Granola - The Health Revolution

Whichever side you turn these days the conversation only revolves around weight loss, health, fitness, exercise... Agree? It seems to have become an obsession with almost everyone. Each one is trying to outdo the other in losing weight and becoming fit.

Now in all this madness, my personal opinion is that moderation is the key. Moderation in eating, exercising. I really think that one needs to stop obsessing on each morsel that crossed one's lips, each gram lifted and each step run. It is a lot easier to make healthy choices than it is being made out to be.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I am the epitome of healthy eating because that is a great untruth. But I for sure do not go crazy about my weight or the food I eat. I try to eat healthy and make the right choices. I try to exercise everyday. But if I feel like eating something sinful, well I go ahead and do it. And I refuse to feel guilty about it. Size zero is not everything...

But at home, in our quest to eat healthy, we introduced granola in the mornings for breakfast. For the first month we bought it from a friend. It turned out to be so expensive. Then I remembered my mother in law making it many years ago. Now with my interest in food, I could not resist the urge to try it out for myself.

Granola is a breakfast or a snack food. It consists essentially of oats, nuts and dried fruit. It is high in calories but very filling and satisfying.

I went through many recipes on the internet and then went off to the market to see what was available for me to put into the granola. The good thing with granola is that you can add anything that catches your fancy. You don't like this ingredient? Just drop it. You like nuts? apples? dried fruit? lot of sugar? more healthy? more tasty? Just add them in. The choice is completely up to you. It is very easy to tweak it to suit you and also to the availability of ingredients.

This is my recipe but feel free to add or subtract as you feel like it....Fair word of warning here. This makes plenty and by that I mean PLENTY. Scale down the recipe to suit your needs.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups Oats

200 grams Barley Flakes

100 grams Sunflower Seeds

100 grams Flax Seeds

200 grams Wheat Flakes

1 cup Almonds chopped

1 cup Walnuts chopped

1 cup Dates chopped

1/2 cup Raisins

1/2 cup Sultanas

1/2 cup Figs chopped

1/2 cup Honey

3 tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Oil

3 tablespoons Water

METHOD:

Mix oats, wheat flakes, barley flakes, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, almonds and walnuts.

Mix all the liquids (honey, water, vanilla essence and oil) in a bowl along with the brown sugar and salt.

Stir in the liquids into the oats mixture and mix well.

Bake for 15 minutes at 120 deg C. Stir well and bake again for 15 more minutes.

Add in the dried fruit and bake for another 10 minutes till it starts turning a light brown.

Let it cool down and store in an airtight container.

Serve with milk or over yogurt and fruit.

ENJOY!!!!!!!