Crunchy Granola -- Breakfast of Champs!

I always eat breakfast. Without it, I am a grumpy shell of a person. Yet lately, I've been feeling really uninspired to eat in the mornings... Maybe it's the heat but once I start brewing my coffee, there seems to be nothing I want to have with it.

She said she was Grano-lah!

Eggs? Meh. Toast? Hmm... meh. Too hot for oatmeal. And the cereal has been getting old. And suddenly I realized I was craving granola!

Sweet, crunchy granola over yoghurt and fruit!

So, I made some!

This is what I used today:

• 4 cups of oats
• 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 dash each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger powder
• 1 pinch of salt

1. I preheated the oven to about 165 degrees Celsius (around 250 degrees Fahrenheit) and mixed all the ingredients except for the raisins in a large mixing bowl.
2. I spread everything evenly onto a large baking sheet; it was about 1/2 inch thick.
3. I baked for approximately 25 minutes, mixing the granola every 10min or so, so it would brown evenly.
4. I usually add the raisins in for the last 10 or so min, but I totally forgot! So I just added them to the hot granola when I removed it from the oven and it's fine :)
5. The granola is ready when it's a nice golden brown!
6. I get the granola off the baking sheet while it's still hot, so that none of it sticks! I find this much better than letting it cool on the baking sheet and then having to scrape it off later. It also avoids the use of aluminum foil or parchment paper, which I find totally annoying and unnecessary. You can let the granola cool in the mixing bowl before you transfer it to an air-tight container for storage.

Making granola is easy easy and you can pretty much put anything in it that you want, as long as, when you stick it in the oven, the mixture is moist and evenly coated. Different nuts, such as pecans, walnuts or cashews do well; different (fancy!) oils like almond or walnut or coconut oil add delicious flavor; applesauce and other fruit purees can substitute for part of or all of the oil; other dried fruits such as cranberries, dried apricots, coconut, etc. can also be used instead of raisins. And of course you can also use different types of grains and grain mixtures if you prefer!

Enjoy with milk or yoghurt, over fresh summer fruits!