Groxie

Problem: I need a cheap, fast breakfast that does not taste like candy. I refuse to start my day with partially hydrogenated oil or high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately, my budget doesn’t include $7 for a 12 ounce bag of “all natural” granola.

Solution: Make my own granola — it’s super cheap, pretty quick, and damned tasty. I make a huge batch once a week, mostly out of ingredients that I buy in bulk.

Ingredients

8 cups oats (please don’t use quick or instant oats — nutrients are your friends!)
1 cup almonds or whatever you have on hand, chopped
1 cup walnuts, pecans, again whatever you have on hand, chopped
1 1/2 cups ground flax seed
heavy dash (1 tablespoon or so) cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup orange juice
1 1/3 cup honey

2 1/2 tbl canola or some other good oil
1 tbl vanilla extract

dried cranberries or other dried fruit

Instructions

1. Mix the first group of ingredients together in a very big bowl.
2. Put the second group together in a pot over medium on the stove until the brown sugar is dissolved, then stir the last 2 ingredients in.
3. Add this wet mixture to the oat mixture and stir up.
4. Spread mixture out onto baking sheets (I have found that I can fit it on 2 large sheets, otherwise you can cut the recipe in half or bake it in 2 batches).
5. Pop into a 300° oven for about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. If you like granola that is crunchier, you can bake it longer.
6. After the granola has cooled, I add about 2 1/2 cups dried cranberries.
7. Then your granola is all finished. It is soft enough to be eaten by itself, but it is also great with some milk (soy, cow, goat, etc.) or some yogurt.

Notes

I go through a couple extra steps to save some money. I buy the nuts whole and run them through the food processor. I also buy the flax whole, and I run it through the coffee/herb grinder. I buy the oats, nuts, flax, sugar, honey, and cranberries in bulk. Be aware that many dried cranberries have high fructose corn syrup in them, so check the label if you’re not into that kind of thing.

This recipe feeds me and my granola-monster of a fiance for about a week, so you might want to scale it up or down for your needs. From start to finish, clean-up included, it takes me a little less than an hour to make this huge batch. Considering how many $7 bags I would need to buy, the hour is definitely worth it.

Another cool thing about this recipe is that it is easily adapted — you can change the juice to something tropical, add macadamias and dried pineapple, or try something entirely different of your own creation. It’s just a great base for getting started.