Sunday, November 10, 2013

My Go-To-Snack: Granolas

As a Nigerian, when you think "food" the first three meals that come to mind would probably be;

  • Eba and Soup
  • Rice (in its many forms)
  • Beans (and dodo or yam/potatoes or my personal favorite with dry garri sprinkled on top)
I love Eba, but I find myself feeling tired after eating a meal of Eba and Soup (I just feel like sleeping right at the table...lols)

Rice...not so much and well beans for me takes commitment to cook especially the variety I like (brown/red beans) so I try to reduce my "exposure" and substitute with lentils.

Anyways, all this "story story" was to say, I try to include healthy snacks in my family's diet and reduce the frequency of heavy meals. We do the heavier meals for breakfast, and fruits, grains, yogurt etc for lunch and just "wing" dinner depending on the mood.

So enter Granola! My go-to meal/snack (it can serve either function).


Granola is a breakfast food and snack food popular in the Americas, consisting of rolled oats, nuts, honey, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp. During the baking process the mixture is stirred to maintain a loose, breakfast cereal-type consistency... 
                                                                                                                  Source: Wikipedia 
While you can walk into most Supermarkets and get a pack (a pricey pack at that), I prefer making mine fresh each week with the exact ingredients I want.


So here's my "recipe" (I use that term loosely :D) for homemade granola.

Ingredients
  • Rolled Oats -  Roughly two cups
  • Nuts - Two cups (or less-I like a lot of nuts in my Granola )(I use Groundnuts, Almond Nuts, Pecans, Hazelnuts, Cashew Nuts and any other nuts I happen to have on ground)
  • Light Brown Sugar - Half Cup
  • Salt - Half a teaspoon
  • Honey - About a third of a cup.

Instructions

Preheat your oven at medium heat

Step 1: Chop your nuts (for groundnuts I just crush them to split in two, and for larger nuts like pecans and almonds, I chop them up).
Step 2: In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar and salt until combined then gradually add the honey allowing it coat the dry ingredients. You can use  a wooden spoon for this or your hands.
Step 3: Spread parchment/baking paper on a large baking tray (or two trays) and spread the mixture on the parchment paper. Here you want to make sure the granola is evenly spread and not piled up so the grains can cook evenly.
Step 4: Bake at 220 Degrees Celsius for about 20-30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes (Note that different ovens may produce different results).

Once fully browned pour in a tray and allow to cook before handling (Warning: Caramelized sugar is pretty hot). When cool store in an airtight container and enjoy your granola in many ways. Here are a few suggestions.

  • As a snack: I pack them as lunch time snacks for DH and I and also entertain guests (Tip: Serve with a Yogurt/Banana smoothy...yummy)
  • As a breakfast meal: Serve as you would your favorite cereal - with milk. No added sugar required
  • As a Garnish for ice-cream (and pretend the oats make the ice cream healthy lols)
  • In a Parfait: Here's a recipe for one Granola Parfait Recipe
  • Any other way you like...there is a world of possibilities out there. I am actually thinking up a pie with a granola crust...will let you know how that goes.
So there you go, my favorite go-to snack.



p.s there are numerous recipe's out there for Granola's but I played around until I found one that suited my palate so go ahead and explore. 



And as Alton Brown would say, "Until next time, I bid you good eat"

Preye

7 comments:

  1. O my favourite! I'd make this soon! But u ddnt give a recipe for a granola bar. Do I add more honey to make it stick and form a bar or not? U rock sis

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  2. Well, while honey will make it stick, once it cools and you handle it, it'll fall apart. You can use butter (melted). After toasting the oats and nuts you pour your melted butter and combine, making sure everything is evenly coated, and then tightly press into a shaped pan. Refrigerate. When it has hardened, you can then cut it into smaller bars.

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  3. Wow! Lovely blog preye, just stumbled on it

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  4. I dnt even ve an oven, I feel like eating this right now!!! Cant wait to try out these different recipes (hopefully when I get my own house) :* kudos, my multi talented sis!!

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    Replies
    1. Come pay me a visit and you can eat as much as you like :p. And don't worry, you'll get urs soon.

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  5. Amen!!! Lols. I'll find time one of these days to do that. :D

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