Homemade Granola

When I first started blogging more than a year ago, I restricted this blog to being a personal space. With time, as the recipes accumulated and started piling up, I wondered if this site should go out to all. Then, with a few of my friends approaching me for recipes that they liked of mine, I decided upon to make it public.

These were recipes mostly transitioned to me by my mother or adapted from cookbooks and cookery shows, mostly jotted down in my diary. I hadn't taken blogging seriously then and never even intended to at that point in time. I barely blog hopped, forget even dropping comments. I silently continued to post recipes, with latency in posting at times. For obvious reasons, I hardly got comments. In fact none from food bloggers. And it did not make any difference.

It was during these occasions when my blog was running muted, food blogger, Suma came across my site leaving a comment. An unexpected me can't possibly express how elated I felt from that comment. Hardly had I realized that my blog had opened up to readers whom I had never seen or known. With time, I realized that there was an enormous blog world outside mine, who were more enthusiastic than I was, who've spent couple of years in blogging, guys who have been rocking the blog world! That was the beginning of my 'real blogging' or must I say 'blog hopping'!!!

Living in the same city, it made a difference to me knowing Suma. What began with exchange of comments, then emails and now phone calls, we seem to share common interests. We've exchanged ideas on recipes, baking thoughts, sources for uncommon ingredients, knowing interests, family... etc, etc... We haven't met up yet, possibly some day.

When Suma approached me for a guest post on her blog I was delighted. I posted this recipe on her blog. However, I was in crossroads whether to post that recipe here or not. I settled to do so, with this dedication to Suma, my first first acquaintance in the food blog world. Thanks Suma :)

What I shared with Suma was this healthy breakfast recipe for Granola. This Granola is loaded with nuts and we love it that way. The honey roasted oats and nuts bring out some good flavors while the nuts add a great deal of crunchiness to this recipe.

There are no rules with Granola. Throw in ingredients of your choice, basically anything and everything that you like. Recipe is simple and can be stored fresh in air-tight container for weeks. Served with milk or yogurt, they are the best way to go for a healthy start to your hectic day.

Homemade Granola

INGREDIENTS

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup corn flakes
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup melon seeds
1/8 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup honey
1 tbsp butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except raisins. In a separate bowl, combine honey, melted butter and salt. Pour this to dry ingredients, toss to mix well. Transfer to baking tray. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes to achieve an even color. Keep a watch. Take care not to burn them brown. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed. Store them in air-tight containers.

What's good about Granola is that you can throw in ingredients of your choice, basically anything and everything that you like. I like to add in figs at times. Sometimes skip the butter and roast them dry. Or may be replace corn flakes with wheat flakes, they work very good too. Increase or decrease sweetness if this isn't apt to your taste. Combination of 1/4 cup dark brown sugar with 1/2 cup honey would also work fantastic. There are no hard and fast rules. You decide on what you want to throw in!

With loads of nuts in them, I also love to add in fresh chopped fruits while serving. My favorite top ups are pineapples, peaches, oranges, bananas and apples. Seasonal fruits like Mangoes go well too. Serve with warm or cold milk. Try soy milk or even almond milk would be great!"

And as Suma concludes, this is a delicious recipe, for a healthy breakfast which is deliciously luxurious too!!!