Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Vegan Challenge: Homemade Granola

My Day 2 Thoughts:

I'm one of those people that has to eat every 2 hours or else I turn into Sigourney Weaver at the end of Ghostbusters, so I thought the lack of vegan snacks could be a problem. In reality, I don't find I've been all that hungry. 

I'm in the process of renovating my basement (office lemming by day, demolition expert by night) and I was actually kept pretty full by what I had to eat today.  I think it must be the granola.  Talk about hearty.

My Day 2 Menu:

Breakfast: Homemade Granola, BC Fuji apple, and soy milk (see recipe below!)
Snack: Sesame and Pumpkin seeds
Lunch: Mixed 6-bean Salad
Dinner: Quesadilla with tofu chicken and vegan cheese. 

This homemade granola recipe is excellent!
I highly recommend trying to make your own rather than buying it.
Processed granola tends to be high in fat and high in price, while this is neither!

Homemade Granola Crunch Recipe

Ingredients:
 6 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1-2 cups chopped assorted nuts
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup flax seeds (whole or ground)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups water
2 cups dried mixed fruit (I used dried bananas and raisins)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Mix all ingredients except the fruit. For non chunky granola, skip to step 3.
2. For granola with chunks, slowly stir mixture in pot over low-medium heat until ingredients become sticky and form clumps (it will be somewhat hard to stir). If you need to add more water, do so.
3. Dump mixture onto 2 large jelly-roll pans, spread evenly. Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours (less time is needed for the granola with no chunks), stirring every 15-20 minutes. Granola will be a golden brown when it is ready.
4. Cool granola by spreading it out on flattened paper grocery bags. Add dried fruit.

Store in an air tight container; it should last several weeks.

This is where I got the recipe from.  Thanks Vegweb.com!

1 comment:

  1. Your granola looks great! I always have a jar full on my counter. It's great on it's own, in yogurt or thrown into cookies or other treats. The Nigella recipe is great if you have the ingredients around (sometimes I don't have applesauce/rice syrup). I like a good vanilla or maple flavoured granola, as well. Thanks for stopping by Food and Whine! - Jennifer

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