You are probably wondering why I posted a picture of my cereal. In a jar. (In the midst of the fall and halloween decorations) Well, first of all: it isn’t just your ordinary, plain cereal. Nop, it’s awesome and healthy, home made granola. Second of all: it tastes amazeballs, so I had to share my recipe.
Since yesterday night the wintertime officially kicked off (I bet you all loved the extra hour of sleep today) it just became all the little harder to wake up in the morning. With it still being dang dark outside AND too cold to leave the warm soft blanket… If you are anything like me, you might find yourself rushing through the morning to make it in time for the workday :). I know a lot of you don’t take time to eat breakfast on those kind of mornings or might even skip the whole thing. Bad! You should always do breakfast. It’s a kickstart for your day and it gets your metabolism up and running to burn off those calories you eat during the rest of the day. And also, eating a banana or an apple on the go or some crackers isn’t really a lovely way to start the day, right? Soooo, luckily for you I just prepared the best on the go breakfast that you can make in big batches on a lazy, maybe rainy, sunday afternoon. I eat it with greek yoghurt and some fresh fruit and we’ve got ourselves some breakfast perfection. Quick and healthy, you have to admit those two words sound too good to be true right?
You’ll need (*)
- 3 cups (240g) Quaker Oats
- 1 cup (120g) sliced almonds
- 1 cup (140g) chopped cashews (or pecans, walnuts, peanuts,… you can use your favorite nuts here)
- 2 tsp flax seeds (preferably grounded)
- 2tsp cinnamon
- 2tsp water
- 1tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 cup (28g) apple sauce
- 1/3 cup (50g) agave nectar (or honey)
Directions:
First you mix all dry ingredients together: oats, sliced almonds, cashews, flax seeds and cinnamon. Use a big bowl, or else you’ll end up like me with 10 dirty bowls on the counter because all the ingredients didn’t fit. Kitchen queen: not so much. 🙂 On a side note: some of you might not know ‘flax seeds’ (Lijnzaad in dutch). It looks like dark brown sesame seeds. They are a superfood and I was told they are most beneficial when grounded. Well, I can tell you these little bastards aren’t all that easy to ground! Or mash. I bought mine on the market. Still looking like seeds. I only half succeeded grounding them. (so I’ll get half the benefits? :)) Off course now I found out you can buy them grounded in a health store. So next time: I’m going grounded!
Then mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Water, vanila, apple sauce and agave (or honey). Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until they are well incorporated. Now, normally you should spread a thin layer on a baking sheet. But since we only own a small oven that does this turning thing while baking, I had to use a oven tray and I had a huge layer… I can reassure you guys: it does the same magic! 🙂 Bake the whole lot at 160°C (300°F) for 18 minutes, then stir and flip the whole lot and bake for another 18 minutes.
Once baked, you can add whatever you want. If you like to add some dried fruit, raisins or maybe some coconut flakes? I’m going to stick to my good old Greek Yoghurt (0% fat) and fresh berries (and maybe some goji berries :)).
(*) about the calories:
The total batch will make about 3090 kcal (fat: 153, carbs: 304, protein: 79). The whole lot weighs 650 grams. I plan on making one serving about 50 grams which is 240 kcal. But, you can choose the amount you prefer. But now you have some guidelines to calculate :). If you are a calorie counter off course.
Bon appetit!
xo, Kirsten
Cupcakes and Beans 