My mother has always been ahead of her time, especially when it came to food. Way before flax-seed, puffed millet, quinoa, and roasted soy beans were part of the hipster food scene, she was ordering these items from Walnut Acres and having them delivered to our house. I remember leafing through The Whole Earth Catalog as a seven-year old, even at that age I was smitten by the vast collection of items for sale. Everything you could need for a self-sustainable lifestyle. Steve Jobs said “It was sort of like Google in paperback form” . This granola was a staple in our house – naturally a catalog promoting self-reliance would have a granola recipe…
4 cups whole rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax-seed
1 cup roasted soy beans
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup nuts – I use sliced almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup bran (I omit)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- Pre-heat the oven the 325 degrees
- Combine all the dry ingredients
- Combine oil, honey and vanilla and heat in a saucepan
- Pour over the dry ingredients and toss until well coated
- Spread out on a oiled cookie sheet
- Bake for 15 minutes, stir and continue baking for about 5-10 more minutes or until the granola is lightly browned
- Cool the granola on the cookie sheet, it will crisp up as it cools
- When it is completely cooled store in an air tight container at room temperature
The changes/additions I have made:
Substitute half Lyles Golden Syrup and half maple syrup for the honey – it will make the granola very crisp, I prefer it.
Substitute melted butter for half the oil
Add raisins and other chopped fruit
Pumpkin seeds for the soy beans
Bottom line: Add and subtract what you like, but keep the ratios. The only thing I would not substitute out would be the oats .
The front cover
Lyle’s is cane syrup – try using this in place of corn syrup in pecan pie -you will never go back..