Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Mmmm Mmmmm good......

I LOVE to bake. There's just something about creating a delicious little dish that tickles every ones fancy and leaves them feeling satisfied. My dear friend Heather has inspired me to start making my own bread. I've been doing this for a few months now and I won't be going back to store bought any time soon. It's much more economical and I can sneak all kinds of healthy things into it and and my kids still eat it.

Since the home made bread was such a success I've been motivated to try making more things from scratch. This past weekend I tried granola. And boy oh boy - was it good! Hubs and I love granola but, lets face it, store bought granola is expensive! Sure the initial shopping trip seemed pricey, about twice the amount of a box of granola, but in the end it paid for it's self. I'm on my second batch and I still have enough supplies to make several more. And the cherry on top? My house smells heavenly right now!

Here's the recipe I'm using:

2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 Tbs. dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup Extra Ingredients (I use sweetened flaked coconut, sliced almonds, raisins and chocolate chips)
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
3 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil
1 Tb. water
1/2 Tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 275 degrees
Simmer Maple syrup or honey, oil, water and cinnamon over low heat.

Mix oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, salt and extras (leave out any dried fruit for now) in a large bowl.

Drizzle syrup mixture over the oats mixture and stir well coating the oats and extras.

Spread mixture on a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray and create clumps by squeezing it a handful at a time.

Bake for 30 min. After 3o min stir in your dried fruit extras and bake for another 15 min. Remove from oven and let cool before adding any chocolate chips.

If you have any items that usually are store bought that you make from scratch please share!! I'm always looking from something new to try!

5 comments:

Heather said...

This sounds awesome! I made a great granola recipe a while back and then lost it and can't remember where I found it. Go figure, huh? :) I'll try this!

Kate said...

Oh my does this sound good! I think I am the only one who would eat it in this house though. :)

Amy said...

Thanks for the comment Kate. You should give it a try - it's so good you won't WANT to share it with Dominic or Jocelyn :)

Long time no "see".

Kate said...

Ha! I will try it I'm sure. I will have to put coconut in it so hubby will keep his grubby hand out of it. :)

(just so you know, I'm totally not a stalker. I have been reading Heather's blog forever and came across yours in a comment on hers I think.)

Amy said...

That's cool Kate. Just wanted to say hello :)