Saturday Breakfast: Homemade Granola

It has been a week since I wrote and I took the week to try and relax a little from traveling, visitors and the holidays. I have been eating clean and running a lot and trying to get back in the groove of healthy life {cookies not included, sad}. I am a huge breakfast person and recently I find myself running out the door in the morning getting a wrap at Starbucks, no good, instead of eating at home! I was reading Whole Living and came upon this recipe for Granola and thought it would be delicious to make at home or grab a bag on the go!

Store bought Granola can be full of sugar and way high in fat! I am really trying to not buy any processed food and cook a lot from scratch, my saying is "Eat cleaner!". That is one of my 2012 goals. Didn't have time to make lunch, don't let me run to Panera, drive home instead or even to Whole Foods.

I made 6 cups of yummy homemade granola, the recipe I used is at the bottom of this post. I bottled it up in cute jars and added little labels to stash away in my kitchen.

Beau was commenting this morning how delish he thinks it is. Without adding yucky sweeteners and tons of sugar I managed to make it taste sweet and full of flavor! A pot of french press coffee, some greek yogurt, fresh berries and fresh flowers and our Saturday breakfast was sunny and perfect.

Even Sir Oliver thought it smelled yummy!;)

Ingredients:

6 cups old-fashioned oats

• 1 1/4 cups almonds & walnuts, etc., coarsely chopped.
• 1/3 cup flaxseed meal, wheat germ, a mixture of the two
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup sweetener, such as honey, agave syrup, or molasses
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup dried fruit, blueberries, cranberries, figs, coarsely chopped

Granola Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine the oats, nuts, seeds,
   flax and/or wheat germ, and
   cinnamon in a large bowl. In another
   bowl, whisk the egg whites and the
   salt until frothy. Whisk in the
   sweetener and the olive oil. Add wet
   ingredients to dry ingredients, and
   stir until the oats are evenly coated.

3. Transfer mixture to two rimmed baking sheets and spread flat.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip with a spatula, moving granola from the outer edges to the center of the sheet. Continue to cook until golden, about 10 minutes more. (If the granola starts to brown too much at the edges, gently stir those parts into the middle.)

5. Cool completely on pan, then transfer to a bowl and gently stir in the dried fruit.