Cranberry Almond Homemade Granola

Homemade granola tastes so much better than granola you can buy in grocery store. This homemade granola recipe is full of fresh and dried fruits, nuts, whole grains, and other tasty stuff that’s good for you.

Do you ever get in a fashion funk? I do. Every. Single. Day. I see cute outfits left and right and think ‘oh, I could pull that off’ but then I never break out of my shell. Jeans and a t-shirt. Every. Single. Day.

I love my jeans and t-shirts. I feel most natural in them – most like me. But jeans and t-shirts don’t scream cute. I am 99.9% sure my BF wouldn’t care if I wore a potato sack but wanting to look good shouldn’t be about him anyway. I should make an effort just because I want to do it for me.

Confession: I must owe 10 million pairs of shoes, give or take 9,999,900. That’s a lot of shoes. I love boots, heels, and wedges, yet here I sit… In sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt. So my goal, from this post on, is to enjoy myself a little more and try to step out of my comfort zone at least once a week. The problem with that is that I have to find out what other zone I can be in and be OK with myself.

As part of stepping out of the comfort zone, I’m getting in touch with my inner hippie and trying some things that are new to me.

I bought some wheat germ and oats and tried my hand at making homemade granola.

Don’t panic… there are no tie dye shirts or drum circles in my future. 😉

[print_this]

Cranberry Almond Homemade Granola

Recipe from Cate’s Kitchen (as adapted from: Clean Eating Club)

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup coarsely shredded unpeeled apple (this was 1 1/2 apples for me)
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray and preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Mix the apple, oats, and wheat germ in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Bring the honey, water, and cinnamon to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, then pour over the oat mixture and toss well. Stir in the almonds, spread on the baking sheet, and bake for about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Once the granola is golden brown, remove from the oven and stir in the cranberries and raisins. Let cool completely, stir in chocolate chips and then store in an airtight container.

[/print_this]

Tips for those of you making homemade granola for the first time like myself.

1. Wheat germ burns very quickly when you are toasting it in your oven – if possible, buy the already toasted kind.
2. When I type “cool completely before adding chocolate chips” – I mean cool completely. I’m speaking from experience on this one.