• About Me
  • Disclosure
  • Shop

Making Cents Matter

  • Home
  • Resource Library
  • Budget
    • Budgeting Tips
    • Our Monthly Budget
    • Meal Planning
    • Free Printables
  • Debt Free
    • Debt Free Tips
    • Our Debt Free Journey
    • Free Printables
  • Saving
    • Ways We Save
    • DIY
    • Free Printables
  • Recipes
    • Recipes
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch
      • Dinners
      • Instant Pot
      • Slow Cooker
      • Soups
    • Meal Planning
    • Preserving Food
  • Garden
    • Gardening Tips
    • Preserving Food
  • Shop

May 10, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Homemade Granola

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
Click here to read my disclosure policy.

Breakfast· Recipes

221shares
  • 221

This homemade granola recipe is so versatile and delicious, it’s the only one you’ll ever need!  Seriously!  It can be made with ingredients you probably have sitting in your pantry right now.  That means you know exactly what goes into it!  The recipe also makes lot, which means it’s a lot more friendly on your wallet too.  Frugal recipe with no guesswork on ingredients?  Gigantic plus in my book!

Homemade Granola

I started making homemade granola a few yeares ago, based on a very basic recipe I found on ChowHound.  It was pretty good, but it didn’t make enough to get us through {seriously, we go through a TON of this stuff and really fast too!}.

So I started tweaking and playing around with the ratios in order to still get that sweet and crunchy oat flavor, and not compromise on fruit and nuts.

What I’ve come up with is a basic recipe that uses ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, and when all is said and done it makes about 11 cups of homemade granola!  It’s perfect for breakfast {I eat it with milk as a cereal}, as a snack {Monkey nabs some up when he comes home from school}, or as a topping to your yogurt and a drizzle of honey on top {Hubs’s favorite way to eat it!}!  Either way, every time I make this granola, it doesn’t last long at all.

Homemade Granola

It does have optional ingredients.  These are things that we add to our granola, and it’s never the same.  We like to mix it up, and you can do the same!

Before I get to the recipe though, let me just state that if you’re looking for a granola bar recipe, this won’t hold together enough for that.  It will be clumpy, depending on how often you stir it during its cooling time, but it will not hold together in a bar form at all.

And let’s be honest.  Do those Quaker granola bars hold together all that well as we’re eating them out of the wrapper?  I can never seem to keep them in a bar form while I’m eating one.

Now that that’s out of the way, on to the recipe!

Homemade Granola

Ingredients:

  • 4 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats {not the quick cooking kind}
  • 4 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup honey
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil **
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup each of Chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds and sunflower seeds, or other seed of your choice
  • ½ cup coconut flakes
  • 1 ½ cups dried fruit.  Don’t be afraid to use a mixture!  Our personal favorites are strawberries, cranberries and blueberries
  • 1 ½ cups nuts.  Again, use a variety!  We love walnuts and sliced almonds.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  {I use a 11×17 pan for our granola.}
  2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
  3. In a small bowl, combine honey, coconut oil and vanilla.  Add the honey mixture to the oat mixture.  Evenly spread out on baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes.  Stir.  Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until the oats are a golden color, but not burnt.
  5. Remove from oven, stir and let sit for 10-15 minutes.  Add in seeds, coconut flakes, dried fruit, and nuts.  Let sit until cool.

**Notes:
~ You could substitute butter or vegetable oil for this.  I have used both, and find that butter tends to leave the granola a bit greasy while the vegetable oil makes the granola less clumpy.
~ If you want your granola to have more clusters, try not to over-stir as it cools.

Homemade Granola

 

There you have it!  A simple, frugal & delicious homemade granola from ingredients you may already have on hand.  It’s budget friendly, and healthier for you in the process!

 

Homemade Granola

Related Posts

  • Frugal Fall Fun!Frugal Fall Fun!
  • Natural Vapor RubNatural Vapor Rub
  • Fall 2017 UpdateFall 2017 Update
  • What to Plant in MarchWhat to Plant in March
  • 2016 Debt Free Progress: March2016 Debt Free Progress: March
  • Summer 2016 BudgetSummer 2016 Budget
221shares
  • 221
Previous Post: « Why I Share Our Journey to Debt Freedom
Next Post: May 2016 Debt Free Progress »

Reader Interactions

Want access to our resource library? Sign up for our free email list!

