{"id":1105,"date":"2012-06-09T18:30:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T23:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=1105"},"modified":"2016-08-10T11:26:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T17:26:07","slug":"major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-homemade-granola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-homemade-granola.html","title":{"rendered":"Major Mom&#8217;s &#8220;Back to Basics&#8221; Campaign: Homemade Granola"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1106\" style=\"width: 451px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1106\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1106 \" title=\"photo\" src=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"441\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/photo.jpg 1319w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1106\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Topped with our just-picked blueberries, this has been my breakfast every morning this week!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I was picking up cereal at the grocery store last week and noticed the commercially available granola. For $3-5 per box, you could get granola with a variety of flavors, with varied ingredients and perhaps even some preservatives thrown in.<\/p>\n<p>Such as Kellogg&#8217;s low-fat granola:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=grocontomaj0c-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00LWEGPI4&amp;asins=B00LWEGPI4&amp;linkId=cd93c71c2747de6fd003eceef398fc9e&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the ingredients list from the Amazon.com entry: &#8220;Whole Oats, Brown Sugar, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Syrup, Rice, Almonds, Modified Corn Starch, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed and\/or Soybean Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cinnamon, Salt, Nonfat Dry Milk, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Polyglycerol Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides, Malt Flavor, Niacinamide, Zinc Oxide, Guar Gum, Sodium Ascorbate and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Reduced Iron, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid, Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Bht (Preservative), Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils? \u00a0If one is considering granola, one would think they&#8217;d be aware of such ingredients and not choose this particular brand. \u00a0There are so many others out there&#8230;if you had to purchase it.<\/p>\n<p>Even Kashi&#8217;s yummy &#8220;Cocoa Beach&#8221; chocolate granola <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kashi.com\/products\/nutrition_info\/kashi_granola_cocoa_beach\">has &#8220;mixed tocopherols&#8221; in its ingredients<\/a>, but at least I could recognize everything else.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=grocontomaj0c-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00X5CVG8U&amp;asins=B00X5CVG8U&amp;linkId=3dea9ec0e285ea0c0c506f963d4b0f92&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t too difficult to take a look at what I had available in my pantry and figured I could do this myself without high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated-anything. I had plenty of Quaker&#8217;s &#8220;Old Fashioned&#8221; oats, honey, brown sugar, nuts and raisins that I could use to make granola. Plus a complement of spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=9&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=homemade+granold#hl=en&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=homemade+granola&amp;oq=homemade+granola&amp;aq=f&amp;aqi=g4&amp;aql=&amp;gs_l=serp.3..0l4.2238.2238.1.2574.1.0.0.1.1.0.0.0..0.0...0.0.XDk4gyjR6xI&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&amp;fp=d85226387c94b556&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=608\">I browsed numerous online granola recipes<\/a>, looking for one that fit the volume I wanted to make, plus the ingredients I had available.<\/p>\n<p>A recipe from Amy at A Little Nosh blog was the winner [link to recipe has since gone dark]. \u00a0She adapted it from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.100daysofrealfood.com\/2010\/04\/04\/recipe-granola-bars-cereal\/\">100 Days of Real Food blog<\/a>, which is a wonderful blog about a North Carolina family who succeeded in 100 days of non-processed foods, making everything from scratch. \u00a0They then tried an additional 100 days of the same thing on a tight food budget and found out it&#8217;s harder than it ought to be.<\/p>\n<p>As for Amy&#8217;s recipe, being 2nd on the Google search for &#8220;homemade granola&#8221; helped her case for being my choice. \u00a0All the sweetness came from the honey, and the fat that gives it the richness came from butter instead of oil. \u00a0We here prefer the flavor that comes with butter, so this was the recipe we tried out.<\/p>\n<p>I had to make a couple of changes to adapt to the ingredients I had on hand and deal with some of my kids&#8217; tastes:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>I used raisins instead of dried cranberries, since I had plenty of raisins on hand already<\/li>\n<li>I omitted the sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds, my youngest son doesn&#8217;t care for seeds<\/li>\n<li>I also omitted the coconut. \u00a0None of us care for it too much.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Otherwise, this recipe worked out like a charm and the kids enjoyed snacking on it. \u00a0We love the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg aroma in the house while it&#8217;s baking up, as Jacob told me last week, &#8220;It smelled like Christmas!