In my opinion, the most elegant breakfast item is a parfait. It’s hard to eat one and not feel like a princess. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m a little obsessed with parfaits. They’re beautiful, simple, and incredibly easy to make.
As a purist, I like to make my own granola. Granola is one of those foods that’s easy to make, but it takes a lot of kitchen time, so I usually watch a movie or read a book while I make my granola. This would be a great thing to make while home over spring break or when you get back to campus to have in your room. When I make my parfaits with this granola, I like to go with nonfat vanilla greek yogurt and blueberries, but you can be creative with the fruit/yogurt combination.
Here’s what you need:
- 3 cups quick cooking oats
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
- 1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Here’s what you do:
- Preheat oven to 250. Lightly grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, and wheat germ.
- In a separate bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, water, salt, and vanilla. Stir well; then pour into the oat mixture, and stir. Spread out on a cookie sheet, the thinner your spread it out, the crispier your granola will be.
- Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. When you stir, try to make sure it’s all flat on the pan before you put it back in. Remove from oven, and cool before serving. When you take it out at the end of the hour, the granola will NOT BE CRUNCHY YET. Don’t worry, if you let it cool, it will become crunchy.
Store in a sealed container with a lid like a mason jar, if there’s any left after your friends/family discover how good it is…enjoy!
Photo Sources:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Peanut-Granola/Detail.aspx