Have you ever had a banana split for breakfast? Or maybe they should be called “Granana Splits”- a healthy, happy and fun way to start your day. You’ll need a banana, some Greek yogurt, granola and fruit- oh and of course a cherry for the top. It’s not essential that you have a banana split dish but it makes it much more festive.
First you need to make some homemade Granola or buy some at the store. Making Granola is mainly about technique and going with what you like. So you can use whatever you want in it. Just make sure that your ingredients are fresh and that grains, nuts and seeds are not turning even a teensy bit rancid because your Granola can keep for a longer time if they are fresh.
Start with a base of rolled oats and add nuts, seeds and dried fruits to your liking. Coat them all with oil and a sweetener (like honey, brown sugar, maple sugar or agave syrup) or you can just use sweetener for “fat free” or just oil for “sugar free”. These make the Granola hold together as it cooks and cools . You want whatever you choose to add the flavors you like. Then mix and bake it up in a slow oven. Cool and you’ve got yourself your own brand of breakfast.
Just for example here’s the recipe for my latest batch based on Heidi Swanson’s (from 101 Cookbooks) book, “Super Natural Cooking:Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients Into Your Cooking”
– I adjusted the amounts to my liking and added a few ingredients. Granola is like that- it lends itself easily to your taste:
Homemade Granola
- 5 cups of organic rolled oats
- 3/4 cup of Macadamia nuts, chopped
- 3/4 cup of walnuts, chopped
- 1/4 cup of Oat Bran
- 1/4 cup of Flax seeds
- 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds
- 1-3/4 cups of small shred desiccated unsweetened coconut
- 3/4 cup of dried pineapple, chopped
- 3/4 cup of dried apricots, chopped
- 1/2 cup of dried Montmorency cherries, chopped
- zest of two oranges
- 1 cup of honey
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin coconut oil
Preheat the oven to 300F. Mix the honey and coconut oil together in a small saucepan over very low heat until the coconut oil is melted and the mixture combines. Take off the heat and add the vanilla extract, stir well. Mix all of the other ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour the honey/oil/vanilla over and stir with a big rubber spatula until everything is coated and combined well. If your oven will not fit a commercial sheet pan you’ll need at least two clean, rimmed jelly roll style pans. Spread the granola in a single layer over the pan or pans and place in oven. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden, stirring and turning everything over about every ten minutes. Cool completely without disturbing in the pans and then scoop into an airtight container. Makes about 12 cups. Enjoy for nibbles, noshes, as cereal or as a breakfast banana split.
“Granana Split”:
- 1 organic banana
- 1 scoop of Plain, Vanilla or Honey flavored Greek yogurt, full, low-fat or nonfat
- 1 scoop of granola
- 1 scoop of fresh or frozen fruit, (fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries pictured)
- one fresh Bing cherry with stem for the top
Split the banana and arrange the other ingredients along the center, top with the cherry, enjoy.
Wishing you all a healthy, happy start to each day 🙂
xo
