Homemade Granola.

Turns out when you’re pregnant, you wake up at night.  Repeatedly.  As far as I can tell, this is due to three main reasons:

1. Baby throws all night “how hard can you thrash around” ragers.
2. My bladder is now the size of a shelled pistachio.
3. At some point around 4AM, my stomach realizes it hasn’t eaten in SIX WHOLE HOURS and the situation needs to be rectified, ASAP.

I have therefore spent far too many 4AM time slots contemplating what I will eat for breakfast.  After I made this for the first time, I’m happy to report my contemplation has changed from “what” I will eat, to “when” an appropriate time to go eat might be.

Homemade Granola

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• slightly less than 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
• big pinch of salt
• about 1/3 cup honey
• slightly less than 1/4 cup vegetable, canola or coconut oil
• dash vanilla extract
• you can customize anyhow you like, but for my part, I like slightly more than a 1/2 cup each of the following ingredients:
  • unsweetened shredded coconut
  • slivered almonds
  • dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix the oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside for a moment.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, oil, and a dash of vanilla.  Slowly mix together with the dry ingredients, until all oats are coated.
4. On a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread the oat mixture in a thin, even layer.  Bake at 300 for 15 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, mix together your add-ins: coconut, cranberries, and almonds, in my case.
6. Remove the oats from the oven and gently mix in your add-ins, so they’re evenly distributed in the pan.
7. Pop the whole thing back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown.
8. Remove – and as hard as it is – let cool for about 10-15 minutes before stirring and breaking up the crumbles.  It’s worth it, trust me.

The Verdict:

I can’t believe how late in life I came to this epiphany: granola is amazing.  Serve on top of a big bowl of plain Greek yogurt (I find the granola sweet enough) and berries, and watch your hunger dissipate for at LEAST 2-3 hours.