Easy and Inexpensive Granola
4 cups oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup buckwheat groats
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/4 cup any available chopped nuts
2 tablespoon wheat germ (optional)
1/2 cup or more any dried fruit that you like, cut in small pieces
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sweetener (maple syrup, brown sugar, whatever)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
This recipe is infinitely variable according to whatever you have on hand. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In large shallow baking pan, combine all of the grain and seed ingredients. Combine sweetener and oil in small pan, heat until it it is smooth and hot. Pour over the seed mixture and stir. Add spices, put the whole thing in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Stir after about 15 minutes. Let cool, add dried fruits; mix will keep almost forever in air-tight container. Delicious as a cold cereal with soy milk, or add soy milk and fresh fruit and heat until slightly boiling (about a minute in microwave) for a quick and delicious porridge.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Just made this and it came out great! I used agave instead of maple and ground flax and pistacios instead of pumpkin and sesame. Think I may add a little more agave next time. But it tastes great and I'm enjoying some right now with soymilk as a night time snack :-)
Excellent! We've got breakfast for next week! And so nutritious! I love throwing so many grains, seeds and nuts together and watching my toddler eat it! I used alomnds and cashews, whole and ground flax seed. Only a little bit of oil and some maple syrup. Yummy!
I'm making this right now. Hopefully it turns out bc my brown sugar + oil wasn't blending when I heated it and after about 15 min (with stirring) it became more candy-like, like caramel, so...I just poured it on bc I was afraid it would burn. I'm excited to eat this! I used rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, almonds and dried cranberries. :)
loved this recipe..i used as a guide for mine. I used 4c spent grain, 1 tbsp of brown sugar, 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil, a bunch of nuts chopped up, sesame seeds and some nutmeg...very simple...but was great...will post picture soon
I decided to make this after reading the awesome reviews. I've made this a few times and it really is good! With two childern, I need foods that are easy to make and this is so simple and quick! I love the crunch from the sesame seeds and buckwheat. One time I ran out of oats and just made it without and it was still awesome! I make this to keep at my parents' house for a healthy snack for my 2-year-old daughter when we stop by after errand-running. I just leave out the nuts because of her food allergy and add more seeds or buckwheat. It tastes really good as a cereal with homemade rice milk (http://www.mothering.com/sections/recipes/rice-milk.html).