Phyllis’ Homemade Granola

It’s here!

The recipe for my friend Leah’s mom’s delicious homemade granola!

Leah’s mom, Phyllis, made me a batch of her homemade granola when I was in Chicago for my bachelorette party and I raved about it on the blog with promises that I would eventually get the recipe and post it for you guys to enjoy.

Without further ado, here it is:

Ingredients:

• 8 c. old fashioned oatmeal
• 1 1/2 c. wheat germ (1/2 jar)
• 1 c. grated coconut (optional)
• 1/3 c. each of chopped cashews and almonds
• 2 c. sesame seeds
• 2 c. sunflower seeds
• 1 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. canola oil
• 2 c. honey

Directions:

• Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
• Mix the liquids separately until well blended.
• Coat dry ingredients with liquid ingredients.
• Spread onto an ungreased cookie sheet or two 9×13 pans.
• Bake at 350 for 20 min. Then reduce to 250 and turn every 10-15 minutes until browned to suit taste.

This recipe makes a lot of granola, but you can easily make half of the recipe or a quarter of it if there’s only one of you and you don’t want to swim in granola.

Or you can make all of it and be like me and eat it non-stop for days because it really is that good.

Enjoy! 😀

Calories per 1/4 c. serving = 208 (Thank you to blog reader Meredith for calculating this!)

The Return of Hot Cereal

I’ve  taken quite the hiatus from hot cereal. Something about 90-degree weather makes me crave cold yogurt, icy smoothies and fresh fruit for breakfast.

Since Ryan and I still haven’t had the chance to make it to the grocery store for the week, I was relegated to the foods that we had on hand to assemble a tasty breakfast this morning.

I decided to prepare one of my favorite fall and winter morning meals: Brownie batter hot cereal!

Dry Mix

This meal is hot, chocolatey and oh-so-filling. I can’t wait until the chill of the fall sets in (in like two months in Orlando…), so that this breakfast makes an appearance much more often.

Brownie Batter Hot Cereal

Yum, Yum Eat 'Em Up!

And because it was literally calling my name from the pantry, I also enjoyed a small serving of homemade granola.

Granola is Addicting

This granola is so, so good! I’m working on getting the recipe for ya!

(If you’re looking for another good homemade granola recipe, check out this one for nutty apricot granola.)

Workout

That filling breakfast was the perfect post-workout fuel.

Today’s sweat session included a cardio hodgepodge that looked like this:

• 10 min. stair master
• 15 min. arc trainer
• 5 min. stair master
• 20 min. elliptical

It felt good to get a little schweaty this morning!

Question of the Morning

Do you crave different foods depending on the weather?

I love warm comfort foods in the winter and adore fruit salad in the summer. Rainy days always feel like they’re meant for homemade soup!

Would You Like Some Yogurt with That Granola?

After polishing off my homemade granola in one weekend, I snagged a bag of Udi’s natural granola to munch on throughout the week.

Udi's Granola

This stuff if so delicious, it’s dangerous!

Though I was initially attracted to the yummy look of the granola, I bought it after reading its simple list of ingredients: Thick-Cut Rolled Oats, Wildflower Honey, Canola Oil, Raisins, Banana Chips, Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, and Pistachios. It doesn’t get much more natural than that!

This morning I topped my Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and lots o’ granola.

Yogurt! Are you in there???

I stirred in a lot of the granola because I adore the crunch from the nuts and the flavorful banana undertones and wanted the granola to be the highlight of my breakfast. Boy was it ever.

Yummers

To complete my breakfast, I made myself a hot cup of Yogi Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut tea. Delish.

Thursday's Breakfast

—

In other breakfast news, some of you may remember my post on childhood cereals and the crazy amounts of sugar in our old time favorites. Well, here’s a zero-calorie way to enjoy Froot Loops for you lovers of the colorful o’s:

Cereal Light

This is a cereal light! Looks delicious, but I wouldn’t eat it…

Question: What’s your favorite kind of granola?

Runner’s Fuel: Homemade Granola

Before (and after) setting out on a morning five mile run with Sadie, I fueled up on homemade nutty apricot granola.

My Runnin' Buddy

I actually made the granola with the intention of using it as a topping on yogurt or oatmeal throughout the week, but considering the amount I already ate this morning and how delicious it is, I don’t know if it’ll make it to Monday.

I began by chopping dried apricots  until I had a full quarter cup of the fruit.

Sliced Apricot

Overflowing 1/4 c. Apricot

You can easily use a combination of any type of dried fruits: raisins, cherries, cranberries, blueberries, pineapple…

I love all kinds of nutsand conveniently had slivered almonds and walnuts onhand so I added a quarter cup of each to the bowl with the apricots.

Slivered Almonds

Chopped Walnuts

Fruit and Nuts

I poured one and one third cups of overflowing old fashioned oats (not the quick-cooking kind) in with the dried fruit and nuts.

Oats, Apricots, Nuts

To moisten the oat mixture and add sweetness, I combined a quarter cup of honey with three tablespoons of melted butter and drizzled the liquid over the oats, tossing to coat the mixture.

The Sweetness of Honey

Honey Butter

Coated Oat Mixture

After tasting the granola, I decided it needed a little extra oomph and added a liberal amount of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to the mix.

I spread the granola on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and baked it at 350 for 12 minutes. I then stirred the mixture and baked it for an additional eight minutes (or until lightly browned).

Nutty Apricot Granola

Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice

When I took the granola out of the oven it didn’t have the crunchy consistency  that I associate with granola, so I put it in some Tupperware and stuck it in the fridge to harden. Perfect!

 

The spices and nuts really took the granola to the next level. I think I’ll go have some more… Yeah, it’s definitely not going to make it to Monday!