Birkenstock Hippy Granola

Why is it that hippies get associated with all the goodness that is granola? For some reason I imagine a tie dyed up, bearded hippie, wearing a pair of Birkenstocks, swaying to new age music in his head, as the prime consumer of granola. Much like this dude, dancing away at the Fremont festival.

But even if your not waving scarves around like the fine people of Seattle, you can still jump on the granola bandwagon. I did, and up until a couple months ago, I was an NCAA athlete, not exactly miss tie dye, like the lady below, I saw at the Folklife festival.



Here is my framework for the basic granola, and then from there, it only gets better!

2 C. Old Fashioned Oats (none of those 1 minute kind, yuck)

1/4 C. Brown Sugar

1/2 C. Butter - you can also substitute any sort of healthy oil here too, sunflower is delicious, but I find butter gives the granola the nice crisp texture much better

Bake at 375 for around 8 minutes, after 8, constantly check up on your granola to make sure it does not burn, it is really easy to do. When the granola comes out, with a nice brown color around the edges, it may still be soft. Don't worry, it hardens as it cools, then you can start to crumble do your desired chunkage level.

Vanilla Almond:

2t. Vanilla

1/2 C. Almonds

Apple Cinnamon:

1T. Cinnamon

3/4 C. Fresh apples, diced. or dried pieces of apples, which you can add after the granola is cooked.

But today I made....

Strawberry Flax Seed Granola

Gather Ingredients

Oats, Flax Seed, Honey, Oil

Vanilla: I have some really good stuff from the Dominican, but any old kind will do.

Strawberries in Sauce: The night before, cut up some strawberries, add some sugar, then place in the fridge. The next day you have a wonderful strawberry sauce/juice.

Dont forget the butter and brown sugar, I almost did. You need the extra sweetness and butter because of the nutty bland flax.

 Mix up your wet ingredients

Mix up your dry ingredients.

My flax was oddly dark, I thought most was a light brown color, I guess that is what you get for buying flax on sale for only 2 bucks.

Combine the wet, dry, and straberries

 Spread it out on a pan

About 10 minutes later, you have crispy golden healthy yumminess which any dancing hippy would approve of. Plus it is homemade, cost evective, and very green of you, if even if you spend your days in athletic shorts rather than tie dye

Don't forget to enjoy, I spooned in some plain yogurt and bannanas. Delicious.

Ok I will leave you with one more hippie clip I filmed at the Folklife, it is just so darn funny. The quality on this is a disaster though. nice and unfocused, from a cheapo digital camera.