The Best Homemade Granola

I haven't always been the biggest granola fan - it's often too sweet for my taste or less healthy than it appears. This is until I made my own granola, and I have to tell you, it's one of the best things I've ever had and so incredibly easy to make. I've even given it recently as gifts, wrapped up in a mason jar. Homemade granola has a wonderful fresh, crunchy texture (but not too crunchy/hard like some storebought varieties) and I love that I can control what goes in mine. This recipe uses maple syrup (low glycemic) instead of brown sugar, and olive oil instead of canola oil or butter. I love the salty-sweet undertones and the combination of nuts, seeds, and coconut with the oats, but feel free to substitute and play around with whatever ingredients you like best in your granola. I love this granola over yogurt with banana or berries, or on its own with milk (it's a perfect pre-run breakfast). I keep the ingredients on hand in my pantry so that I can whip up a batch anytime. It's also gluten free for those of you who can't have wheat!

Homemade Granola
Makes about 7 cups

Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

3 c. rolled oats (not instant)
1 c. hulled pumpkin seeds
1 c. hulled sunflower seeds

1 c. sliced almonds

1 c. buckwheat groats
2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes (not shredded)
2 c. pecans
2/3 c. maple syrup (pure, not imitation)
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. Kosher salt

1 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, buckwheat groats, coconut flakes, sliced almonds, and pecans, then add the maple syrup, olive oil, stir, and the kosher salt and cinnamon. Stir to combine, then transfer to a sheet pan (ideally lined with a silpat or parchment) and spread out in a relatively even layer. Bake for about 1 hour, stirring each 15 minutes (remove the pan from the oven to stir it and close the oven door, then put it back in so that the oven doesn't cool down too much), until the granola is a nicely toasted golden brown. Let the mixture cool, then transfer to an airtight container for up to 1-2 months.

Whole Wheat Dutch Babies

Need an easy, delicious breakfast idea for this weekend? While I love regular pancakes, we also grew up loving dutch babies around our house, which are essentially a puffed-up oven-baked pancake. Dutch babies are great because they only call for a few ingredients, they are hard to screw up, and the result is quite impressive with very minimal effort. I thought I would switch up the standard recipe by trying whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular all-purpose white flour in order to make my version of dutch babies a little more nutritious and they turned out great. Whole wheat pastry flour can be found at any grocery store in the baking aisle or bulk food section and is a great pantry staple to substitute for all-purpose white flour in almost any baked good recipe. Don't use regular whole wheat flour here - it's too heavy and the dutch babies won't rise correctly. Serve the dutch babies topped with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of powdered sugar, then eat it like that or add maple syrup, jam, or fresh fruit.

Whole Wheat Dutch Babies
Serves 4

Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

6 eggs
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. lowfat milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter
Lemon, powdered sugar and maple syrup, jam, or fruit for serving

Place a 10'' cast-iron skillet (or similar oven-proof skillet) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
Whisk the eggs together in a medium-sized bowl until frothy. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, then whisk the flour into the bowl with the eggs. Whisk in the milk and vanilla, combining well to make sure there are no clumps (the batter will be thin). When the oven is preheated, remove the skillet and add in the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon until melted (which only takes about 10 seconds). Then, immediately add the batter to the pan (right on top of the butter) and return to the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and puffy. Don't peek until it's done or the dutch babies will lose their height. When ready, remove from the oven, cut into four big pieces, and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, some powdered sugar, and syrup, jam, or fruit, if you'd like.

Sweet Potato Oat Bread

We've been getting sweet potatoes in our CSA box for the past few weeks and I've been trying to come up with inventive new ways to use them. I happen to love homemade breakfast breads, and thought why not use mashed sweet potatoes in place of something like pumpkin puree which you might normally find in one of these recipes. The result was a moist, not too sweet, healthy breakfast bread which is great with a cup of coffee in the morning or for a mid-morning snack. Eat it as it is or with a little bit of butter. This bread kept well for me for a few days wrapped in foil.

Sweet Potato Oat Bread
Makes 1 loaf

Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes (plus time to roast sweet potato)

1 1/2 c. mashed cooked sweet potato (about 2 medium)
1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or 3/4 c. white and 1/2 c. normal whole wheat flour)
1/2 c. oat flour (can be found at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods - or make your own by grinding up oats in a food processor)
1/4 c. ground flaxseed meal
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 c. agave nectar or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Roast the sweet potato for about an hour until a fork goes in easily (this can be done ahead of time). Remove from oven and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flours, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another medium-sized bowl remove the flesh from the sweet potato and mash well with a fork. If you've roasted the sweet potato the day before and it's cold, warm it up then add the butter and stir to combine (the heat will melt it), then add the eggs, agave/maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract and stir. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown on the edges. Let cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan before serving.

Pumpkin Pomegranate Pancakes

It's Sunday morning, and I can't think of anything better when it's cold and rainy outside than a big plate of pancakes. I love coming up with different pancake recipes (since we have pancakes just about every weekend) and these are some of my favorites yet - the pumpkin makes the pancakes so moist, and the topping of pomegranate seeds with maple syrup adds a little bite and a bit of sweet-tartness. These would also be a wonderful breakfast on either Thanksgiving morning or the day after - as you can see they are quite festive!

Pumpkin Pomegranate Pancakes
Makes ~12-14 pancakes

Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or 3/4 c. each regular whole-wheat flour and all-purpose flour)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 t. kosher salt
1 T. baking powder
1 c. canned or fresh pumpkin puree
1 T. maple syrup
1 T. molasses
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. lowfat milk
Pomegranate seeds and warm maple syrup, for serving

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, molasses, maple syrup, and eggs and blend well. Add the milk and stir to incorporate, then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Using a 1/4 c. measure, spoon out each pancake onto a griddle, keeping the other pancakes warm in a 200 degree F oven. Top each stack of pancakes with pomegranate seeds and serve with warm maple syrup.