{"id":342,"date":"2014-03-03T18:24:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T18:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/?p=342"},"modified":"2014-03-03T18:25:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T18:25:52","slug":"granola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/?p=342","title":{"rendered":"Granola"},"content":{"rendered":"

Granola is a tricky one – oh, not the recipe.\u00a0 That’s just easy.\u00a0 Tricky is buying granola and thinking you are getting a\u00a0good, “healthy” option.\u00a0\u00a0 If you make it yourself, you can use quality fats, good seed & nut options and\u00a0just-the-perfect-amount-of\u00a0sweetness and KNOW you are getting a good, healthy option.<\/p>\n

Start with good oats.\u00a0 I LOVE Bob’s Red Mill.\u00a0 I love the company.\u00a0 I love the man who gave the company back to his employees for his 81st birthday.\u00a0 And, they are just the best oats I have ever had.\u00a0\u00a0My preference is the thick rolled oats, but the regular rolled oats are\u00a0fine, as well.<\/p>\n

4 cups thick rolled oats\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

1 cup pecans, chopped\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

1 cup (or more) pumpkin seeds\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

1 cup sliced almonds\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

1 cup coconut chips \"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Place all the dry ingredients into a large baking pan.\u00a0 Stir them up!<\/p>\n

We need some wet ingredients:<\/p>\n

1\/2 cup coconut oil<\/p>\n

1\/3 cup pure maple syrup (or more, to taste)<\/p>\n

1 tsp. molasses<\/p>\n

1 cup very hot water<\/p>\n

Stir until the coconut oil and maple syrup melt and combine.<\/p>\n

To this, add:<\/p>\n

1 tsp. cinnamon.<\/p>\n

1\/2 tsp. cardamom<\/p>\n

and just a pinch of pink Himalayan salt<\/p>\n

Stir it all up and you will have a dark oh-so-heavenly liquid. \"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Pour this into your dry granola mixture and make sure everybody gets their fair share.\u00a0\u00a0Stir and stir and\u00a0stir.\u00a0 Now, you must taste it.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s the only way to test for seasonings.\u00a0 Remember you\u00a0will add some sweetness with dried fruit after baking, but now is the\u00a0time to\u00a0tweak.\u00a0 I\u00a0like a mildly sweet granola, so if you need more, add it now!<\/p>\n

Pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees and slide it in there for about 45 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stir.\u00a0 Continue cooking low and slow, stirring about every 15 minutes for another 45 minutes or until the granola is browned and dry.\u00a0 As it gets closer to done, you may want to reduce your time between stir\/checks to 5 minutes.\u00a0 It will get perfect FAST<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 One of my saddest days (in the kitchen)\u00a0was getting impatient and turning on the broiler to speed up the browning process.\u00a0 We couldn’t save it.\u00a0 Burned granola… what a waste!\u00a0\u00a0You will be rewarded for your patience!\u00a0 Ah!\u00a0 \"photo<\/a>\u00a0Now, if you are adding dried fruit, stir it in.\u00a0 I used dried cranberries, about 1\/2 cup.\u00a0 You can really add any dried fruit, in any amount.\u00a0\u00a0Mix it in, go\u00a0crazy!\u00a0 \"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Once your granola is completely cooled, store it in airtight containers.\u00a0 Give some away, freeze extra.\u00a0 You’ll be so glad\u00a0you did!<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

NOTE:\u00a0 You can use any nut, seed or dried fruit.\u00a0 If you like a nuttier granola – add more nuts.\u00a0 Prefer a more oat-filled granola?\u00a0\u00a0 Up the rolled oats.\u00a0 I usually add a little fresh grated nutmeg and it’s lovely in this recipe.\u00a0 Follow your own likes and use what you have on hand.\u00a0 I have 4 pecan trees so I always have pecans, but you can use walnuts or whatever you\u00a0prefer!\u00a0 It’s going to be\u00a0granola-licious!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Granola is a tricky one – oh, not the recipe.\u00a0 That’s just easy.\u00a0 Tricky is buying granola and thinking you are getting a\u00a0good, “healthy” option.\u00a0\u00a0 If you make it yourself, you can use quality fats, good seed & nut options and\u00a0just-the-perfect-amount-of\u00a0sweetness and KNOW you are getting a good, healthy option. Start with good oats.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,3],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-high-fiber","tag-vegan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.downdogsaltydog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}