Granola: A yummy food... and also a lifestyle discriptor.

I have been known to wax philosophical on granola... the food, the lifestyle... the fact that on more than one occasion I have heard this word called out in a crowd and known, instinctively, that it was a moniker for myself and not anybody else. And I was right!  I have heard tell that granola is indigestible. This may be true and I have yet to test this information any double blind control groups... in the mean time I will continue to make and eat this stuff... cause it's delicious. And it makes me feel like a million bucks. And yes, this could very well be because it's an awesome way to eat lots of indigestible fiber that cleans out my insides... so what? It's been a much more enjoyable experience eating this on the regular than it ever has been to take phsylum husks powder. Bleckity-bleck-bleck-blecks! All that being said.... I make granola frequently and unapologetically and I savor the results with a relish bordering on food worship. Here is my recipe.

Homemade Granola
makes about 10 cups

Ingredients:
6-7 cups oats

1-2 cups "fillers" (this could be nuts, seeds etc)

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 cup honey

1 cup oil ( olive oil is great, coconut oil is divine.)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp flax seed meal

 

 

Method:

Butter a large casserole and fill with the dry ingredients. Give this a little stir while your honey and oil heat up until just warm and mixable. I prefer to to this little warm up act in a sauce pan on the stove. Add the vanilla to the honey and oil and then pour the wet over the dry and stir until it's allwell coated and glistening. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and stir. Bake another 15 minutes and stir again. Might need a little bit more to just perfectly toast your cereal... this is a case by case basis. Use your best judgement. Once it appears to be perfectlygolden brown take it out of the oven sprinkle with the flax seed meal and give that a stir. Then let it sit until room temp. Somehow, magically, when you leave it alone to cool like this it clumps into delicate little crunchy clusters. Fresh, homemade granola is fantastic as a breakfast or snack we usually enjoy our granola topped with some fresh fruit and our homemade yogurt.