When Monster was a couple of months old, I “discovered” many, many blogs with bucket lists. I thought they were a great idea and created my own. I’ve been meaning to share it on here, but haven’t yet because I wanted to make it a “35 before 35” list…and, well, I haven’t thought of that many things I want to do yet. Apparently I’m a very lame person though. Once you see my list you will agree, because “make granola” is one of the items on my list.
I’ve been meaning to make granola for a few months now. I purchased all the ingredients then put it off because it was so hot this summer that I tried to avoid turning the oven on at all costs.
Now that our mornings and evenings are quite cool here, it seemed like a good time to make some granola. It’s really easy to make, so I thought it would be a perfect activity for Monster and I to do together.
In general, it was. Monster loved dumping ingredients, mixing them, and taste testing. I was being conservative and used an extra big bowl, which didn’t work as well as I thought it would because it made it hard for Monster to easily dump the ingredients in. (Note to self: start looking for a Monster sized table so he can more easily help with cooking.)
Mixing is serious business
The Mess
Licking the spoon afterwards – the best part of baking 😉
And in case you’re curious, here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 t. cinnamon
- 2 t. ground cloves
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 3 T. vegetable oil
- ¼ cup of raisins
- A handful of almonds, sliced
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 325°F.
- Mix oats, cinnamon, and cloves together in a bowl.
- Whisk honey, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla together in a small bowl.
- Combine dry and wet mixtures together. Stir until oats are well coated.
- Place on a baking sheet (a jelly sheet works great if you have one). Cook until slightly browned (about 25 – 30 minutes). Stir every 5 minutes. Turn baking sheet half way through cooking to ensure an “even” bake).
- Mix in raisins and almonds.
It was pretty good, but I think we can do better. Looks like there will be many more batches of granola in our future this fall and winter. 🙂
What’s your favorite granola recipe?
Me & Monster 
Lynnie!! I am so glad you finally made your granola. And Lukey is so stinkin cute!! Hope you’re doing well xoxo Beth
i was thinking of you when i made it!
P.S. i’m so excited for you! we need to schedule a phone date one of these days!
This is great! Thanks for sharing. I didn’t have a granola recipe until I read this post! Love the pictures of Lucas. It was pretty serious business!
Yeah, he takes his mixing seriously, haha!
I love the pictures, Lynn. I too have been wanting to make granola, but just haven’t done it yet. Thank you for the recipe. I bet Lucas enjoyed making the granola with you!
You’ll have to let me know how it turns out if you make some!
I’m telling you – the lil Monster should be a baby model. #money.
Haha – you’ve seen how good he is at sitting still. i don’t think that’s acceptable behavior in a baby model. #mykidhasantsinhispants.
Just so you can psych for the future… anyrecipe + teenager = mess too!
Haha – thanks for the warning! My mom didn’t have us help in the kitchen very often for that reason – she couldn’t deal with the mess we made!
who could be upset with that sweet face for making a mess, though? not me
Yes, it’s hard to be upset with that!