Finally...

[liralen]

... I kept wanting granola for my breakfast to eat with all the berries that are coming into season with some yogurt. I missed the crunch. And every time I'd go to a grocery store I'd see the $5 or $6 a pound all-natural granola without ingredients I couldn't pronounce and I just couldn't buy it, because... well... *granola*. It's like toasting bread... just a little longer, so I FINALLY made granola this afternoon because I was so tired of *wanting* it all the time.

Yeah, the same philosophy has ended up with a dozen bottles of homemade root beer, too. From the extract it's just water, sugar, yeast (I'll admit to champagne yeast as it tastes better than baker's yeast in drinks), and a spoonful of root beery goodness. Bottle it, wait three days and it's root beer. Jet's going through it like mother's milk. It's summer. He gets spoiled and I know there's no corn syrup in that pop. It's like $2 to make a whole gallon compared to $4 a four pack of the good stuff.

God, now I'm craving writing how Chris of Silver and Black got wings tattooed onto his back... maybe that'll end up the same way.



4-6 cups rolled oats (not instant, not quick oats, nothing fancy, just oats rolled through rollers, less if you like a sweeter granola, more if you like it plainer or just want to make a bigger batch)
1-2 cups of raw nuts (anything you like, sesame seeds, cashews, pecans is what I ended up with)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (could use butter if you'd prefer)
a splash of vanilla (probably ~ 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp salt

I mixed the last five things together and poured on the first two, mixed until everything was coated and then put it into a 300° oven and after 15 minutes stirred it, let it go another 15 minutes and stirred it and then it smelled done so I took it out. (probably another 5 or 10 minutes).

I don't like dried fruit, but if you want it, add it after it's cooled and stick into an air-tight container and eat. I admit that I think of mine as like the topping for fruit cobbler, but I don't cook the fruit. *laughs*

Comments

[crabby-crab.livejournal.com]

Ah! I've actually wanted a recipe for granola! And this looks so easy... Mmmm, granooooola.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! You can substitute any kind of flavor you want for the vanilla, too... I know some people use cinnamon or cardamom or almond extract or orange flavoring to go with dried cranberries. *laughs* If you like it in oatmeal, it's probably good on granola, too.

And you can just use all brown sugar, the oil will help it stick, or use honey instead of maple or all kinds of things.

Have fun with it! And, yeah, it's *easy*. Which is why I just couldn't buy it. *laughs*

[crabby-crab.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not exactly the industrious type, so I normally just go ahead and buy things like this, but this is really too easy. And cheap! I have no excuses. And so many options to customize! You've made me really hungry for granola now. And I only have Wal-Mart brand Rice Krispies. And no milk. *cries*

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*hands a tissue*

That is sad. But now you have a solution! I even buy bulk oats as they seem to come cheap even when they're organic, now. Whew.

[tamago.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I'm craving granola. I'll have to do this. I made granola bars last year, adding some puffed rice for bulk, and they turned out quite nicely, with a good crunch that didn't shred my gums up. I do love me some oats.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Ooo... very nice when it doesn't shred your gums.

I do crave toasted oats now and again. As you can see. *laughs*

[crimini.livejournal.com]

Ooo looks good! I'm going to make granola bars tomorrow! I just bought all the ingredients today! We go through so many and they're really just as simple, so I thought, why not? :D

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oooo!? What's your recipe?

[incandescens]

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that sometimes the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. :)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

What a lovely quote. And very, very appropriate to the day. *laughs*

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

That sounds pretty good actually. We like Quaker Harvest Crunch in my house but only buy it when it's on sale as $6 for a box of cereal is insane.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

That is a lot of money. Whew...

Yeah, I just can't bring myself to pay those prices. *laughs* If you do make it I'd love to know what you think.

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

That is Canadian money, but even still, it'd be about $5US and that's crazy price for cereal. And apparently, that cereal is a Canadian thing as several of my US friends had no freaking idea what it was until they Googled it *giggles*.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*laughs* That is pretty funny.

I could have sworn we have something like that locally... yeah... our King Soopers has it. But it is pretty new here. *thoughtfuls*

[greenlion.livejournal.com]

We got wintergreen and other ingredients, and dug up some sassafras roots, to make root beer ourselves. Haven't done it yet, but soon!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

MMmmm... that sounds wonderful!! Real Sassafras can't be bought in brew stores anymore because of some chemical compound in it. *laughs* So we make do with extract.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

ooh, that could save a chunk of money - own brand granola is still way more expensive than jumbo oats and dried fruit ;-) thatnks for the recipe... that sounds quite sweet though, with combined half-cup of sugar - did that come out standard US granola sweet or a little less so?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's standard American Sweet with only 4 cups of oats. With the six it's a bit more like Scottish oat cakes sweet (as that's the only comparison I can think of), as with six it'll fill a half sheet pan (that's a lot of oats), but you can cut down on the sugar as much as you want. It's not necessary for the toasting of the oats.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I think that's what we call 'muesli' here but this sounds much nicer. Thanks for the recipe.

We don't have root beer either but this is the time of year when we can make elderflower champagne.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... close... thought I believe(?), not sure though, that muesli isn't toasted or sweetened for that matter... *laughs* You're very welcome!

Mmmmm... wow... elderflower champagne sounds wonderful! What's in it?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Elder is a type of large shrub that has big bunches of tiny white flowers at this time of year and bunches of sour dark red/black berries in the autumn. I'm not sure if you have it over there but here it grows wild.

Take a bucket and put in 2 gallons of cold water, 2lbs of sugar, 4 tablespoons of white vinegar, juice of 2 lemons then just drop the squeezed halves in the bucket. Pick 6 really nice fresh heads of elderflower and shake off any insects and pick off any dead bits then drop those into the bucket as well. Stir until the sugar dissolves and cover the bucket with a clean dish cloth.

Stir it occasionally for the first 24 hours then strain it into sterilised bottles. Plastic bottles with screw caps are the safest. After 2 weeks you should have a very mildly alcoholic fizzy drink with a flavour all of its own. It's fresh and refreshing and just - mmyum!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds very, very good indeed.

Thank you very much for the recipe!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected! A German friend has said that muesli is both toasted and sweetened. *giggles* So, yes... it is the same!

[mysocalledhell.livejournal.com]

oh man, that sounds so good. I might just have to try this some time.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*grins* Go for it! It's eeeeeasy!

[nosferatu-blue.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for sharing these recipes. I've had a hankering for granola and yogurt lately, and the concept of making it myself is very appealing. (I'm looking into making a lot of stuff for myself to avoid all those chemicals and... oh yeah, high prices! ^_^)

Where did you find the recipe? Are you on any mailing lists or anything like that?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Sure thing!

Uhm... I think it was actually an Alton Brown Good Eats recipe that I then further modified to fit the way I like granola (sweetness, salt, nut ratios and amount of oatmeal) and the way my oven works. I don't think I could do it as low and slow as he does.

[annieroo2.livejournal.com]

Yum homemade root beer!

Oh that granola sounds like something even ranger could eat. I'm gonna copy that in case I ever get ambitious. XD

[liralen.livejournal.com]

XD It's good to be ambitious. It's the first thing I ate when I got back home. *laughs* It's good to have something that's just comfortable.