Granola Cereal

I have been making this granola cereal since J.T. and I made the switch to real food.  J.T. and I always eat a bed time snack, anytime between 8 and 9.  My snack of choice before our food overhaul was rice Chex cereal.  Chex cereal has an extensive line of gluten free cereals and it was nice to actually be able to purchase this cereal relatively cheaply with coupons.  Cheap was great until I realized all the ingredients on the nutrition panel where things I didn’t even recognize.  I started playing around with the idea of a granola cereal.  Most granola is fairly high in calories and a typical recipe contains oats, butter (or oil), nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes chocolate chips.  Since I am not a huge fan of dried fruit and my stomach prefers that I eat nuts in moderation, I wanted to eliminate both of these ingredients from my granola.  I also didn’t see the point in adding more sugar – the chocolate chips – to a snack that was already sugary enough.  This left me with oats and oil.  I tested batch after batch of granola cereal until I settled on something I loved.  This particular recipe has been made with more honey, with less honey, with whole grain puffed brown rice, and with whole grain puffed millet.  I like the texture of corn the best.  It is larger in size than both the rice and the millet.  This makes the oats cling better to the corn, resulting in larger clusters of granola.  I make a batch of this every week and look forward to my little bowl each night.  I eat this in ½ cup servings with a splash of almond milk poured on top.  I don’t miss the Chex cereal one bit! 

Ingredients

·         2 cups rolled oats

·         2 cups whole grain puffed corn, such as Arrowhead Mills

·         1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

·         3 tablespoons coconut oil

·         3 tablespoons pure clover honey

Directions

1.      Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl mix together the oats, puffed corn, and cinnamon.  Stir in the coconut oil and honey.  Spread in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake at 250 degrees for 75 minutes. Let cool completely.  Break apart into clusters and store in an air tight container.  Yields about 8 (1/2 cup) servings.  

Publix – January 11, 2013

     I received the book The Homemade Pantry as a Christmas gift from my brother (Christopher) and his fiancée (Gill).  I will now refer to them as Christopher and Gill on this blog, because I am tired of typing out titles!  I must admit that I am currently obsessed with this book!  I have almost read it cover to cover and have made a few of the recipes.  If you read this blog, you know that I am passionate about making items at home that most people usually purchase at the grocery store.  Upon reviewing our budget at the start of the New Year, I came to the shocking realization that I am spending $13.57 a week for J.T.’s cereal and milk.  That is almost 23% of our weekly grocery budget.  I believe that there has to be a cheaper alternative.  The price of milk is a constant.  Since we buy organic milk I will always pay $5.99 for a gallon and maybe more in the future.  The cereal, at $3.79 a box, is the main issue and J.T. consumes two of these 14 ounce boxes a week.   The wheels in my head have been spinning over creating a cheaper and healthier breakfast alternative for J.T.  The first source I consulted for this issue was The Homemade Pantry.  J.T. is an avid lover of his cold cereal, but I asked him if he liked instant oatmeal – the kind in the packets that are normally much sweeter and softer in texture than regular rolled oats.  He kindly agreed to try instant oatmeal and luckily The Homemade Pantry had a recipe.  I will blog about the recipe later, but it is very simple.  Basically you toast a batch of oats and pulse half of them with a little cinnamon, brown sugar (which I made!) and salt.   That’s it.  J.T. tried the oatmeal this morning and enjoyed it, but I can tell that he misses his cereal.  Now, I am on a quest to figure out how to make dry cereal in my kitchen – preferably something that is similar in taste and texture to Cheerios.  After browsing the internet, I have concluded that there are very few recipes on homemade dry cereal (besides granola).  Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated J

 

·         Dairy

o   1 gallon Publix Greenwise Organic Milk @ $5.99

o   1 lb. Organic Valley Unsalted Butter @ $6.99

§  $1.00/1 manufacturer coupon - $5.99

o   Publix Greenwise Organic Eggs @ $4.29

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   2 lbs. King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour @ $2.42

o   Publix Greenwise Whole Flaxseed @ $1.99

o   Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar @ $4.29

§  $0.55/1 manufacturer coupon - $3.74

·         Meat

o   Publix Greenwise Split Chicken breasts @ $3.50/lb. - $5.17

o   Publix Greenwise Chicken drumsticks @ $2.29/lb. - $3.80

·         Frozen

o    (2) Bird’s eye frozen Brussels @ $2.49

o    (2) Bird’s eye peas @ $1.99

·         Produce

o   Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.48

o   2 lemons @ $1.33

o   4 ½  lbs. butternut squash @ $1.29/lb. - $5.70

·         Other

o   Reynolds muffin liners @ $0.95

Total before coupons              $62.52

Less: coupons used                   (6.55)

Total with Tax                        $55.97