Back on Track with Granola

Yesterday marked the end of the "holiday season" in my family.  We spent the weekend in Lake Geneva celebrating with the Straus side of the family.  It was a fun filled weekend that began with a lovely 5 hour car ride through freezing rain and fog, followed by a wild New Year's Eve celebration with my grandparents, Mother, and Kelly.  We popped open the champagne at ten o'clock in our pj's while watching the Philharmonic Orchestra perform on Public Television. We were all in bed by eleven.  Let me tell you, it was a raging party. 
On Saturday we had our belated Christmas get together, filled with Christmas games, brandy slush (mmmhhhmmmm), and yummy food.  The weekend was fun---but I am ready to get into my regular healthy eating routine and schedule back in lax.  I am relieved that the holiday 'grazing' season is over; I feel as if I have eaten my way to China and back.  To kick off the New Year on the right foot, my Mom and I made our very own homemade granola.  The granola we made today was actually our second batch; we made some last week as well.  The first time around, we used gluten-free rolled oats so my sister could enjoy it. The recipe also called for three eggs whites.  Today's recipe did not have any eggs in it and we used regular rolled oats.  (Oats are naturally gluten free, however, many oat fields are directly next to wheat fields and oats are often processed on the same machinery as other food containing gluten. If you have a gluten intolerance like my sister does, you must purchase oats marked 'gluten free' which are simply guaranteed to be grown and processed away from any gluten sources.  These oats happen to cost 4 times as much as regular oats, so if you don't have to buy gluten free---don't).  Granola recipes are fun to play around with; once you find a basic recipe for a starting point, you can customize it by adding your favorite nuts, dried fruit, spices, and seeds.  I love to eat this granola on Greek yogurt but it is also great by itself for a snack.  Store-bought granola often has added sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup as well as partially hydrogenated oil. These recipes have neither!  Both of the recipes we tried contain ground flax seed, a form of plant derived omega 3 fatty acids, which has a long list of health benefits.  Your kitchen will smell absolutely wonderful while the granola is baking in the oven, an added bonus to making your own granola!
Here are the two recipes we used:

Martha Stewart's Granola from Whole Living:
6 cups old fashioned oats (rolled oats, not quick oats)
1 1/4 cups nuts, such as almonds, pecans, cashews or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup seeds, such as sunflower or pumpkin
1/3 cup flax seed meal or wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large egg whites
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup sweetener, such as honey, agave, syrup or molasses (we used a combination of honey and syrup)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup dried fruit, such as cherries, cranberries, raisins, apricots, fits, dates, etc

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Combine oats, nuts, seeds, flax and cinnamon in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and the salt until frothy.  Whisk in the sweetener and the oil.  Add wet ingredients to the dry and stir until the oats are evenly coated.  Spread evenly on parchment covered baking sheets.  Bake for 20 minutes and stir with a spatula.  Continue to cook until golden brown, about 10 more minutes.  Let cool on baking sheet and add dried fruit.
**We added the dried fruit as well as raw unsweetened coconut flakes prior to baking and liked the results.  We ended up baking this granola for almost 40 minutes; the key is to watch it closely so it doesn't get over done!

Great Granola (Recipe 2) from Penzeys Spice Company:
Mix 1-2 tsp China Cinnamon with 3 cups old fashioned oatmeal, 1/4  cup wheat germ or flax seed, 1/3 cup honey and 2 TBS olive oil.  Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts and 1/2 cup dried fruit.  Stir and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring once. Store in an airtight container.
**We doubled this recipe, 3 cups of granola wouldn't last too long at our house :)
  We also used half honey and half syrup and only baked it for 24 minutes, stirring at the 12 minute mark.

After a side by side comparison of the two granola recipes, I have to say that I like the first one better.  The difference is very subtle. I think the eggs whites help the cinnamon and sweeteners infuse flavor onto the oats and create an overall more flavorful granola.  My Mother, on the other hand, does not think there is a bit of difference between the two recipes and made me do a blind taste test.  The first round of the taste test, I was tricked!  My Mom gave me two samples from the same batch. I was able to identify that it was from the first batch due to the great flavor.  We were laughing so hard that I didn't partake in round two of her games...in conclusion--they are both great recipes but I will make Martha Stewart's again next time!