My daughter, Karen, was home schooled for several years. During that time, she developed a recipe for granola. It gave her an opportunity to use fractions and multiplication, learn about volume and temperature, work with time and money as well as discuss nutrition and marketing. She designed a label and sold her granola at a local farmer’s market. She developed a customer base who still call her with orders from time to time. She finished a big order last night and it got me thinking about how important a good granola recipe could be in an emergency. Granola contains protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and is calorie dense. It’s portable and once cooked, can be eaten out of hand.
Granola is a flexible recipe. If you don’t have one ingredient, you can generally substitute something else. The only trick is to be sure you don’t burn it. Granola for storage should be drier than the following recipe which is quite moist. That doesn’t matter around here as we can go through a batch a week without a problem. Cooking it longer at a lower temperature would result in a drier, longer keeping cereal.
Mix together in a large bowl:
4 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking or instant)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup walnuts, broken into pieces
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix this well and set aside. In a two cup measure mix together:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
Pour this over the dry ingredients and mix well. Bake it a 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Let it cool and add:
1 cup dried cranberries
If you want a drier, cruchier granola, dry it in a dehydrator for 3 hours at 145 degrees.
We like a little vanilla and cinnamon in our granola but Karen doesn’t add that to what she sells because both are really expensive to buy organic. As she sells under the label of Karen’s Organics In The Hilltowns, she can only use organic ingredients in what she sells.
Karen isn’t going to get rich selling granola but that really isn’t the point. Learning a real skill as well as learning the importance of following through with a comittmant and customer service is. As the economy continues to deteriorate, the kinds of jobs kids used to be able to count on may not be there. Developing a home based business can be a good option.
Short post today. Bruce is off to a bee conference and I am going to hit some resale shops when I take Karen to deliver her granola. I am looking for a couple of metal coffee pots to use in melting beeswax. I hope to learn how to use our wax to make soaps and balms.
June 20, 2009 at 9:00 am
Can’t wait to try this! I love the idea of adding brown sugar to the mix!
June 20, 2009 at 9:12 am
The brown sugar is yummy but it is the reason this granola burns so quickly. I should have also added that we learned the hard way to greas the pan. Otherwise you need to scrape the granola off the bottom. You also need to stir it wever 5 minutes or so to keep it from sticking.
June 20, 2009 at 9:28 am
Wow, this granola is awesome! The kids loved it from age 2 on up. I really thought there was vanilla and cinnamon in it, the toasting really brings out some interesting flavor notes. Now you know what’s on my shopping list…I can’t believe you gave out the secret recipe, Karen is going to be mad!
Isn’t it amazing what all can be taught through cooking? I think a whole curriculum could be designed around it.
June 20, 2009 at 9:36 am
At some point I will do a post on home schooling, what is is and what it isn’t. Karen won’t mind. I got her permission first.
June 20, 2009 at 10:40 am
Kathy, my granola recipe is almost identical except there is no brown sugar in it and I use 5 cups of oats. (Obviously it isn’t quite as sweet, but that’s how we like it). I found that as long as my dry ingredients equal that of the original recipe it was fine. For the oil and honey, it needs to be equal for the most part, but if I wanted some little “clumps” of granola, I could add about 1/8 – 1/4 cup more of honey. The brown sugar is what makes it stick to the pan I think, because I don’t have that problem. I cook mine at 300 degrees for 50 min. stirring every 10 minutes. I found a pan for $2 at a store that is about the size of a 9 x 13, but it has 2 inch sides on it. This makes it easier to stir the granola. Works great!
I just got my hive about 3 weeks ago, but we are still trying to locate bees. Everyone on the west coast sold out earlier. Someone in my bee club is trying to get me some nucs. Hopefully in a year or so we will have honey and I can learn to make other things!
June 20, 2009 at 10:45 am
It is so funny you would post here as I was on your site trying to post at the same time. I can not remeber my goggle identity so I couldn’t get the post done but what I wanted to say was that I love your lables! You should all take a look at riverrockcottage. It is a terrific site. Chicky-bit-run has a great idea today as well.
June 21, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I haven’t yet made granola in my dehydrator, and had never thought of making it that way! What a great idea, and the ingredients are so wholesome.
Thanks!
Lisa
June 21, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I really like it over yogurt. It makes me feel virtuous while eating decadent.