Thursday, February 16, 2012

A "great anytime" treat....

One thing which I really enjoy is homemade granola.  Many years ago I would make it more often,  using it to make homemade granola bars when the children were home.  When this recipe appeared in the most recent issue of Dash that is sometimes an insert with our daily paper, I thought that it was one to try.

This is some of what you will need. 
The dried fruits to add.

After baked and cooled, the dried fruit ready to be mixed in.

Out of proper sequence, I know.  This was to be the second step.

While this is good granola, I believe I actually prefer one I made at Christmas time which came from a Southern Living Cookbook from many years ago.  I will post that one at some point in the future.

FRUIT AND NUT GRANOLA

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup quartered dried apricots (The ones I had were large, so I cut them to be about the same size as  
                                                     the cherries).
1/3 cup dried cherries

- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine oats, wheat germ, and nuts.  Transfer to baking sheet.  Bake, stirring once, for about 20 minutes.
- Raise temp to 350 degrees F.  In a small bowl, stir juice, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla.  Pour over oats and toss to coat.  Bake for another 20 minutes, stirring once.  Cool.  Toss oats with apricots and cherries.

We enjoy this with milk or yogurt, even over fresh fruit, or just as a spoonful for a snack.  It can be kept in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for as long as a month - if it happens to stay around that long!
For those who are interested in watching points as related to WW, I have no information for this one, except that I find it very dangerous to have around.:-)

Thank you for reading.  I enjoy your comments.

Next post - 3-2-1!

3 comments:

  1. Hmmmm...this does sound interesting, but might be too high in carbs for us here. I might give it a try and just halve the recipe to see what effect it has on those pesky blood glucose readings! Thanks for another good share!

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  2. I think the girls would love to make some homemade granola. Looks fabulous.

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  3. Well I do love it so much, I like this recipe. Do you know and I shouldn't tell you this but if you take about two cups of granola and melt two cups of chocolate chips or butterscotch or both and pour it over it then drop it by spoonfuls on wax paper and chill you have the best little quick cookie.
    I did find that in a diet cookbook.
    I made them once and of course that was it. My family gobbled them up.
    The fruit and nuts made such a yummy cookie like goody.
    I think they were like 4 points each though. :)
    Have a nice weekend, I have almost all of the stuff for this I am going to get the rest and make this.

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