I’ve tried to make homemade granola a few time, based on the excellent recipe from http://orangette.blogspot.ca/2008/02/consider-it.html. It’s a pretty good recipe to get started, but it was still missing a little something : when I swapped the applesauce for a few overipe bananas lying on my counter, it turned out great. The whole kitchen smelled of bananas for a few days, but the taste is not overwhelming.

Granola with plain yogurt, my favorite!

Here is my own version of the recipe, with many adjustments :

5 cups of rolled oats
2/3 cup of almonds
1 cup of sunflower seeds
2/3 cup of sesame seeds
2/3 cup of brown sugar

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of powdered ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of canola oil

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas to a puree. Add the maple syrup, honey and oil and stir.
3. Pour the bananas and syrup mix over the dry ingredients, stirring well until the oats are well coated.
4. Spread the granola on two baking sheets lined with paper. Bake for 30 minutes at 400F (200C), rotating the sheets and mixing the granola every 10 minutes.
5. Let the granola dry for a few hours before storing it in an airtight container. The granola will get crisper as it cools.

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I’ve been known to reheat my weekend oatmeal batch for breakfast all week, but the texture is not as good the second time around. Baked oatmeal tastes a lot better reheated, and can even be eaten cold if you’re in a hurry.

I first heard about baked oatmeal on A Year of Slow Cooking. Since I love all things oatmeal for breakfast, I had to try it. I adapted it to add my favorite spices, but they’re not needed if you want milder oatmeal.

1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of flax seeds, ground
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cardamom seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon of cloves, ground
a pinch of salt

3 cups of rolled oats (not instant)
3/4 cup of raisins

1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup of canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flax seed, baking powder, spices and salt. Add the rolled oats and raisins and stir again.
• In a smaller bowl, mix the milk, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid in the oats mix and stir well.
• Spread the mix in a 8″X8″ pan and cook for 30 minutes at 350F/175C. Let them cool for a few minutes and cut into 9 large breakfast squares or in smaller bars.

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This recipe is an experiement that turned out very well . I started out from the Barres ÉnerJo recipe from Ricardo. First, I switched some of the cereals and seeds for stuff I had lying around. I was also finishing up a soy milk recipe, so I removed some of the cereals and a bit of the liquid and used the okara instead. This recipe is easy to adapt to what you have on hand, but try to find the cardamon : it adds an heavenly smell to the bars.

 

Ingredients (Yield : about 20 bars)

40 oatmeal squares cereals
2 cups of quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup of wheat germ
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of powdered cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cardamon pods, ground
4 teaspoons of flax seeds, ground
2 teaspoons of chia seeds, ground
1 teaspoon of sesame seeds, ground
A pinch of salt

1 egg
1 1/2 cup of soy milk or cow’s milk
1 cup of fresh okara
2 tablespoons of canola oil

1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation

• Put the oatmeal squares in a large bowl and smash them a few times with a potato masher to break them in small pieces.
• Add the oatmeal, wheat germ, baking powder, spices, grounds seeds and salt in the bowl and mix well.
• In another bowl, mix together the egg, milk, okara and oil. Pour it in the big bowl with the dry ingredients and stir well.
• Add the chocolate and the raisins and mix again.
• Pour the batter in a pan, spreading it evenly. I used two pans, one 8″ X 8″ and one 8″ X 4″.
• Cook at 350 F for 35 to 40 minutes. When the mix has cooled enough, cut in bars. This recipe freeze well if the bars don’t disappear within 3 days…

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I found this recipe when I was looking to use some leftover ricotta. It tastes more like French toast, but I’ll call it a pancake for lack of a better word. The light, fluffy texture is closer to that of an omelet, but cranberry omelet sounds too weird …

I ate one of them as a late breakfast, but for a weekday morning half a pancake it with some fruits was more than enough. It does keep for about a week in the fridge though so you don’t need to eat everything right away.

 

Ingredients (Yield : 3 big pancakes)

1/3 cup of flour
1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup of frozen cranberries, chopped

Preparation

• In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Stir in the eggs,ricotta and chopped cranberries.
• Pour 1/2 cup of batter in a hot pan and cook, turning the pancake when the top starts to bubble and the bottom is brown. It will brown pretty fast but don’t worry, it won’t taste burnt.

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