Molly Cookie

Healthy Attempt: Nutty Granola

Aug 25, 2009 Breakfast, Food Things, Healthy, Snacks, Yummy

Sometimes I get urges to improve myself. They happen interspersed between long periods of time that include lots of staying up late and letting laundry pile up. Often, when I get these urges, I make lists. Sometimes I list all of the ways I want to improve. The list often includes things like eating healthier, working out, waking up earlier, and making the bed every morning. More often than not those things don’t happen, but I do put them on the list and then I’ll sit for about an hour looking at the list and thinking about all the ways I could make those changes happen in my life if I wanted to. Writing and thinking… they almost seem productive.

But, there are times when something good comes out of my longing to improve, and this weekend that came in the form of granola. When I made my list this weekend of ways to improve, eating breakfast was on that list, which I thought is something I could actually enjoy doing something about. “What’s a healthy breakfast?” I thought to myself. I opened my computer, went to the Food Network website, clicked on the Healthy Eating tab, and right there on the page was a link to 4 of Ellie’s Power Breakfasts. I watched the recipes (I say watched, because now they have this weird thing on their website where you can’t read some of the recipes, you have to watch them) and decided on Ellie’s Nutty Granola. Now, I don’t know who Ellie is, but she seemed very nice and the granola looked easy and delicious, so I thought I would give it a try. Now… just in case some of you think I’m crazy for not knowing who Ellie is (which I very well may be, she could be extremely famous), I don’t have the Food Network, so I don’t watch it. Believe me, if I had it I’m sure it would be on all the time at my house, but since I don’t have it I just don’t watch it so I don’t know who the chefs are anymore really. When I lived with my parents I watched it all the time, so I know who Emril, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Tyler Florence (my favorite… I think I have a little crush on him), Gale Gand, and all those few-years-ago big shots are. It’s just the new guys I have a hard time with.

Back to the granola. This really is NUTTY granola, but I love nuts so it worked out great. It also has a very distinct cinnamon flavor, which I also loved. As I browsed granola recipes after I made this one, I was surprised how many didn’t include cinnamon since I loved it so much in this recipe. Every morning now when I open my jar to pour some in a bowl the scent of cinnamon pours out, and I love it. I like my granola with a little bit of soy milk. It’s delicious. When we were on our honeymoon in Jamaica I had the best granola I’ve ever had in my life, and putting this granola over soy milk is the closest I’ve come to recreating that experience. It’s still not the same, but it’s close.

Ellie’s Nutty Granola
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup raisins (I made this once putting the raisins in before baking and they got overcooked and really chewy. The second time I made it I put the raisins in after baking, and it was much better)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread them out over a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until everything starts to get golden brown. Store in a jar or Tupperware container and serve 1/2 cup at a time over soy milk, regular milk, or yogurt. It will be more than enough for breakfast all week.

At least I took a step in the attempt to cross something off of my list to improve myself. I might be overdoing it, but I also took another step in crossing “working out” off of my list. I bought some new running shoes. Now the next step is to use them. I think the mere fact that they are green gives me a better chance of using them very soon. I like pretty things.

Tags: food network granola recipe, granola recipe, nutty granola