Fresh Cracked Pepper

I often call it my favourite meal of the day. And here I am, holding it like some kind of offering to the cereal deities. I love that delightful first crunch of that says “hello world.” I love cracking the shell of a boiled egg, exposing its warm, opaque flesh. I confess that I sometimes often usually fall asleep thinking about the next day’s breakfast. For some, breakfast is just fuel for the day. For others, it can be a reason to get up.

There’s something really special about breakfast. When I was cycling around Vancouver island in the Spring of ‘06, breakfast was the only meal I’d eat out. I’d ride around a new town for an hour, looking for the perfect nook. I was often rewarded, like when I found these cinnamon buns at a rustic bakery, hidden-away in cottage-country forest, brushed inside with the slightest hint of raspberry:

It was so good, I didn’t even notice the plastic.

Breakfast with friends is a vulnerable meal to share; each rubs sleep from his or her eyes, and dips into the first morsels of a day full of senses. I have so many cozy memories of breakfasting: my grandfather’s porridge, fancy sweet potato pancakes at Fresh (a fantastic Winnipeg restaurant), a plate heaping with goodies at a greasy spoon, my friend Krista’s rum and banana crepes, poori bhaji in India.

But of all the ways to break a fast, granola has been a fierce contender. (Hey, I did live in Winnipeg’s ‘Granola Belt’ for 4 years.) It is a constant friend, showing up in our house at least every two weeks with new displays of taste and texture. This is the perfect recipe-in-flux, forgiving and even flourishing under the most brash of adjustments and tweaks. I think that trying to find new combinations of texture, chunkiness, sweetness, and health might just be one of my lifelong quests.

You can find much more straightforward granola recipes out there, but believe me, in terms of this morning delight I’ve played the explorer and the scientist. I can’t tell you how you’ll like it best, but I can tell you what to try. As the Chinese Proverb so goes, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” Here’s to a lifetime of granola.

Chameleon Granola, or, Granola with Excessive Notes (serves small army)

Everything underlined is substitutable (food blog word of the day!)

Mix together:

At least 4 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats, plus another 1 cup of the following: wheatgerm, oatbran, flaxmeal, whole wheat flour. You’ll find out what combo you like best. Basically anything in this family can go in there, different types of flour, rolled barley or quinoa flakes. Be creative! I sometimes use 1/2 cup of millet for extra crunch. Toast the oats on cookie sheets in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, being careful not to burn.

1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds, coconut, or sunflower seeds (I usually don’t use all of these)

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I usually use pecans or walnuts, occasionally almonds)

1 tsp sea salt

Stir together in separate bowl:

For the wet, you’ll need a cup of things like honey, molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, brown rice syrup. Just make sure all the wet together equals 1.5-2 cups. A few T’s of brown sugar will make it extra sweet. If you don’t care much about fat, throw in a 1/4 - a 1/3 of a cup canola oil, which will give you the golden flakiness that I usually sacrifice. <pout> I usually add some kind of fruit puree: applesauce (buy the snack pack ones so it doesn’t go bad in the back of the fridge), mashed bananas, or pumpkin (as I did today, leftover from my pumpkin breakfast cookies.) This adds flavour and moisture without the fat. Heck, feel free to add some softened peanut butter. I’ve also seen recipes that call for egg whites too, which gives the end product a nice sheen and extra protein. Add vanilla or almond extract, throw in some cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger. Lastly, add a splash of milk. (The more liquid in your mix, the more the granola will tend to clump. Basically you just want a mixture that looks a bit like cookie dough, but much more crumbly.) Stir until cry ingredients are well-coated.

Spread on a lightly greased roasting pan (which allows for messy, vigorous stirring) or on cookie sheets (you’ll have to be gentler with these) and place on middle racks of oven. Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes. The math: longer= more crunch, shorter= more chew. Take your pick. The granola will crisp up a bit as it cools. Stir more often during baking for more “pourable” cereal, less often for clumpy. Another trick to good clumping is to leave the final product undisturbed on the baking sheets as it cools completely, and then break into clusters and chunks. Add raisins, craisins, dried or fresh fruit just before serving, and douse with Plain Silk Soy Milk (our favourite, for the thick sweetness it adds) or on top of some kick-ass yogurt. My current favourite, a discovery my friend Susan and I made at the Saturday farmer’s market is

from the good folks at Meadow Creek Farm in Interlaken, NY (under 100 miles from us!) this stuff is liquidy enough that you don’t miss the milk, and it’s oh so much more tasty. Finally! I have located a source of large (32 oz) fruit flavoured yogurt in this land of opportunity! Be careful, on drier, store-bought and guar-gum thickened yogurt, the whole granola experience is a little dry. You don’t want to mess with this stuff, trust me.

If you plan on storing it for more than a week, pop in the refrigerator. Proceed to laugh at the 7$ (tiny) bags of granola at the grocery store. Snicker frequently. Crunch loudly.