My apologize to all of you that thought I may have fallen off the face of the earth the last week. I've been busily trying to plan my Easter menu, along with book a last minute vacation, and get my body into vacation shape, so unfortunately blogging took a back seat. But I'm back and full of deliciously tasty recipes to share with ya'll. Because even though I wasn't blogging, a girl still has to eat.
Every year for the last few, I've hosted Easter at my house. Spring being my favorite season, inevitably makes Easter my favorite holiday. Tulips and hyacinth grace the table, the warm spring sun shines down and the we remember the Lord's sacrifice for our us and rejoice in his resurrection. I mean really what's not to love about Easter? Especially because I serve a traditional Sunday brunch with mimosas and parfaits with homemade granola! Parfaits are one of my favorite breakfast, snack or dessert foods. You can be as creative as you want, using different fruit, granola, and yogurt combinations to create different flavor combinations. You can create different color combinations as well for different holidays. Say blueberries, strawberries and vanilla yogurt topped with granola for 4th of July. For Easter I like to keep it simple, vanilla bean greek yogurt, homemade granola and colorful variety of fresh fruit. Small serving sizes of all dishes help ensure that people can fit in dessert by the end of the 3 hours indulgence. But the thing that makes my parfait extra delicious is the homemade granola I make a day a head. It's a super simple and tasty granola. There should be no reason to ever buy pre-made granola again.
Easy Peasy Homemade Granola
This easy peasy homemade granola begins with a few simple ingredients: vegetable oil, honey, vanilla extract and brown sugar. Whisk in a bowl till well combined. Then in a separate bowl mix together old fashioned oats, salt and cinnamon. Pour the honey mixture over the oats and using your hands (this gets a little messy, but it's kind of fun too) take handfuls of the oats and honey mixture and squeeze into in your fist. You want to make sure that all the oats get a good coating of sticky mixture on them.
Next you'll line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the coated oats out evenly on the pan. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. After 20 minutes flip the granola over so the other side gets toasty and add your slivered almonds. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. Next add either chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts or all three if your feeling adventurous. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. You can then add dried fruit if you desire and bake again for 10 minutes or you can stop at this point and either place in a tupperware for later consumption or you can construct your parfait.
I began with vanilla bean greek yogurt. It tastes almost like ice cream when eaten alone; it's just delicious! Then I added a handful of granola, and topped with a combination of fresh grapefruit slices, kiwi, strawberries, tangerine slices, and mangos. I wanted a variety of colors and flavors.
When placed on the center of the table setting, they made an adorable prelude to the meal that lay ahead. Everyone adored them and I promise you will too.
Easy Peasy Homemade Granola
Makes: 4 cups | Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts
1/3 cup dried fruit (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk vegetable oil, honey, light brown sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl till well combined. Then in a separate bowl mix together old fashioned oats, salt and cinnamon. Pour the honey mixture over the oats and using your hands (this gets a little messy, but it's kind of fun too) take handfuls of the oats and honey mixture and squeeze into in your fist. You want to make sure that all the oats get a good coating of the sticky mixture on them.
2. Next you'll line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the coated oats out evenly on the pan. Bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes flip the granola over so the other side gets toasty and add your slivered almonds. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. Next add either chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts or all three if your feeling adventurous. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. You can then add dried fruit if you desire and bake again for 10 minutes or you can stop at this point and either place in a tupperware for later consumption or you can construct your parfait.
