Healthy, Delicious Granola by Mallika

 Here ends your wait for Mallika's post, here comes healthy, delicious home-made wholesome Granola, which looks super delicious and tempting enough to grab off the monitor!!! Over to Mallika..

'Thank you Suma for providing me this opportunity to write on your blog and contribute a recipe for the same. Firstly, let me introduce you to myself. I am Mallika (I use MD to address myself on blogs). Other than being a full time working IT professional, you'll find me meddling around in the kitchen, cooking, reading, photographing, blogging, etc. I scuffle through my professional work life and personal passions by squeezing in time for cooking, juggling in a bit of baking, a little photography, blogging and loads of eating! ;)

I love the art of cooking and have been involved with it for many years now. It has helped me in many ways. Being a creative and adventurous person myself, cooking has rightly been an art involving both ventures of creativity and adventure. It's a great stress buster and I enjoy it thoroughly as it allows me to explore my boundaries beyond any limits. The happiness you get just by the satisified looks of people relishing what you've cooked is immensely encouraging. And it was out of sheer passion for cooking, that I unfolded my blog Veg Bowl! 

Allow me to share this healthy breakfast recipe for Granola. This Granola is loaded with nuts and we love it that way. The honey roasted oats and nuts bring out some good flavors while the nuts add a great deal of crunchiness to this recipe. 

What's good about Granola is that you can throw in ingredients of your choice, basically anything and everything that you like. There are no rules. Recipe is simple and can be stored fresh in air-tight container for weeks. Served with milk or yogurt, they are the best way to go for a healthy start to your hectic day. 

Here's what we need:

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup corn flakes

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup chopped dates

1/4 cup melon seeds

1/8 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup raisins

1 cup honey

1 tbsp butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except raisins. In a separate bowl, combine honey, melted butter and salt. Pour this to dry ingredients, toss to mix well. Transfer to baking tray. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes to achieve an even color. Keep a watch. Take care not to burn them brown. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed. Store them in air-tight containers. 

What's good about Granola is that you can throw in ingredients of your choice, basically anything and everything that you like. I like to add in figs at times. Sometimes skip the butter and roast them dry. Or may be replace corn flakes with wheat flakes, they work very good too. Increase or decrease sweetness if this isn't apt to your taste. Combination of 1/4 cup dark brown sugar with 1/2 cup honey would also work fantastic. There are no hard and fast rules. You decide on what you want to throw in!

With loads of nuts in them, I also love to add in fresh chopped fruits while serving. My favorite top ups are pineapples, peaches, oranges, bananas and apples. Seasonal fruits like Mangoes go well too. Serve with warm or cold milk. Try soy milk or even almond milk would be great!"

That was an awesome, awesome post Mallika! Thanks for this delicious recipe, for a healthy breakfast  which is deliciously luxurious too!!!