granola

I think I was dreaming about this recipe last night. I woke up, went straight to the kitchen and instead of making coffee, I started grabbing ingredients from the pantry to make granola.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, stirring so that all of the matzo is well coated. Add a big pinch of coarse salt and stir to incorporate.

These are slightly adapted from Bulk Bin Snack Bars, with popcorn in place of rolled oats.

You may wish to add an extra splash of tamari—I left the amount reasonable so as to avoid making it too salty. Here are a few other variations to try:

I have struggled for years to find granolas that I like that don't have any nuts in them. Both my husband and I have nut allergies, and as dymnyno suggested earlier today: it kind of takes the fun out of it if you have to have an epi pen nearby. But oddly, I hadn't really thought to make my own. God knows why when I make my own ketchup, brown sugar, ricotta cheese, preserves, and mayonnaise! Go figure. So yesterday, at long last, I started to experiment with granola and granola bars.

A recipe forged from all those crunchy blogs I follow using coconut products and raw stuff (sigh), this granola hits the sweet spot for me. And the crispy, light, toasty, chunky spots. Quinoa lends lovely textural pop, not to mention protein and aw-shucks beauty. And all the flavors going on are balanced by the permeating goodness of maple syrup. This stuff is practically dessert for breakfast. Or breakfast for dessert. Or granola for every meal for two days.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Nekisia Davis' Olive Oil and Maple Granola, but popped popcorn stands in for oats.

When you swap out rolled oats for irregularly-sized pieces of Cracklin' Oat Bran, you get a granola that bakes much more quickly than the usual rendition and needs barely any additional sweetener. And because Cracklin' Oat Bran is already flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg, you don't have to dump in a whole slew of spices either.

For the crunch on your salad. A highly flexible recipe, needless to say: substitute other grains, nuts, herbs.

I’ve always been a huge fan of that nut and fruity oat mix and have been known to eat through a big jar of homemade granola in just a few days -- but sometimes I find it a bit hard to digest.