Granola is one of my favorite foods. So great as an afternoon snack, with yogurt and fresh fruit in the morning, or even drizzled in honey as a sweet treat. We made personalized little batches of granola recently with Liv’s friends.
Every Thursday morning I get together with a few of my girlfriends and their kids and we lead a preschool lesson. We call it our co-op preschool and it is one of my weekly treasured times (it’s also part of my village – these ladies are so much more than just playdate pals). Working or maternity leave, I try to make sure that I reserve Thursday mornings for these lessons. It hasn’t always been easy but it’s so worth it!
I wasn’t sure I’d capture the latest lesson that I led at our home (we rotate) on camera – it’s always a little chaotic when you’re on teaching duty with lesson prep and the wild hands of eight little children everywhere, but I did manage a few pictures and thought I’d share them with you. Especially since our class produced excellent homemade granola AND a little no sew kids apron that is super easy to replicate (more on that soon).
I decided to talk high level nutrition with the littles. We discussed ‘grow strong food’ and how it’s important to fill our bodies with what fuels it. I had previously collected a selection of grocery store bin goodies (dried cranberries, golden raisins, blanched almonds, sunflower seeds and even mini chocolate chips) and we passed the dishes around the circle sampling each.
Then we filled small flat ramekins with prepped but not baked granola (recipe below) and everyone chose what toppings they wanted to mix in. Snack and learning in one.
- 5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup honey or agave syrup
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- dried fruit and nuts
- Preheat oven to 300.
- In a large glass bowl mix oats, nuts, dried fruit, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. In a one cup measuring cup, pour honey or agave and vegetable oil together so that they are mixed, then pour measuring cup contents into rolled oats mixture.
- Spread mixture out on a backing sheet lined with parchment paper, bake for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool (during the cooling process the crispy granola will clump and hardened).
A note on agave vs honey: honey is easy and probably in the cupboard, but agave behaves so much better in the whole mixing process (we also keep it on hand as a honey substitute). Completely up to you!
Between my junior and senior year of college two of my girlfriends and I spent five weeks in Europe. We were on such a tight budget that we could afford maybe one meal a day while hopping around from country to country (and that was most likely salami and a loaf of bread), and so I planned in advance and brought with me a GIANT bag of homemade granola. Literally survived off of it for weeks on end. Amazing trip – but I can’t say I’d do it that way again! And it took me a while to warm up to the delicious snack again afterwards :).
PS homemade maple oat bars (since we’re talking oats) and a slightly fancier breakfast recipe.
Love that you are able to combine learning, nutrition and fun all in one morning preschool play-date. And I bet that the kids ate up all of their granola in a heartbeat. (plus, that story about Europe is pretty awesome)
Thanks, Leslie!