Mixer goes Yippy

Today, I am a Yippy! You know the Jack Johnson-loving, repurposed canvas bag-toting with adorable flats Hippy. I'm pretty much guilty of that everyday with the exception of the cute flats, I usually opt for my slippahs. So what makes me say that I'm especially Yippy today? Because after work I donned my little "Kiss the Chef" apron and made myself some granola! If this were the summer of 1969, I'd be your standard hippy. Nothing says “hippy” more than homemade granola. Okay, the hairy armpits are up there too but thank goodness those have gone out of vogue!

Now down to business. Why am I making homemade Granola? First and foremost, whenever I go wandering down the cereal aisle I end up looking longingly at the Granola while reaching for the super plain wanna-be Cheerios. Cereal out here in the wild blue yonder along with milk and pretty much every other food item (with the possible exception of Papaya, Mangos and Spam) are a fair amount more than on the Mainland. While I love my body and want it to be healthy and all that jazz, I have a difficult time biting the bullet when it comes to a puny $10 box of overly sweet Granola. Oh yeah, and why not try to make your own? All these fancy boxed and packaged stuffs came from a little kitchen at some point! Why not my own little kitchen?

On that note, I’ve made Granola a handful of times now, each time getting a little bit better. The first time was a burnt mess. Thank goodness for my boyfriend and his hungry tummy, they somehow ate it all in one day. The last time, well I can’t remember the results so it must have been mediocre at best. This time however, I feel like I’ve made it to the next level. I would even go so far as to call it a success, a small one, but a success all the same. I found the recipe on Kiss My Spatula (one of my favorite foodie blogs). I tweaked the Spatula recipe a bit according to what I had on hand, for example I made my own applesauce from an old mealy apple that has been sitting in the fridge. If I ever have a bad apple again, it’s getting cooked into some applesauce! Super easy and very yummy. But without any further ado here it is my own little piece of the Yippy pie:

Ingredients:

4 cups old fashioned oats (not the quick cook kind)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)

3 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp salt

¼ olive oil

½ cup applesauce

½ cup honey

1 cup dried fruit

Tools:

Small and Large bowl

Wooden spoon

Wisk

Measuring cups and spoons

Cookie sheet with lips

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 350°. In the bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk the oil, honey and applesauce in the smaller bowl.

Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mix and stir with the wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Spread onto the sheet pan.

Place in oven and bake until the mixture turns a nice even golden brown, around 30-40 minutes depending on the oven. During baking stir occasionally with a spatula

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool completely, stirring occasionally. Once cooled add dried fruit. Store in an air-tight container.

*I had a normal flat cookie sheet which worked fine but the edges got a little bit burned, and when I mixed the granola part way through baking some bits fell off the edge. I should also note that I have one of those itty-bitty ovens that’s about 25° higher than what I set it too. Also, if you have one of these little ovens the bake time will most likely be less than normal size ovens. I’ve found that pretty much any nut would be yummy in granola and I omitted the flax seed from the Kiss My Spatula recipe.

This made a nice crunchy granola, the cinnamon and nutmeg added just the right amount of flavor. I can't help but wonder if it really does save money. On the flip side I know all the ingredients going into this mini-masterpiece and as always there is the satisfaction of knowing it was made with my own two hands.

Peace, love and crunchy granola man!

PS: The lack of a granola picture is due to our eagerness to chow down on it. Whoops! I guess it really was a success!