The Breakfast Battle

Of all the meals we eat in our house, breakfast is the trickiest. As the mother of a teenager, I’ve long since given up the “you need to eat breakfast” arm wrestle. (When I started sounding like my mother telling me that I would get sick if I walked to school with wet hair – I knew it was time to back off)

I am, however, a firm believer that a little fuel in the morning helps everyone have a better day so in an unusual moment of calm for me, I decided to approach the breakfast battle with honey (or in this case maple syrup) instead of vinegar.

This Grand Granola has been the perfect solution for us in the last couple of months.

I make a batch once a week or so, and we all enjoy it. Charlie likes to toss some in a cup with yogurt and eat it on the way to school. Bill likes it with milk and fresh fruit. I pour some in a bag and take it in the car. And, like all the recipes on this blog, the granola is both gluten free and delicious, so no need to make a separate batch for me.

As a bonus, this delicious, crunchy granola doubles as a late night snack either in a bowl with milk or on top of vanilla ice cream.

I hope you find this Grand Granola a terrific addition to your breakfast table too.

Grand Granola

This crunchy, delightful granola is always on hand in my kitchen. It disappears amazingly fast. We eat it for breakfast with fruit and yogurt, by the handful for snacks, and over ice cream for dessert. It's a family favorite

Servings people

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Total Time 50

Ingredients

4 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats I like Bob's Red Mill
1 cup toasted slivered almonds unsalted
1 cup toasted unsalted cashews or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut unsweeted or sweetened
1 cup dried cranberries or dried fruit of choice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Grab your ingredients. I use Bob's Red Mill gluten free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (not the quick cooking kind) and unsweetened coconut in this recipe. I think it results in a lightly sweet, crunchy delicious granola. If you don't need the granola to be gluten free - substitute good quality old fashioned rolled oats
Mix the 4 cups of oats and 1 cup each of the almonds, cashews (or your nuts of choice) and coconut in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the 1 tsp of salt and stir to combine. I often make this granola with pecans instead of cashews - both delicious
Combine the 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey) and 1 tsp vanilla in a cup and mix well with a fork
Pour the liquid over the oats mixture and stir with a spoon until all the dry ingredients are moist
Spread the granola mixture evenly on a baking sheet
Bake for between 30 and 40 minutes taking the pan out and stirring it every 10 minutes.
Bake the granola until it reaches a golden brown and smells toasty
Let the granola cool to room temperature and add the dried cranberries (or fruit of choice) Store in an airtight for up to 2 weeks.
Serve with milk, your favorite yogurt and fruit or on top of ice cream and enjoy! (Talk about where good food meets real life - I mistakenly took this picture before I added the dried cranberries - when I went back a couple of days later to re-take the picture, the granola was gone!)