Granola Two Ways

[Green Granola. Recipe Below]

I am frustrated. I came back to my apartment after a summer with my Ben to find one of my grain cupboards infested with weevils. This meant throwing away not just the cheap brown rice (the origin of the pest), but also some pearl barley, quinoa, and grits that were opened and vulnerable.


Of course, I took that opportunity to use up the rest of my rolled oats which sat in a cupboard far, far away from the infestation. This way, the little bit of whole grain I have left won't be crawling with Moving Gross in a week or two. At least it wasn't bedbugs. Right?

The recipe for this is very generally adapted from a recipe at smitten kitchen and the more pared-down version from the food network.


Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
3 T dark brown sugar



2 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
3 T honey

1 cup total of the following mixture:
flattened banana
dried cranberries
dried pomegranate
flax seed

and about 2 T of candied ginger

Method
Preheat the oven to 350˚
1. Mix oats, pecans, sunflower seeds, sugar, coconut, nutmeg, and cinnamon in one bowl and honey, vanilla, and melted butter in another.
2. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet covered in tin foil, and bake for 30-35 minutes, stirring from time to time and being careful not to let the sugar burn.
3. Let the cooked oats cool, break into pieces, and mix in the fruit and flax seed.

For the Green Granola

The method is the same; the ingredients mostly so. Instead, though:

1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup cashews, chopped
1/3 cup pistachios
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 t cinnamon
3 T dark brown sugar

2 T butter, melted
1/4 t pistachio flavoring (this is very strong stuff)
3 T honey



The mixture will be green--a little gross--when you first mix it, but will darken as it cooks. After cooking, add a cup total of:
dried mixed berries
dried apricots, chopped
dried ginger, chopped
flax seed