Homemade Granola

Granola is awesome.  Yup, that’s a fact.     😉   Let’s see.  It’s tasty and it can be eaten in a variety of ways to suit your mood.

I used to eat store-bought granola all the time until I started reading labels.  Many of the ones in the store are full of sugar, fat, and processed ingredients.  What?!  I was shocked.  A food that is typically sold as “healthy” isn’t always so.  That taught me it is important to read food labels.  Most store-bought granola isn’t doing me any favors on my weight loss journey, so I stopped eating granola.

Years later, I’m still on my quest to lose weight but I’m back to eating granola, homemade granola specifically.  I like knowing that my granola is made with all natural ingredients and I can control how much (or how little) sugar and fat goes into it.

 

The rolled oats, wheat germ, and oat bran are great sources of fiber, protein, and vitamins.  Rolled oats (also called old fashioned oats) are thick and perfect for making granola because they will hold their shape through the baking process.  As opposed to quick oats or instant oats, both of which have been pre-cooked and are often rolled thinner or cut into smaller pieces.

Wheat germ and oat bran may not be ingredients you typically have in your cabinets but  they are inexpensive and once you eat this granola you’ll want to have them handy to make it again. 🙂   I also find other uses for these ingredients, like adding a teaspoon of wheat germ to my yogurt to increase the protein or making oat bran hot cereal.

In case you don’t know what wheat germ and oat bran looks like, I used the brands below.

I think sunflower seeds, almonds, and pecans are ideal for granola but feel free to use nuts that you like.  The pecans are easy to chop but the almonds tend to fly everywhere so I recommend buying pre-chopped almonds.

I think this granola has the perfect amount of sweetness.  This recipe does have sugar in it but it’s very little and it’s spread out over several servings.  The maple syrup and honey are great alternate ingredients to use in place of using high amounts of white and brown sugars.

When you take the granola out of the oven it tends to be a bit soft. Don’t worry it will all harden up once it’s cooled.

Mmmm…crunch-tacular and full of nutty goodness!

My husband said that our kitchen smelled like I was making French toast.       🙂

Alone this granola is amazing!   I’ll put some in a little baggie to have as a snack on the go.  I also love combining it with other food.  I enjoy eating granola with yogurt for breakfast and I also like to combine the granola with apple slices and peanut butter for a snack.

Feel free to add dried fruit, other spices, or chocolate to the granola.  Yes, I had to go there with the chocolate.     😉    If you add ingredients with sugar in them it will will increase the amount of fat and calories so be careful.

Rating:

Adapted from: All Recipes