"Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy." Homemade Granola with Dried Apricots, Figs and Cranberries.
I noticed a pair of my good friends always have store-bought granola in the house. I recently decided they needed to have some homemade granola as a gift and I hit paydirt. One half of the pair is an avid cyclist and burns 5,467,893 calories a day; and apparently granola is one of his daily tank fillers.
Does my addition of raw oats and bran technically make it meusli? Dunno, but I do know the raw oats add a new texture, taste and color to the finished granola and keeps the granola from being too oily while the bran sneaks in some extra nutrients. Feel free to subsitute other whole rolled grains like spelt, rye or barley for some of the oats.
I like to check in advance whenever using dried fruit in a recipe intended for someone else, but I wanted to surprise them and I figured that if I diced the apricots and figs very finely that they wouldn't overwhelm any one mouthful. I think this is true of most things people dislike or avoid - there is a way to do it right. To get that perfect dice on apricots, I have a system I will tell you about later. :)
The difference between storebought granola and homemade is remarkable, except perhaps for this stuff,which is addictive.
Worth all the trouble? Yes. Granola is so darn easy to make yourself that you might as well, especially since it allows you to control the amount of oil and sugar and chemicals you are eating AND get the perfect mix of grains, fruits and nuts you like.
After all this you might think I eat bowlfuls of granola all the time. No, after making a large batch and giving most of it away, my favorite things to do with granola are to sprinkle it over plain greek yogurt for breakfast or over apples to make the world's easiest fruit crisp for dessert.
But you should have a bowl.