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While Amy claims that she makes a batch and it disappears quickly, we here find granola very filling and we&#8217;re still snacking on it and having it for breakfast 5 days later. \u00a0After all, the recipe makes 3 pounds or 48 ounces, the equivalent of 3-4 boxes of what&#8217;s commercially available.<\/p>\n<p>Cost-wise, I probably used about $1 worth of ingredients (a non-scientific estimate) to produce the same amount you&#8217;d have to pay about $15 for in a store.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back to Basics&#8221; for the win! \u00a0Once again!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was picking up cereal at the grocery store last week and noticed the commercially available granola. For $3-5 per box, you could get granola with a variety of flavors, with varied ingredients and perhaps even some preservatives thrown in. Such as Kellogg&#8217;s low-fat granola: Here&#8217;s the ingredients list from the Amazon.com entry: &#8220;Whole Oats, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[266,265,255,184,8,264,267],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-hP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1115,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/my-back-to-basics-conundrum.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":0},"title":"My Back to Basics Conundrum&#8230;","date":"12 June 12","format":false,"excerpt":"I find myself in a little conundrum: I want to bake bake bake. When I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I wanted to go \"back\" to the cooking I used to do for the family, much of that involved baking cookies, cakes, cobblers, breads, cornbread, etc. I love baking.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"back to basics\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-aW-kBnQ9uGY\/TyLsLxvwNvI\/AAAAAAAAAOw\/Nb8GogCAjc4\/s1600\/Baked+goods.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/09\/813.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":1},"title":"813","date":"03 September 08","format":false,"excerpt":"\"What a strange number...\" Yep. I'm one of the Box Top assistants for my son's elementary school PTA. Aren't I Little Miss Involved, huh? This was a good program to get involved in since I have a deployment in early 2009 that would mess up my being a room Mom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"parenting\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1060,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/05\/major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-the-quest-for-homemade-bread.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":2},"title":"Major Mom&#8217;s &#8220;Back to Basics&#8221; Campaign: The Quest for Homemade Bread","date":"28 May 12","format":false,"excerpt":"These past two months have been a blur to me. \u00a0I was busy with both boys in baseball, and my responsibilities with the Hurlburt Spouses' Club ramped up, as I was in charge of organizing the elections of next year's officers and a biennal review of the Constitution and other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"back to basics\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/VolunteerCeremony-e1338239485948.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1088,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-microwave-popcorn.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":3},"title":"Major Mom&#8217;s &#8220;Back to Basics&#8221; Campaign: Microwave Popcorn","date":"03 June 12","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine who lives nearby, Cassandra, put the idea in our heads at a spouses' club-related meeting a couple months ago. We were discussing healthy snacking and she offered up how we can make plain popcorn in the microwave with just a paper lunch bag.\u00a0She said \"a couple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"back to basics\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn1.alice.com\/images\/products\/1264995\/300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1227,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/07\/major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-homemade-blueberry-syrup.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":4},"title":"Major Mom&#8217;s &#8220;Back to Basics&#8221; Campaign: Homemade Blueberry Syrup","date":"21 July 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I made blueberry syrup. \u00a0This was a request from Jacob, who loves the taste of blueberries but doesn't care for the texture of the skins or the seeds. The recipe I used was mainly from the Ball Blue Book canning guide and I chose it because it called for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"back to basics\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_2822-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1667,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/01\/major-moms-back-to-basics-campaign-crazy-easy-applesauce.html","url_meta":{"origin":1105,"position":5},"title":"Major Mom&#8217;s Back to Basics Campaign: Crazy Easy Applesauce","date":"05 January 13","format":false,"excerpt":"In this next installment of \"Back to Basics\", I'm going to share how crazy easy it is to make applesauce for your family. Before I found \"Natural\" applesauce for my family, I tended to avoid buying applesauce because of the added sugars. 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