Coconut Maple Granola

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day--or so I'm told. If I had to pick, brunch would be my favorite meal of the day. You have more time to sit and enjoy yourself, you can have a sandwich or a waffle, best of both worlds.

Weekdays are not for leasurely brunching, unfortunately. Last week, we talked about on the go granola bars. In a similar vein, let's talk about good ole granola. This granola literally got me jumping out of bed Monday morning because it smelled so good when in the oven, I couldn't wait for breakfast to roll around.

Our basic granola ingredients: oats, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, quinoa (yes, quinoa) and spices are mixed together. Next, we need the glue. I actually bought coconut oil for once! This is melted with the maple syrup and poured over our granola base. Stir until everything is covered in the coconut-syrup mixture.

Spread out on a baking sheet and baked until toasted, you get a perfect crunch. You could also add dried fruit like cranberries or raisins to make it even more like a cookie.

I served this as-is with some almond milk but you could just eat it straight up like trail mix. What are your favorite granola additions?

Recipe

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• Dash of cinnamon
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup coconut oil

1. Preheat the oven to 225. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, quinoa, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the coconut oil and maple syrup. Heat only until the coconut oil is melted (you could also do this in the microwave if you prefer).
4. Pour the melted coconut oil and syrup over the oats mixture. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are dampened.
5. Spread mixture on the baking sheet, as evenly as possible.
6. Toast for 45-60 minutes, until crunchy.
7. Allow to cool before consuming! It's best to keep this in an airtight container so it stays crunchy. 

Peanut Butter Granola

Not too long ago, I tried to make my own granola bars and it kinda sorta maybe worked. I mean, they required a fork and some wax paper to eat but they were chocolatey and delicious. Maybe I should have taken a step back and started with plain old granola. Yup, let's start there.

Granola is a remarkably easy thing to make and I can't believe it's taken me this long to try it out. As far as I can tell, you can add whatever dried fruits or nuts you want to this and toast it to crunchy perfection. Pinterest is getting alarmingly good at suggesting pins for me so along came this granola.

I'll admit, in the spirit of honesty and amateur cooking, that even with only 3 ingredients, I had to throw out the first batch because I messed it up. Just like when I try to melt chocolate in the microwave, I burned the peanut butter during the melting process. I had more peanut butter but no more honey so off went the oven, back in the container went the oats, back on the couch with Netflix I went in my despair.

 Fast forward a couple of hours and I had purchased new honey and melted it with the peanut butter in a saucepan instead. A hair dryer probably would have worked too. Once this is all melty, it gets poured over the raw oats and stirred. I think this is also how little protein bites are made, according to the other suggested pins on my Pinterest feed. The peanut butter coated oats are spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment and baked for around 30 minutes or until darkened and dry.

I think what spawned the decision to make this was wanting to combine peanut butter and bananas, something I have honestly never done before. But my best friend in high school had half a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch every day (all 4 years) so it couldn't be toooo bad. Great success! Crunchy granola with some milk and banana made my morning all week long.

Recipe

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of peanut butter

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, measure out the oats and set aside.
3. In a small sauce pan, combine the peanut butter and honey. Heat over medium heat until smooth and combined.
4. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the oats. Stir until all pieces are coated.
5. Spread the coated oats out on the baking sheet so it's evenly distributed.
6. Bake the oats for about 30 minutes or until no longer soft. Allow to cool completely before storing (or eating) to get the extra crunch.