Monday, November 7, 2011

Granola

In the past year, my husband and I have really been paying more attention to what we eat and trying to exercise more. My husband even ran his first 5K this past September after only 4 months of training and never running before! Well, it made me jealous and I am now running also. Anyways, in our quest to be healthier we have been eating a lot of yogurt to which we will sprinkle granola on top. Well, a good granola can be on the pricey side. That's when Clinton Kelly (love him!) on the new show "The Chew" came to my rescue. A few weeks ago, he showed how to make his homemade granola and it costs so much less to make your own. As Clinton mentioned, you can customize this to your own taste but here is how we have been enjoying it.

I started off by mixing together 3 cups quick cooking oats with 1/2 cup each coconut, pecans, dried and chopped dates, and dried blueberries.



In a measuring glass I combined 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup honey, and 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. I stirred to combine them and poured it over my oat mixture. I mixed it all together until everything was moistened and poured it onto a cookie sheet.



I placed the granola into a preheated 250 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes taking it out at the 30 minute and 60 minute mark to stir it. Once it is cooled, store it in an airtight container.



Video from "The Chew" of Clinton Kelly making his Granola.