CrankyCakes

A virtual foodie friend let it be known that she was looking to branch out and do some guest posts on other blogs, and I thought that sounded fun.   And today, with work AT LAST starting on my bathroom, I’m especially grateful to be able to share some homemade love without a lot of work on my part.

The guest blogger is the lovely Jill McKeever from Simple Daily Recipes, another mom with an unfussy approach to homemade food.

And here’s what she sent.

Homemade Almond Granola

Homemade Almond Granola is my favorite food right now. It works on top of yogurt, bananas, baked apples, in a small bowl with milk, and my favorite way, out of the palm of my hand. Every time I peek into my pantry, there it is, staring at me. It whispers, “I’m so good for you, snack on me. Take just a handful and be on your way.” I listen and obey.

And this is not an overly sweet granola, either. Comparing it to others I’ve eaten. It’s why I like eating it all the time. This best part is the crunch, not chew, CRUNCH. I can hardly hear my kids going on about what happened to SpongeBob when I’m eating it, the crunching drowns out their narratives. Bless their hearts.

You’ll find this recipe makes a lot of granola and it takes 2-hours to bake. It’s best to make it before bedtime. You read that correctly, before bed. Leaving the baked granola to slowly cool down in the oven overnight seems to be the magic trick to getting the crunch. It stores very well in glass jars with good lids.

There’s something about granola in a big glass jar on the counter. It seems to say, “This is a healthy, happy kitchen. Eat up!”

HERE’S ALL IT TAKES

• 10 cups old fashion oats
• 2 cups other grains (any variety six grain mix, steel cut oats, raw barley… you decide)
• 2-4 cups nuts/seeds (mix them up pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon salt

Stir all the dry ingredients together, then add:

• 1 1/2 cup oil
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1 large jar almond butter

Mix well and place on three 9-inch by 13-inch pans and bake at 250ºF. Stir after 1 hour; bake 1-hour longer; stir again. NEXT, turn OFF oven and leave granola in there for several hours to cool. Store in air-tight containers. Granola has been known to keep well up to 3 weeks before being completely consumed.

Recipe and photo by Jill McKeever at SimpleDailyRecipes.com