Sure, I’ve been making my own Larabars and granola for a minute now but I’ve never even considered making my own granola bars. The funny thing is I generally find myself underwhelmed by the granola bars available in the supermarket. They generally have a lot of sugar, the ingredients [...]]]>

Sure, I’ve been making my own Larabars and granola for a minute now but I’ve never even considered making my own granola bars. The funny thing is I generally find myself underwhelmed by the granola bars available in the supermarket. They generally have a lot of sugar, the ingredients aren’t that awesome and they aren’t at all fillings. A lot of these bars are like candy bars with oats. Don’t get me wrong, I eat them, but I’m generally disappointed.

I happened to be flipping through Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics and noticed that Ina has a recipe for granola bars. I’ve flipped through this book dozens of times and have never noticed that before! I already had all of the ingredients in my cupboard (except for the wheat germ) so I decided to make me some granola bars!

I followed the recipe for the most part but used coconut oil instead of butter to keep the dairy out.  The great thing about this recipe is that you can really customize the mix-ins to meet your personal tastes.  Why not swap out the honey for maple syrup?  Or use dried cherries instead of cranberries?  Hazelnuts would be fabulous too.

I’m so in love with these granola bars!  They aren’t super chewy like the Quaker oats bars and they are not as crunch as the Nature’s Valley bars – they are somewhere in the middle.  I love that they aren’t too sweet and actually feel like they might be a bit healthy.  They are totally packed with goodness and made a nice little breakfast for me once I arrived at work.  I’m looking forward to trying this again with some variations.

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My trip to Stratford reminded me how much I love homemade granola. I normally use this recipe from my friend Amanda and love it. However while in Stratford a few people mentioned that my friend Bonita over at Bon Eats had a recipe worth checking out. [...]]]>

My trip to Stratford reminded me how much I love homemade granola. I normally use this recipe from my friend Amanda and love it. However while in Stratford a few people mentioned that my friend Bonita over at Bon Eats had a recipe worth checking out. So that’s what I did.

The recipe is simple, as most granola recipes are. This one differs from my usual recipe because it doesn’t include egg whites. As a result the granola is less clustery — which is fine. For my mix-ins I used a combination of dried cranberries and figs for my fruits (cherries were pretty expensive) and pecans and walnuts for my nut selection. Because I have a HUGE jar of natural honey I used a mixture of half honey and half maple syrup. What I really like about this recipe is the spice combination. The cardamom is really the clincher here. I also enjoy the subtle maple flavour.

I’ve been eating this yogurt with my beloved Liberte Yogurt (the Mediterranee variety in black cherry) which is totally delicious. If I’m feeling particularly frisky I might add some fresh strawberries on top as well. Such a good breakfast.

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Every once in a while I’ll get an e-mail from a company pitching their products.  I’m rarely enticed enough because as you can probably tell I eat very few packaged goods and try to avoid foods with too many ingredients.

The other day I heard from Raoul at MixMyGranola. It’s a web-based start-up [...]]]>

Every once in a while I’ll get an e-mail from a company pitching their products.  I’m rarely enticed enough because as you can probably tell I eat very few packaged goods and try to avoid foods with too many ingredients.

The other day I heard from Raoul at MixMyGranola. It’s a web-based start-up company based out of Florida that does custom granola mixes.

It’s a really fun idea! You basically go to their website and choose one of three granola bases (organic, vanilla or low-fat) and then you can choose amongst 50 or so add-ins. Add-ins include traditional granola fare such as dried fruits, nuts, seeds, and coconut as well as some non-traditional add-ins such as wasabi peas, yogurt pretzels, gummi bears, candy corn and some other interesting things. The granola bases range in price from $3.99 to $4.99 and the add-ins range from $0.49 to $1.99. Many of the ingredients are organic and they are all “all-natural”… not bad! You also get to name your mix.

I didn’t specifically request a certain mix and relied on the MixMyGranola gods to put something together that didn’t involve raisins. When I got home from work the fashionable tube was waiting for me.  I love getting mail so having this adorable package waiting for me was definitely a highlight.

