Fresh from Argentina, with great memories yet broke, I decided to save some money by cooking as many of my meals at home. So, I go to the supermarket and buy vegetables, fruits, quinoa, cans of soup and beans, tofu, spices and other staples. Somehow the total comes up to $76! Normally I wouldn’t mind or even notice but suddenly I’m made starkly aware that something isn’t right (I’m only cooking for one afterall). I scan the receipt and notice that a bag of granola was $7 and a box of chewy granola bars was $6. Then it hits me, I have an expensive habit: granola.
Once I go home, I promise myself I won’t buy granola anymore but then I convince myself that it is too versatile (can be sprinkled on yogurt, cereal substitute, snack, etc.) to give up. Torn between my granola and money, I suddenly come up with what seems like the only feasible solution. I, Priscilla, will set up my own granola mini-factory at home. A glance at the ingredients listed on the back of the banana-nut granola bag I bought, a couple of minutes searching for recipes online and an inspired run to the natural foods store and I have everything needed to make my own stash. The following is a recipe I created by combining instructions from random websites and incorporating my own favorite ingredients:
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup banana chips
1/3 cup coconut shavings
Lazy Student Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Mix the first six ingredients in a bowl (I made the mistake of baking the raisins and had to pick them out afterwards)
3. Spray cookie sheet with oil and then evenly spread mixture on top
4. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown, stirring every 15 minutes
5. That’s it! Let it cool and then mix in the last three ingredients
The best part is you can’t go wrong with the choice of ingredients you use, switch the almonds for walnuts, the banana chips for dried blueberries, (almost) anything goes. I would have shown the world how great my granola masterpiece looked, perhaps in an upclose, angled shot, but sadly, my camera along with my savings was left back in Buenos Aires…
