
Put on two baking sheets and bake in a low oven for just over an hour. I totally did not see the part where you were suppose to stir the granola every 15 minutes! Doh! It was fine, just stuck a little, no big deal.
Delicious! My house filled up with the scent of cinnamon, I love it when that happens! I decided to add some raisin for contrasting texture and additional sweetness. This made a lot of granola so I put most of it in my freezer for future fruit salads and trail mixes. This recipe was simple, took some time but not all day and is very delicious! I hope you considering trying to make your own granola one day soon.
I love making my own granola! I don’t like it very sweet, so just use a drizzle of agave nectar or honey – & it’s a perfect way to sneak in some coconut oil, tee hee! I also use coconut flakes 🙂
& I don’t cook it as long, I used to add rolled oats (uncooked) to commercial OG granola, to tame down the sweetness; now I use the gluten free oats, since we’ve made that shift . . . & ‘of course’ top with ‘yummy sprinkles’ 🙂
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Oh this sounds SO good!! I want to try it. Once the weather gets cooler here, I’ll feel better about “firing” up the oven. (It’s been quite warm here the last couple days!) I think this will work well for me rather than buying granola. It seems to be way more laden with sugar than it needs to be! (I don’t like raisins, but I do like other dried fruits, so that’s how I’d go!)
I enjoy granola like you show it here – with fruit and yogurt. I just made granola bars recently and have been thinking I need to try granola. This looks like the ticket – thanks! Love the pics!
Here is my recipe. I like to puree the fruit and nuts mainly because my kids won’t eat a lot of things if they can identify it – but they love this granola!
Oh, and here is my recipe for granola bars
I love this granola recipe! I think I want to make it again sometime soon. It’s a perfect snack.
This is serious serendipity at work it is freaking me out! This holistic nutritionist I am working with has asked me to eat raw for 3 days. I was just saying what the heck will I do without my morning oatmeal and my hubbie said why not granola and lo an beyold here is a recipe I can try!!! THANKS, you must have read my mind.