Healthy and Hearty Breakfast Granola Who am I kidding, it’s any time of day granola!

So, maybe I’m stretching the truth when I call it healthy. Maybe! If you’re watching sugar and fat you might want to keep walking. However, it’s fresh, not processed with no chemicals and it tastes crazy good and that’s half the battle.  A plate of cupcakes will sit in my kitchen until they get tossed out. If I make five quart jars of this and they eat it all in a few days. I wanted to take a jar to my friend Maria so I had to hide it to avoid it being gobbled up before I could get to her.

My son Joe is my biggest fan of granola. He’s a 6’6” high school senior athlete with a voracious appetite for food that fuels his body effectively. I just read that I would have to walk 7000 steps to burn off one breakfast sandwich from McDonald’s. Geeez, that’s not a win win. I’m not sure how far I would have to walk to burn off a bowl of this crunchy goodness but I’m pretty sure the antioxidants and wholesome goodness is doing great things for my body that the other breakfast choices will not.

This is a family recipe that changes according to what’s available in my pantry. Get creative! Change out the fruits and nuts to your favorites. Let me know what adaptations worked for your family. We love dried apricots in our granola.  For this batch I was at Whole Foods picking up some of the ingredients I needed.  They were out of dried apricots.  Whaaaat!? As it turned out they had some in the bulk section.   BUT they were Turkish Dried Apricots.  Instead of the sweet, pretty, orange, little circles of fruit they were dark brown shriveled and ugly.  Wait, there’s a moral here.  The clerk urged me to taste one. They were amazing! They are sweeter that the usual ones with more intense apricot flavor.  Pretty is not always better!  Of course I know that but who knew it applied to apricots.  Look for Turkish apricots kids, they are the best!

Healthy and Hearty Breakfast Granola

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 pound of butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

 

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup coconut finely grated
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup flax seeds
• 1 pound oatmeal (You can use gluten free oatmeal)
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 3/4 cup dried apricots chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cherries

METHOD

• In a medium sized sauce pan melt together the brown sugar, sugar, butter, honey and peanut butter. Once removed from heat add the vanilla.
• On a baking sheer covered with parchment, toss together all nuts, seeds, coconut and oatmeal. Toast in oven at 350° for just 5 minutes to bring out flavors (don’t over do it).
• Combine the melted mixture and the toasted mixture and toss together. Pour back onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 10 minutes.
• Toss it again. Continue to bake until the granola is dark brown but do not let it burn. You have to just keep an eye on it at this point. Remove from oven. It will still look a bit caramel-y (I made that word up)
• Place the dried fruit all over the top. Toss it lightly just a bit. Allow it to cool. Break into small pieces. Taste it, it’s gooooood! Serve with milk, almond milk, yogurt, ice cream, with your favorite fruit or enjoy plain.  I store mine in glass canning jars with a wide mouth and a tight lid.

Enjoy!