Home made granola

[Rachel Squires]

Hiya,

As most breakfast cereals seem to come loaded with sugar and are packaged for freshness rather than for the environment, here's my answer - a homemade Granola, full of essential nutrients, dead easy to make and delicious too!

Get a nice big mixing bowl and add
3 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of mixed nuts and seeds (I buy my nuts from Julian Greaves and smash them up with a rolling pin, then use half a cup of nuts and make up the rest with sunflower seeds, linseeds, pumpkin seeds and poppy seeds)
1 cup of dessicated coconut
pinch of salt
1tsp mixed spice
half cup of honey or maple syrup
A couple of tbs of water to help binding
(I melt set honey in a drop of water, it tastes the same as maple syrup and means I can use local produce)

mix the lot together and try to combine some into clusters
bake on flat trays (this quantity fills two of my trays) in the oven for 40 mins or so at about 140 degrees c, turning occasionally to prevent burning. The aim is to achieve a lovely golden colour which will give a good crunchy texture.

Store in an air tight container and enjoy with dried fruit and milk or yoghurt.

Best wishes

Rachel.

[marshlander]

Sounds yummy - and WI members get a discount in Julian Graves!

[Shirley]

That's just what I needed - I buy my nuts and oats via the neeps food co-op and I've got them in a jar with oats and raisins at the moment, but this sounds much more exciting

[ina]

Sounds yummy - and WI members get a discount in Julian Graves!

I agree it sounds very nice - but I don't understand your WI and Julian Graves reference? Who's he when he's at home?

[mrsflibble]

MMMMMMMMMMMMM I love granola. I use honey local to my mum (bloke up the road aparently) and I don't use the coconut 'cos I don't like the texture.

I also use mostly hazelnuts and brazils 'cos I'm none too keen on almonds.


Julian Graves is a health food shop; health food except for their glacé cherries which are coloured with ground up neon spacemen.

[Rachel Squires]

Sorry, I should have been more specific - maybe Julian Graves is an East Midlands thing. Basically, they sell things like nuts, seeds and fruit in bigger quantities than you can get in the more usual outlets.

The granola recipe is good and not too sweet. problem is that I enjoy it so much I tend to have bigger and bigger helpings! I tried it the otherday with some of last seasons blackberries that I froze down and that worked really well too!

Rach.

[Rachel Squires]

Ps Mrs Flibble, I know what you mean about the Glace cherries - very day glo!

[ina]

Julian Graves is a health food shop; health food except for their glacé cherries which are coloured with ground up neon spacemen.

Ah - thank you. Yeah, we don't have him up here. I get my bulk health foods from SUMA, and they have wonderful organic glace cherries... NOT cheap, but they taste like real cherries!!! Really worth it, for all the once or twice a year that I use them.