I...Have Made Granola!

In what I thought was going to be a supreme act of efficiency I bought over two kilograms of vanilla yogurt from Costco.  My son eats a container for lunch every school day and I can save some money buying a big tub and sending him to school with a small zip lock container.

This works really well.  Unless....  Guess who doesn’t like the taste of this brand?

I made a cardinal mistake.  I bought a Costco size of something before taste testing it. What was I thinking?!  I’ll tell you what I’m thinking now:  I’m thinking I've got to consume 2.2 kg’s of yogurt before it goes bad.

My first thought was smoothies.  However, smoothies require the blender which is not stored in an easily accessible place. Which means I will get the blender once, maybe twice but I won’t make smoothies every day because I’m too lazy to grab the stool and get the blender out, clean it and put it back every day.

Let that be a lesson if you have the good fortune to be laying out a kitchen.  Store all your small appliances within easy reach.  Otherwise you wont use them as often as you think you will, but I digress.

One-off smoothies will help but I’m going to need something else.  And I’m thinking this as I’m spooning a small bowl of yogurt for a snack and wishing I had some granola to add.  I actually write “granola” down on my shopping list, head off to the store, pick up the dry cleaning, get everything on my list but granola and head home.  Only then, once I realize that I’ve forgotten the granola,  do I think “maybe I could make granola”.

When I think of granola, I think of my childhood staple Quaker Harvest Crunch.  This stuff is magical!  And when I eat it, I am instantly transported back to my six year old self.  Trying to reproduce this magical substance was out of the question and intimidating as hell.  I know; it's granola. I should get out more or at least over myself, but somethings are sacred and when you build them up in your mind they become a thing.

Where could I find a granola recipe that I could trust? Pioneer Woman, my culinary hero, makes fancy granola but I needed something basic.  So I turned to America’s Test Kitchen.  And voila!  A basic recipe with ingredients I already have.  Although they said not to use quick oats and those were the kind I had. I bravely risked it and it turned out great.

I had no idea how resistant I was to  the thought of making granola until I made it.  And then I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway where he makes fire.

Only I made granola, but not just any granola, granola that tasts REALLY GOOD!
Watch out yogurt, you are destined to be my breakfast of choice until you are all gone, because I. made. GRANOLA!