Granola Love

To say that I have never been much of a breakfast person isn't entirely accurate. In fact, I love breakfast. The thing is, I only love it some of the time. I love it if it's a leisurely weekend morning and Neil and I are drinking bloody maries and listening to Getz/Gilberto while we cook, and I love it if I'm at a great breakfast spot like Wild Eggs, Lynn's Paradise Cafe, or my mama's kitchen. But when I'm dragging my ass out of bed on a weekday morning and trying to get myself ready to be at work at the unholy hour of 8:00, breakfast is not much of a priority.

I've been this way since high school, when breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a Bugs Bunny vitamin. Since then I've dabbled in toast, bagels, crumpets, muffins, and other quick, delicious carb-fests that left me feeling hungry sooner than I would have if I'd eaten nothing at all. If you ever asked me to skip lunch or dinner I'd laugh in your face, but it's not at all unusual for me to have nothing but coffee for breakfast.

Since everyone is always harping on the importance of breakfast, however, I recently decided that I should make an effort to eat it. Not the kind of effort that requires cooking or anything, though. But I decided that I could handle pouring some stuff in a bowl and spooning it into my mouth. I don't really care for cold cereal, though. (Except for the occasional guilty pleasure bowl of Lucky Charms.) So, what to do?

Enter Ellie Krieger and her granola recipe.

I picked up Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave, several weeks ago. I'd never seen her Food Network show or even heard of her, but I was in the market for a healthy cookbook that did not rely on a bunch of processed, fortified, low-fat, bullshit "food." This book definitely fits that bill, so I bought it. And found her wonderful, easy, delicious, good-for-me granola recipe inside.

Granola has had some image problems over the years. First it was considered healthy but goofy hippie food. Then people started looking at the nutritional info for granola and saying "Hey, this isn't really that good for me!" Ellie Krieger's granola recipe saves the day by managing to be natural, moderate on the calories, and super yummy. I know this will sound ridiculous, but I actually wake up each morning feeling excited that I get to eat this granola!

Nutty Granola
Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

This makes 9 half-cup servings. Neil and I eat it mixed with a half-cup of low-fat organic plain yogurt. It's more delicious than it has any right to be!