breakfast table fun

"Granola Bar" has been Ivo's favorite breakfast for about a month now, a switch from his usual pancakes that I was happy to make, because Granola Bar is a snap to put together and very wholesome.  It's a bar like a salad bar, only with granola and fixins.  Homemade granola is cheap, easy and sooo good.  I'll share our basic recipe below:

Basic Granola Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups of rolled oats or oatmeal (we use quick oats)

1 cup of wheat germ

1/3 cup of sunflower seeds

1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup

3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil or melted butter

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish.  Mix dry ingredients in a big bowl.  Combine wet ingredients (I microwave for about 10 seconds to make them thinner, this is optional).  Drizzle the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix well.  (Doesn't have to be perfectly uniform.)  Pour granola into the baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, stirring after every ten minutes.   After baking, cool completely and transfer to an airtight container.

For granola fixins, we use almonds, pecans, raisins, dried berries, a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture, and rice krispies.  Or anything else we may have on hand. 

We line up all of the jars and Ivo uses a spoon to put on the ingredients of his choosing.  Then the lids go back on and back on the shelf the granola bar goes.  It's been a good breakfast for us so I just felt like sharing it here :)

(Ivo's party today was a lot of fun.  I will post pictures tomorrow. A sneak preview would be the party-related mess behind Ivo's head in these photos!)

Comments

[Analisa Roche]

My kids would love this, thank you!

[Mom Unplugged]

This sounds lovely. I have never tried making my own granola, but I shall have to start now. Perhaps the kids can make it themselves ("Kids Cook Night?"...or morning) and then they will be sure to love it!

Thanks so much for the nice comment on my blog. It made my evening!

[Mom]

The granola sounds delicious, and it is obvious that Ivo really likes it! It's also fun to have a choice--sometimes it's a raisin day, and sometimes not!

If you haven't tried this, get some vanilla yogurt, or your favorite flavor, and put a little granola on top. It's great, and makes a fairly healthy snack--we NEED our calcium, you know! Of course, Carl says "it's really good on French Vanilla Ice Cream!"

I will try your recipe when our construction job is finished and I have my house back!

I'm looking forward to the Art Party pictures!

Love, Hugs, and Choose-Your-Own-Topping Kisses for Ivo~

Mom

[Jenny]

I am definitely going to try this after our next trip to the store! CJ is into a cereal phase right now, and this will make a nice change from her Kashi Mighty Bites. :o)

[Jess]

We are going to give your granola recipe a whirl, thanks for sharing it.

Also, I have gotten such good book recommendations from your side bar, so thanks for that too. :-)

[mamamilkers]

Okay, sorry if I'm a little dense! So what Ivo is mixing up is the finished granola and then all the other parts that you mentioned like the almonds, pecans, etc? He's not mixing up the actual granola recipe, right? Or is he?

How do you think the price of making it yourself compares to buying a bag or box of premade granola?

We eat alot of granola and I would love to give this a try!

[Taimarie]

What a great idea! Sometimes it's all about the toppings!