Homemade Granola Cereal

Today was one very cold, wintery day and yesterday it even slightly snowed here. I like to sit and see through my glass window with a cup of coffee and a good book if possible ,these pretty white snow flakes slowly flowing with zephyr and finally hitting to the ground.Nature has beauty in every move it takes.I was little skeptical of going out in this cold, but this fellow was all smiling at me.

 And yeah I was rightly motivated to go out attending all daily obligations that life has offered me.If he can, so can I !!


What could have been a boring grey day for me, turn out to be a pleasant, dazzling day. I was asking myself the entire day do I need reasons to cook or not to cook. You know the tussle between my Good and my Bad. Well, a feeble voice inside me echoed to go ahead and make the most out of the day. So, here are some of the pictures I clicked while it was slightly snowing out here yesterday.And as I am writing this in night, it's snowing outside today also.Hope to see some more snow tomorrow morning when we wake up.

Snow showers just starting to come down.

Speeding up with the wind

and flowing with  gutsy.

Finally, ending their long journey as water droplets on my balcony glass shield.

Love the pattern here.

My day began, packing two lunch boxes in the early morning hour, which probably was not what I had planned the previous night, keeping in mind the snow shower weather forecast earlier. And you all know we Bengalis are like that, we are always at extremes. So, when it’s winter we shiver merely seeing snow on TV. Correct me if I am wrong. It was like one busy morning for me. Although, I prefer to plan things ahead when I pack two lunch boxes at one go. Those of you who have school going children and office going husband, probably can identify with my dilemma or rather complex situation here. Imagine the daily dramas in the early morning, you seem don’t seem to like it. Yeah you are not alone my friend.
One thing that I rather have started taking seriously is checking weather forecast after we moved here. Now, those of you who have spent half of your life or growing up years in India or are probably born in 80’s.If you can relate to those old DD days. And if you remember, how news readers would read aloud some stereotypical lines about weather forecast at the end of each session. Remember the good old  INSAT-1B Satellite , and it’s not so reliable forecast!!
Things have become savvy these days with so many private news channels and many more new satellites for fool-proof weather predictions.So, there has been a prediction of a very cold winter season this year here.  Let's see if we can see some snowy white clad trees, houses and roads this year too.

But this post is not about weather reporting or discussing my family. Well this post is about a recipe which is simple but yet very healthy.

It’s been quite a long time that I have saved this home-made granola recipe in my draft. But couldn’t find an appropriate time to post. And I must say this has been a great discovery for me. Now, I don’t see a reason why I need to get boxed cereals from supermarkets.
If you are like me, a fan of doing things from scratch then, I would say to give it a try once. And if you think oats are healthy, of course they are healthy. Then you have good reasons to make it.

Home-made granola cereal recipe

Adapted from Betty Crocker-Here

Ingredients
3 cups of rolled oats
¾ cup of flour
Your choice of any nuts
I prefer using some almonds+walnuts- approx 1 cup
1 tsp of salt
½ cup of vegetable oil
½ cup of honey
½ cup of water
1/4  cup of sugar or as you prefer

Method
Preheat oven at 150 deg C or 300 deg F
In a mixing bowl beat honey, oil and water.
Crush almonds and walnuts with rolling pin over a cuting board.It should make approx 1-1 ½ cup of nuts.
Now prepare the dry mixture.
Before you go further let me write that this recipe originally have called for old-fashioned or rolled oats which is groats that are steamed and rolled out.
But I have used super fast or quick oats for this recipe,dont get confused with quick Quaker oats which is not what I have used.Super fast or quick oats are instant oats which are partially cooked and then they are rolled in.So, they need to be rehydrated.And we can consider more this to be oatmeal.
Old fashioned oats will tend to be more chewy and more likely to retain the goodness of oats.Choose what works best for you.
now to further steps
Mix oats, nuts, flour and salt.TIP-If you wish you may add any other seeds also like-sunflower seeds.
Now mix gently the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.Mix well .
Now spread this mixture evenly in two baking trays.I  would say line up a foil or grease paper.Trust me it reduces the amount of work you will be doing at the washing sink.
Line up two shelf in the oven.Line the rack on second and last shelf.
Place one baking tray on the upper rack and other on the lower rack.
Bake for 15-20 mints .Then take out and stir it well.
Now shift the trays so that the upper rack tray goes down and the lowers rack tray comes on top.Bake again for 12-15 mints stirring in between.Keep an eye on it and check if they turn out barely golden.Take them out immediately.

Let it cool off before you keep them in air tight containers.This batch of home-made cereals remained fresh for one week and it was sufficient for our morning breakfast.
Have it with cold milk or warm milk what ever way you prefer.

If you have time then I would suggest baking it even at low temp of 135 deg but then increase the time for baking. This way they turn out even crunchier.
And if you wish you may just top it over your favorite ice-cream also. Yum!!

Happy Cooking Friends