homemade granola

This morning I woke up craving yogurt and granola, unfortunatly we were out of granola, however I saw this as a perfect oppertunity to finally get around to making some homemade granola. The recipe I found online turned out great, I'll be surprised if there is any left by Friday!

Easy Homemade Granola

from "Baked: New Frontiers in Baking" by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole almonds

1/3 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins over the granola and voila!

Once cooled completely store in an air tight container.

The granola will keep for one week.

The only thing that I did differently from the recipe is that I added the almonds and raisins in when I was mixing it all with the wet ingredients because I thought it would be nice to have them coated with the wet mixture as well and I also thought it was a bit odd to wait till the granola was completely cooled to add the raisins. The raisins did puff up while in the oven but were just fine in the end and the granola tasted great overall!

If anyone gives this recipe a go let me know what you think or what changes you made if any.

Enjoy!

summer is here!

Although summer officially begins June 21st, for me summer has arrived! This past weekend absolutely ensured me that yes indeed summer is now here and I for one am loving it. Our family always has had a hard time staying at home or really anywhere indoors for such matters but now it has become even harder. I have the need to spend every waking moment outdoors exploring and feeling all that summer has to offer. This weekend we went for a jog/hike up in Nisene Marks, Sal and I went for some early morning surf, we went berry picking, had a picnic by the beach and I even went for a swim in the ocean sans wetsuit (so refreshing)!! Everything there is to do in summer absolutely rocks and every year when summer is once again upon us I always feel like there is too much to do and simply not enough time to experience it all. Seriously I love summer so much that if we ever have a daughter I may just have to name her that!