I flipped over the vessel and noticed the nutrition facts and saw that my mix contained cranberries, goji berries, almonds and lots of LOVE.  I’ve been low on the loving for… about forever so if I’ll get some love out of my granola I’ll take it.  Not bad!

After opening the package I noticed a good add-in to granola ratio which was nice.

This product is pretty good stuff!  It’s better than your average supermarket granola for sure.  It’s not too sweet which I love and doesn’t have any wacky flavours (I hate apple cinnamon granola and things like that).  The add-ins were super fresh as well.  No rock-hard cranberries or chewy almonds. The customization aspect is what really makes this granola stand apart from others.  I make my own granola because I can never find the right combination of ingredients in store-bought granola – this is a good alternative for sure.  The one downside about this granola is the lack of clusters.  I love large clusters in my granola!  Maybe they get lost in shipping or maybe this is cluster-less granola.  If the lack of clusters doesn’t phase you then MixMyGranola is definitely worth checking out.

VisitMixMyGranola to place your order!

I love granola.  But here’s the thing, it can be bad for you.  A lot of fat, a lot of sugar and not enough good stuff.  Bear Naked makes a great granola but it’s too pricey for me and I always want to change one or two things about.  This is where [...]]]>

I love granola.  But here’s the thing, it can be bad for you.  A lot of fat, a lot of sugar and not enough good stuff.  Bear Naked makes a great granola but it’s too pricey for me and I always want to change one or two things about.  This is where homemade granola comes.

Homemade granola is delicious AND so easy to customize.  As someone who has an INTENSE dislike for raisins I always have issues with granola because 8 out of 10 granola options contain raisins.  I’ve tried numerous recipes for “healthy” granola from Cooking Light magazine usually changing things here or there.  My major issue with most granola recipes is that they don’t result in enough clusters.  And aren’t clusters the best part of granola?

My dear friend Mandy (or I guess “Amanda” if you are being formal) has remedied this problem with her delicious, super easy granola recipe.  Mandy is awesome and a chef.  I would link to her blog… IF SHE HAD ONE.  I would read it.  But I digress…The trick, EGG WHITES.  I know, egg whites!  It makes sense when you think about it but I would never have thought to put egg whites in my granola.  It makes the whole thing non-vegan but you could omit and have a less cluster-y  vegan version if that’s your thing.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s just a base to cater to your granola whims.  My choice modifications were: honey,  light brown sugar, vegetable oil, opted out of ground flax, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and apricots.

WHEW!

SOOOOO good.  I wanted to have a cohesive theme through my granola but when I got to the bulk store the dried apricots were so “fresh” that I had to go for them.  The combination was great and didn’t compete too much.  Now I’m thinking about all sorts of combinations that I can make.. maybe a banana walnut combo?  maybe something involving figs or dates?  perhaps a berry blend with almonds?  OK so homemade granola may not be cheaper than store-bought (or only marginally cheaper) but it’s so worth it.  And might I add it’s delicious to snack on while making dinner? Just saying.

Rating: *****(out of 5)

mix & match granola

ingredients:

¼ cup pure maple syrup (or honey, agave nectar, brown rice syrup)

3 cups old-fashioned oats

¼ cup ground flax (optional)

1 cup dry add-ins (nuts, seeds, coconut, etc)

2-3 egg whites (more= extra clusters)

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

dash of sea salt

procedure:

preheat oven to 300. line baking sheets w/ parchment paper.

in medium sauce pan, over a low flame, heat maple syrup, sugar, & coconut oil until sugar is dissolved.

while heating liquid mixture, combine oats, flax, & dry add-ins in a large bowl.

when sugar is dissolved, transfer syrup to a medium bowl. Let cool to room temp. whisk in egg whites, vanilla extract, spices, & sea salt.

pour atop oats, and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture evenly onto baking sheets w/ rubber spatula.

bake for 35-40 minutes. remove from oven, & gently turn granola. Add dried fruit; bake until dry, about 10-20 minutes longer.

(From Mandy – a fabulous personal chef out of Chicago)