Mmm… peanut butter granola!
Once upon a time, Miss G and I made a big batch of chia granola every couple of weeks or so and it was absolutely delicious. That continued on for years – while living just off of Main Street in Vancouver and then throughout our second stint in Kuwait. And then we came back home to Canada for the second time {you can see snipets of our last few weeks in the desert here}, me pregnant, tasked with finding a home, getting Miss G started in school, and settling back into life here in North America {which I truly think is harder than settling into a new life abroad}… And somewhere in between all of that and our little nugget Sam being born super early, I started buying granola instead. Delicious, locally made and naturally sweetened granola from Terra Breads, but store bought nonetheless.
Well, on a whim a few weekends ago, I whipped up a batch of peanut butter granola to feed the kids for breakfast as Grae read and Sam played play dough up at the island. I burned the first batch badly {too many things on the go at once while solo parenting}, but despite being completely charred, I could tell that the recipe was a good one, so I promptly whipped up another batch. Since then? I think I’ve made another 2 or 3 batches. It’s that delicious and that easy.
Now disclaimer – this homemade granola isn’t as healthful as our old version made with all kinds of seeds, hemp hearts, wheat germ, flax seeds, and a very small amount of oil made up for with pure apple sauce… In fact, I’d probably classify this new version as more of a ‘treat’ granola, but it’s still naturally sweetened and made of a few fairly wholesome ingredients, so I’ll take it. Plus it’s incredibly delicious and so easy that you can whip it up while your kiddos patiently wait for their weekend breakfast.
Here’s our recipe…
Easy Naturally Sweetened Peanut Butter Granola
- 2/3 cup of natural peanut butter (or other natural nut butter)
- 1/3 cup of coconut oil
- 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup or honey (we do half and half and use a maple honey)
- 4 cups of old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup of sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup of chia {we use white chia seeds}
In a small saucepan, combine the nut butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup and/or honey. Warm it over medium heat, stirring regularly, until it starts to bubble.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat, measure out the old-fashioned oats, sliced almonds, and chia seeds.
Pour the hot liquid mixture over the oat mixture and combine them well (I get in there with my hands once it cools a bit). Spread the mixture out evenly, pat it down a little bit (this will help clusters form!), and pop it into a 300 degree oven.
Let the granola bake for 20 minutes undisturbed, then take it out, flip it carefully (trying to keep as many big clumps as you can), and then pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
Allow it to cool completely (it’ll crisp up as it does) and serve or pop into an air-tight jar or container for later use.
We keep our granola in a mason jar in our pantry for a week at a time (it doesn’t last any longer than that), but if you really want to extend it’s storage, you could easily store it in the freezer and use what you need when you need it.
Also, though we’ve not tried it ourselves, my guess is that you could totally make this nut-free if you have an allergy in the family or if you want to send it to school and your child’s class is nut-free… I’d swap out the peanut butter for either sunflower seed butter, pumpkin seed butter, or Wow butter, and the sliced almonds for pepitas. {If you try this, please let me know how it works out!}
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The other day, while quickly picking up a couple of craft supplies at the dollar store, Miss G and I stumbled upon these adorable miniature clay pots. We both laid eyes on them at the same time, and just as I was thinking, ‘Oooh! I must have those pots!’, she asked, ‘Mama, can we please take home those baby pots?’ Ummm, yes – we certainly can, baby girl. 
To get started, Grae helped me gather up some things – plain organic greek yogurt, 
While she was busy playing, scrubbed the pot well with hot soapy water. Then I mixed up approximately one part yogurt with one part granola, and scooped it into the pot. Next up, I covered the yogurt mixture with a little bit more granola and generously sprinkled cinnamon on top.
Using a daisy-shaped cookie cutter Miss G got in her Easter basket, I cut little flower shapes out of pineapple, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
Then I carefully speared them onto our tiny wooden dowels. I did contemplate colouring the dowels green beforehand, but I didn’t have any natural green food colouring on hand and didn’t feel comfortable using the real stuff since it would be directly in the food. Oh well! Maybe next time…
To put it all together, I simply placed the ‘flower lollipops’ (as G calls them) into the yogurt mixture. Because of the thickness of Greek yogurt, and the fact that it’s 1/2 granola, the flowers stayed up really well. 
Gracen was tickled pink with her edible flower garden, and not only did she request additional flower lollipops during breakfast, but she also requested another flower garden yogurt parfait for afternoon snack. Yay for healthy and fun munchkin meals!
Homemade granola is somewhat of a staple in our house… Gracen and I usually made a big batch once a month or so, jar it up, and eat it as a cereal, serve it with yogurt, sprinkle it on nut butter toast, or use it as a smoothie topper.
Though it can be full of sugar and not-good-for-you fats when purchased in stores, we jam pack ours full of nutrient-rich nuts and seeds, use a good pure maple syrup to sweeten it, and include a relatively small amount of oil, so I can feel good about giving it to Grae {and eating it myself}.
While I’ve posted about our