Homemade Granola-Healthy Start to the New Year

Hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday season. To start the New Year on a healthy note, I’ve two easy granola recipes. I gave Granola as Holiday give-away gifts this year to my co-workers and everyone seemed to like them, so I’m glad that I took time to make some home-made granola instead of buying things that I’m not if they are going to use or not.

Quick & Easy Granola: First granola I made is extremely easy and I just followed the most basic granola formula-Grains+Seeds/Nuts+Mixings+Dry fruit+Sweetener+Flavoring. So here’s how I made this simple granola:

Ingredients:
Rolled oats (Grains)– 4cups
Wheat Germ (Mixing) – ½cup
Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas) – ¼cup
Sliced Almonds – 1 cup
Pure Maple syrup – ½ cup
Canola Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - ½tsp
Dry cherries – ½ cup
Raisins – ½ cup

Method:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Toss the oats, almonds, wheat germ, pepitas with the maple syrup, oil and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, tossing once, until golden and crisp, about 25 to 30 minutes.
• Add the dried fruit as soon as the granola comes out of the oven and toss to combine.
• Let cool. Keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Granola: When I saw this recipe in 500 Vegan Recipes cookbook, I could only think of one of my co-workers. She always has PB&J sandwiches for lunch and I wanted to make a batch of this granola just for her.

Ingredients:

Old fashioned Rolled Oats – 1½ cups

Brown Rice powder – ½ cup, divided

Creamy Peanut Butter – ¼cup

Your favorite Jelly/ Jam – ¼ cup (I used blackberry jam)

Sugar - 2tbsp

Cinnamon - ½tsp

Water - ¼cup

Salt - ¼tsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine the peanut butter, sugar and water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30-60 seconds so that the peanut better is more manageable.
• Stir in 2tbsp of brown rice flour, cinnamon, salt and oats. The mixture will be very thick and quite unmanageable at this point, just place it on the baking sheet and combine using your fingers.
• Sprinkle the remaining 2tbsp of brown rice flour on top and work it in gently until it is completely incorporated. Try not to break the granola chunks too much while doing this.
• Add the jam in little pieces, try to leave them as chunks or bits instead of mixing and coating the granola.
• Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.
• Bake for 8 minutes. Stir well.
• Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
• Let cool and transfer into an airtight container. Store in the fridge once completely cooled.

I also made Chocolate-Cherry Granola from Nupur's blog and kept a container for myself after giving away 3 of them. Homemade granola is extremely easy, quick and very inexpensive to make. Compare them to the ones you get in the grocery store, they are fresh and not laden with preservatives and chemicals. I'll sure be making these granolas more this year.