Writer Fuel: Granola
If there’s anything that goes hand in hand with a long writing session, it’s a good snack. Perhaps rivaled only by caffeine, crunchy, bite-sized food is the writer’s lifeblood. This evening I was stuck in double-metaphor land, wrestling with too many adjectives, when I decided to take a little break and make some granola. It’s amazingly easy, and once you’ve had homemade granola you’ll never go back to store-bought again. The best part about granola is that it’s totally customizable; you can add just about anything you like in the nut-fruit-grain world and you’ll probably end up with something delicious. This recipe can be altered in a bunch of ways, and I especially like it with apricots and pears. So go nuts (heh, literally), whip up a batch, and keep a bowl of this stuff handy. It’s perfect for munching on when you need a little distraction from your literary masterpiece.
Ingredients:
3 cups oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
6 TB vegetable oil
6 TB honey
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried pineapple
1/2 cup dried papaya
1/2 cup dried mango
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a sheet pan.
Stir together oats, almonds, and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Heat oil, honey, and spices in a small sauce pan, over low heat. Stir into oat mixture.
Spread evenly onto pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool granola completely in pan (it will get crispier as it cools) and stir in fruit.
An extra big bonus about this recipe: as the granola bakes, your entire house will smell like cinnamon and cardamom. Oh, how I wish the Internet had smell-o-vision right now. Enjoy!
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