How to Make Home-Made Wholesome Granola

Granola is great as a snack, with milk as a cereal, or as a topping for yogurt or ice cream. These are just some ways I have enjoyed eating granola for years. I used to always have at least one kind of store-bought granola on hand of course leaning towards the healthier varieties with the least added sugars or funky ingredients. The problem is, even those have too much added sugars that I don't want if I can get around it. For some reason I have always been intimidated of making granola at home even though I have been hearing for a while how simple it is.

Something about home-made just always seemed unknown - I wasn't sure if I had he right ingredients and was intimidated by it. I never knew how it would turn out, how could it be that mixing a few simple ingredients in a bowl and baking at a low temperature would yield anything good. Trust me, after getting over the barrier of making this once, you will be making a new batch of granola every time yours runs out. That's what happened to me.

First of all I'd like to talk a little bit about WHY you should even bother with making granola at home when they are so many so called healthy varieties on the market today. I don't like making anything too complicated and for some reason this always fell under the category of "too complicated".

3 reasons you should make granola at home:

1. It is cheaper. O.k. so this might depend on where you live, discounts, and what kind of mix-ins you like in yours but as a general rule; anything you make at home will be cheaper than ready-made.

I honestly don't remember the brand of granola this is I just snapped a picture of it online as an example.

2. It is healthier. Most of the granola I have found on the market is basically whole oats and sugar (read: cane sugar, brown rice syrup etc.) How many times does it say cane sugar on the label on the right?

If there are healthful add-ins they are insufficient and for me that's the part that really fills me up and gives the nutritional boost I'm looking for in a breakfast or snack. Roasted hazelnuts is one of the last ingredients on the label on the right. For example, by adding lots of pecans, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds as I did in my most recent granola venture. Also, making granola guarantees you will know exactly what it is you are eating. There are no ingredients you have never heard of or added sugars you didn't realize were there.

3. It tastes better. This is the most important part after all. It might take a few tries for you to get an idea of how to make granola your favorite but with homemade granola you have the opportunity to make it exactly how YOU want. You can experiment with different mix-ins as you go to create your own best recipe using what you have on hand. I always thought I needed to go out and buy a specific type of oil, sweetener or nuts to make granola but the truth is most of the items I already had. Sometimes I run out of coconut oil so I use olive oil or canola oil instead. Or maybe you found a recipe for cranberry granola but don't have cranberries. You could use any other dried fruits or just leave them out. I promise it will still be delicious and satisfying.

I hope I have convinced you to try the recipe below. Another option I didn't mention in the recipe itself is to try adding a cup of chopped apples to the pan before baking and a cup of dried cranberries (with no added sugars) after baking for a cran-apple granola.

Edit February 6, 2019: I sent this recipe to a friend of mine whom I consider the guru of granola making :-) . When I sent her the recipe she mentioned that she only bakes the granola and leaves out the rest of the ingredients such as nuts since roasting the nuts reduces their nutritional value. I had never thought about this and wanted to do some research on the topic. From my initial search on Google, it seemed like this health claim was not true but I wanted to be sure so I hopped on PubMed.com in search of any research articles on the topic. I found a few on the topic and the main thing I discovered is that some protein content may be lost as well the polyunsaturated fat content (1,2). However, certain minerals may actually become more bioavailable and may be more easily digested (2). The bottom line is that the difference in nutritional value between roasted or unroasted is so minimal you are best off eating the one you like best. Especially if it means you will make it at home rather buy the store bought one. Also, it highlights the fact that we should always aim to eat a variety of foods prepared in different ways.

Never trust anyone that tells you to drink lemon water EVERY day.

I like to put some aside in this small container for taking on-the-go or to work.

Basic Granola Recipe:

Tools:

Baking sheet pan

parchment paper

1 large bowl

whisk

1 cup and 1/3 cup measuring cup

1 teaspoon measuring spoon

1 large airtight container for storage

Ingredients:

4 cups whole rolled oats - this is the base of the recipe no substitutions here

1-2 cups nuts of choice - pecans, walnuts, slivered or whole almonds work best

1/2 -1 cup seeds of choice - sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame, chia

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

1/2 cup oil - coconut, olive or canola works well.

2/3 cup liquid sugar - molasses, maple syrup or honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 150C (300 F) and line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. Mix all ingredients in the bowl except flax, sesame and chia seeds if using. (You could also leave out the nuts if you don't want them roasted)

3. Spread onto sheet pan.

4. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes mixing every 8 minutes to prevent it from burning.

5. When the granola is golden brown and crunchy take it out of the oven and let cool in the sheet pan without stirring. This helps those delicious clumps to form, then you can break it apart as you like.

6. Once cooled, transfer to an airtight container for storage and add in any other mix ins that you didn't add in the oven such as nuts, seeds and dried fruits (cranberries, dates, coconuts flakes, raisins, dried pineapple etc).

7. Enjoy with yogurt, milk or as a topping for oatmeal.

Easiest most satisfying breakfast - yogurt with homemade granola

Sources:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5597184/

2. https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/nutrition/are-roasted-nuts-unhealthy/