My new favorite breakfast!

Okay, these aren't going to be the best photos, but here you go! I started making my own granola. Most of the recipes I looked at were very high in fat, but this one wasn't. It's also very nutritious. The nuts and flaxseed have all kinds of nutrients, like omega 3's and fiber. The oats have fiber as well, and the berries are all being called super foods!

This is my current favorite way to eat it... on yogurt (Yoplait large packaged yogurts come in strawberry and vanilla and have 1/2 % milkfat. They are awesome with this) and sometimes with fresh fruit if I have some. Oh yum! My two year olds BEG for this. If I don't have "granona" at lunch time, my daughter will cry. I found this recipe on cookinglight.com. If you're doing Weight Watchers, 1/2 C of this yogurt, with 1/4 C of granola is about 4 points! It's also great with milk.



Power Granola

2 cups regular oats
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped slivered almonds (I used whole raw almonds that I chopped myself.)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/3 cup dried cranberries (or I used ¼ C dried cherries, ¼ C dried blueberries, and ¼ C dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 300°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine orange juice, honey, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat just until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in oil and vanilla. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture, stirring to coat. Spread mixture in a thin layer onto a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 10 minutes; stir well. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Spoon granola into a bowl; stir in dried cranberries. Cool completely.
Note: Store completely cooled granola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Yield about 4 3/4 cups (serving size: about 1/2 cup) **If you’re going to double this, use two cookie sheets or else it doesn’t get done enough!

CALORIES 196(31% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.2g,poly 3.3g); PROTEIN 4.1g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 38mg; SODIUM 5mg; FIBER 3.6g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.5g