Homemade Granola

I have always wanted to make my own granola, but was too intimidated.  Now I can happily report that it is not very difficult and the results are quite tasty.  I used a recipe from the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook although I simplified a bit.  Below the recipe I have included some nutritional information concerning the health-benefits of resistant starch.

Homemade Granola  (5 PointsPlus)
Ingredients:
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon almost extract
Optional additions (not included in PointsPlus total):
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried tart cherries

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.  Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray-- or, if you're lazy like me, first line baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up and then coat with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl combine the oats, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Separately, combine the honey, oil, and almost extract.  
3. Pour honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir well.  Spread evenly on baking sheet.
4. Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, for 38 - 40 minutes.
5. If you are adding the dried fruit, add now.  Either way, cool and store in an airtight container.

Serving Size and PointsPlus Total:

This makes 12 servings.  Each serving is 1/2 cup and 5 PointsPlus.  To make this a meal, I chopped up kiwi, a few strawberries, and tossed some berries into 8oz of non-fat plain Greek yogurt (3 PointsPlus), drizzled a teaspoon of honey to make it sweet (1 PointsPlus), and topped with a serving of granola.  It was truly enjoyable and filling (total: 9 PointsPlus). 

Some notes on the nutritional value

Generally, we know that we're supposed to eat whole grains and avoid starchy foods, but, if you're like me, you may not fully grasp the science behind this rule.  I have been doing some research in order to better understand the health-value of certain foods.  I will not give you the science teacher explanation, go do your own research if you want the technical stuff, but here's what I learned.

• Resistant starches are digested more slowly and are much better for our bodies.  They do not rapidly turn into sugar, give us a sugar high, and then make us crash.
• Resistant starches also make use feel full for longer stretches of time.
• They are called resistant starch because they resist digestion.  Unlike most of the starch in our diet, they do not begin to breakdown in our small intestine, instead they resist digestion until they reach the colon.  This is beneficial for the colon and due to their slower digestion rate actually help you lose weight. (Information based on  ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine by John La Puma M.D.).

What foods are considered resistant starches? Well, first of all, old-fashioned oats are a resistant starch-- hence, I'm bringing this up with the granola recipe.  Please note, instant oatmeal is NOT a resistant starch, so spend the extra few minutes and use the old-fashioned variety.  Other resistant starches include: lentils, brown rice, barley, whole wheat, quinoa [see the Berry Quinoa Breakfast post], steel-cut oats, buckwheat, kidney beans, navy beans, bananas, and many others.