Granola
So.. I know what you're thinking. Granola, like Hippie Do Berkeley 60's tie-died granola? No.. this is a bit more hip, gourmet, delicious and yet you can still have it for breakfast and not really need lunch until say, 2 or 3pm.
I like it because it's got all the goodies but costs the same to make as that overly sweet, overly fatted but not very interesting organic granola from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
Granola
Dry Ingredients:
4 cups thick whole rolled oats
1 cup flax seeds (golden or brown or mix)
1 cup wheatgerm or coconut flour (optional)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds (or some kind of seed, could be sunflower seeds)
8 oz slivered almonds (Trader Joe's sells an 8oz pkg)
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 Ts Nutmeg
1 teasp. salt
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup EV olive oil (I use one that is pressed with oranges when the press the olives.. gives an added orange oil flavor)
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons Vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or lightly oil a 22" x 15" x 1" cookie sheet or pan large enough to hold about 10 cups of granola by the end of it.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Bring wet ingredients to a low simmer in a pan, then pour over the dry ingredients, mix well. Spread the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
Turn the mixture carefully. Add (up to) about 5 cups of some mix of extras evenly across the cookie sheet and turn the whole mixture again. Bake for 15 more minutes. Cool. Makes about 8 cups granola.
Goodies:
2 cups walnuts or pecans or cashews or hazelnuts or brazilnuts or almonds -- chopped or broken up
2 cups cacao nibs (I get these at Whole Foods .. organic at $6.99 a 1/2 lb)
2 cups dried fruits: cherries, golden raisins, cranberries, plums, peaches, apricots, pears, white figs, dates, prunes -- chop up larger things like dried figs or apricots or plums into quarters
1 cup dried or fresh coconut meat (large shreds are sold at the Berkeley Bowl as well)
Good flavor ideas (I buy all this stuff organic at either the Berkeley Bowl or Whole Foods or Trader Joe's:
Sour Cherries - Chocolate (cacao nibs) - Pecan or Walnut
Figs - Chocolate (cacao nibs) - Walnut
Plums - Coconut - Cashew or Almond
Golden Raisins - Apricot - Pecans or Hazelnuts
Fig - Coconut - Brazilnuts or Almond
Cranberries - Chocolate (cacao nibs) - Pecans
Note: the mix in the picture is Sour Cherries, Cacao Nibs and Pecans.