March 21, 2012

granola cereal

happy spring!

The weather has been beautiful and I am so blessed to be able to enjoy it.
Even things that could make a bad day haven't really affected me. Like spilling tomato sauce all over the floor, scraping my knee, slipping down the stairs, and getting burned twice all in one day. Yes, I am a trooper.

Anyways, I am getting back into the swing of things and starting to bake again.
Which brings me to granola, I love love love granola. 

It is something that I refuse to buy in stores because it is the best homemade and there are too many reasons not too..it's so easy, it's all natural, and that smell fresh out of the oven. Enough said.


The arrival of this beautiful weather has brought me some much needed motivation to eat better, it's what I like to call operation bikini bod. Being granola is something that I tend to eat in large amounts (I can't help it), I tried making it more calorie friendly this time.

To do this I looked at the ingredients and played with the ratios a bit. I decided to make the main ingredient puffed wheat rather then oats. Oats are delicious and very good for you but have a whopping 150 calories for only a half a cup. (And this is across many brands, I know this as I have searched for a lower calorie oat. Please let me know if you have discovered one.) However puffed wheat will only cost you 60 calories a cup!

And so here you have it. It's rather delicious if I may say, it reminds me more of a cereal with the wheat in it.
Granola cereal is what I am going with.


Granola Cereal
2 cups puffed wheat
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup nuts 
(whole or chopped, whatever kind you like)
1/3 cup real maple syrup
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Spread out onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, shake up with a spoon, bake for 15 minutes more

Eat it with milk, yogurt and fruit, sprinkle on an apple with peanut butter, 
even munch on it straight from the bowl.
Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment