Homemade granola

I have not yet mastered making excellent homemade granola. In fact, my homemade granola is often passable, at best. But with Naked Granola selling for $4 for 12 ounces ON SALE (that’s $5/pound) and other granolas nearly as pricey—as well as the fact that most commercial granola contains a lot of added sugars—I soldier on with my granola-making.

Part of my problem is that I always worry that the oats are too raw, so that most of my granolas verge on being on this side of burned.

So, this is a recipe in-process. I’ll post more tips and suggestions for refinement as I figure them out.

Tip: Though most recipes call for making granola in long, shallow pans, the easiest way to cook it is to use a large cast-iron pot. This way, when stirred, the flakes don’t fall out of the pot, as they’re likely to when using pans. You can also heat up the liquid parts of the granola in the same pot, on top of the stove. And there should be some nutritional benefit to using cast iron.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250-300 degrees. (250 degrees is about the normal temperature, but will require more intervention and cooking time. 300-325 will speed things along, but at risk for over-browning).

Ingredients:
-½ cup canola oil
-¼- ½ cup sweetening (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, or any combination of them)

Pour these ingredients into a cast iron pan and heat on medium-medium low until they melt together. Whisk. Then add:

-4 cups whole (not quick) oats
-chopped nuts of some kind, around 1-2 handfuls (suggested: pecans, peanuts, sliced almonds toast well, whole almonds with skins do not—the same is true for hazelnuts)
-1/2-1 cup of some other grain with a different texture, for variety (like puffed millet or puffed rice)

Possible flavorings:
-vanilla extract, orange oil/extract or lemon extract (added to liquid ingredients, prior to adding dry)
-cinnamon, powdered cardamom or ginger—or a combination of all three (add to dry)

Stir well until coated with the sweet, oily goo, then pop into the oven (no lid).

Check the granola every 10 minutes or so and stir with a large spoon. You can go for longer stretches when the oven is at a lower temperature, especially at the beginning, but 20-30 minutes into it, you’ll need to start checking more frequently or turn off the oven for the last 10 minutes.

(Hint: during the 10-minute intervals, you can do a series of short exercises, or wash the dishes—don’t try to do anything that requires a long stretch of attention).

Pull out of oven when it reaches desired level of brownness. Cool. Store in a container with a tight lid. (I find large Mason jars the best.) Add raisins or dried fruit to container and shake in, if desired.

For breakfast, serve with unsweetened granola (especially if you used a lot of sweetening).

Granola snack: In a small bowl or custard cup, mix equal parts of granola and peanut butter; add a little honey, to taste. Little kids seem to like this. Leave it in the cup, to serve (don’t bother to shape). Add chocolate chips, if desired.

What we ate: June 23-27

Monday

leftover-from-Sunday Thai-barbecued chicken and pork loin, salad, bread

(PE ate at a friend's house.)

Tuesday

TA had braces tightened that afternoon, so we ate soft food.

refried beans (pintos mushed up with oil and fried garlic), guacamole, soft (pressure cooked) white rice

What PE ate:

soft rice with raisins and pecans, slice of provolone cheese, fresh peas, strawberry keifer

Wednesday

PE had a friend over for dinner who is as picky as she is, but who will eat any kind of breakfast food.

Two main dishes: 

• For girls, M and friend's mom: omelets with sausage, fresh chives and Swiss cheese, garlic bread

•For D (who had eggs that a.m.): sausages with sauteed broccoli and garlic, thin spaghetti, garlic bread

vegetable side for omelet: broccoli (some set aside from other dish) with sauteed celery

Thursday

leftover spaghetti turned into Asian-peanut noodles (adding mushrooms, matchstick carrots, chopped zucchini and tofu, and served with soy sauce-peanut sauce)

What PE ate:

matchstick carrots (set aside, uncooked), noodles with shredded cheese, fresh tofu 

Friday

cheese foccacia with basil, calzone (with mozzarella and salame), sauteed spinach with pine nuts

What PE ate:

calzone, peas

What We Ate: June 16-20

Monday

leftover (from Sunday night's dinner) Mexican pork tenderloin, refried beans, tortillas, frozen spinach sauteed in olive oil with pine nuts

What PE ate:

quesadilla, peas

Tuesday

multi-pizzas: 1 small foccacia; 2 ham-swiss cheese calzone; medium 2-cheese pizza with homemade tomato sauce; frozen green beans

What M ate:

PE ate 2-cheese pizza but M. couldn't eat any without any goat cheese handy, so she stir-fried some broccoli and chicken breast with garlic and soy sauce

Wednesday

We went camping...and ended up eating out when the campfire went out

Thursday

(after getting home late and tired...)

marinated chicken breasts (which didn't get cooked Wed. night), broiled; sliced zucchini dipped in cornmeal and fried; gnochi

What PE ate:

Trader Joe's chicken potstickers; peas, tofu chunks

Friday

Double-duty dinner: PE had a friend over--they wanted a "breakfast supper." They had:

scrambled eggs, toast, baked sausage, orange juice; later, for dessert, fruit salad

The rest of us had:

sausages sliced up, linguine with tomato sauce (leftover and frozen from Tuesday's dinner), salad, fruit salad and cookies for dessert

What We Ate: June 9-13

Monday

This is the first day we can't remember what we had--we know it had something to do with plain sausage and spicy sausage... PE ate the plain

Tuesday 
Another power outage... dinner started on the stove and then left unfinished as we scrambled to find a restaurant with power

Wednesday
pasta primavera with leftover, cut-up chicken breast (and any vegetable hanging out in the fridge, including broccoli) -- this was going to be dinner on Tuesday

What PE ate:
noodles with cheese, chicken, green peas

Thursday

foccacia - one pie with shredded mozzarella (half with sausage and fresh tomato, other half plain); one pie with goat cheese, tomato, dried basil; tomato-vegetable soup with sour cream; green beans.

What PE ate:

part of half-pie without tomato, carrots

Friday

frozen/thawed out/frozen spaghetti sauce with black olives, on thin spaghetti; leftover foccacia; leftover green beans

What PE ate:

foccacia