* indicates required

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube





makingcentsmatter

This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid model, and your house does not have unlimited space. I was standing in our kitchen when I took this picture, the kids behind me making lunch.
.
Our district is carefully monitoring our local infection rates, and we are currently in a hybrid form. That means they divided the district into two groups; half are in school on Monday and Tuesday, the other half on Thursday and Friday. They are offering an all remote option, but Verizon for some reason supplies our house with speeds so slow that it would shock a tortoise. Remote was a no-go.
.
This set-up has taken some trial and error to get to where we currently are. Because no matter how prepared you are and how much you've planned, once you're in the weeds, actually doing it, there is no telling how your best-laid plans will work.
.
Our home is a 1800sqft one-story, open living area, 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom, ranch-style house in a very rural area. It has no home offices. No guest bedrooms. Yes, that is a desk in the corner of our dining room. 🤣
.
Each kid gets their own color bin for their school work. This includes school-issued Chromebooks and other standard items they need to get work done - headphones, pencils, and so on. When we are done for the day, we clean up everything, place them neatly in these bins, and place them in cubbies (on my current left) at night while the Chromebooks charge.
.
I do NOT bother to clean up at lunchtime. It would take us more time to clean up and reset everything than it takes us to eat lunch. So we only pack it all up for the day and call it done.
.
During the day, I sit between my younger two and field any questions they may have, troubleshoot technical issues we all have, and be the overall bouncer when things get off-topic. My high schooler will occasionally emerge from his bedroom, which opens to the kitchen. So he is close by when he has questions.
.
Please remember that with all things in life, you need to work with what's available to you. And there is no shame in that. Don't ever feel like you're not doing good enough because it's not picture perfect. Work with what you have available to you, and you'll do amazing things.
School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I’ve finally realized I haven’t shared our payoff numbers for July or August. Yeah……
.
Please keep in mind, we are paid monthly on the 15th, but we don’t go by a “monthly” budget. So I have to go back and look at these numbers based off their due dates in the calendar. Because our pay falls in the middle of the month, I can’t tell you what portion of our income went to debt. It’s going to vary paycheck to paycheck anyways because our priorities vary with each check. Nothing is ever the same month to month, and pay to pay.
.
That said, inJuly we paid off $2,694.43.
In August we paid off $1,673.40.
.
The difference here is that our priorities shifted between the two months.
.
During August, we were doing more prep for whatever school would look like this year, and we had some savings goals make their way to the top of the list as well.
.
Of those goals, in August we made progress!
EF Reimbursement: $146 / $1,200
Checking Buffer Reimbursement: $227 / $500
Vet Sinking Fund: $40 / $200
.
Remember this is a journey, not a race. There is no point wearing yourself ragged and still making no progress. Make progress where you can, and celebrate it. Even if it’s $5.
.
It’s progress, and that’s what matters!
While I wait for the canner to finish the last rou While I wait for the canner to finish the last round... I rearranged our recipe binder. It's only taken me 8 or so years. 🤣😶😭
.
I miss the days when zucchini was my problem. Now it's tomatoes. I can only find so many ways to use up spaghetti sauce! So the next 50lbs or so will be chili base and unseasoned sauce.
.
On top of this school is starting with a hybrid in building & online system. And I'm seriously slacking on some things I need to do. I'm not good at juggling multiple things and the balls are falling. But I keep reminding myself... be patient. This too shall pass. This is only a phase. So I pick and choose what's the most important, focus on that and go from there.
.
So if you feel overwhelmed with your current phase, remember, this too shall pass. It's okay to rearrange priorities. It's okay to take a breather.
.
This too shall pass.
If you didn't start finding interesting ways to ge If you didn't start finding interesting ways to get rid of the squash, can you say you even planted any?
.
Good news, I'm almost caught up! Bad news, the garden has more.
Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins can come in super small packages. I thought I'd spend $380 to clean the band instruments in this house. I ended up spending $234. So the remaining $146 can go to reimbursing what I pulled from our EF.
.
No matter the win, celebrate it!
.
What are some wins you have had lately?
In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumber In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumbers, 5lbs blueberries, and countless zucchini and squash with more on the way! My weekend is spoken for... and this isn't all of it. 😳
Rather than looking back through all our non-month Rather than looking back through all our non-monthly bills for the year and try to remember what I paid and when I paid it, I make a note of how much it was on our bill pay tracker. That way I can easily tally it up at the end of the year, set our sinking funds next year accordingly, and not spend more time than is necessary on this... because kids and all.⁣
.⁣
Anyone else do this? Do you have a different method of tracking these expenses?⁣
.⁣
This particular printable is in my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MakingCentsMatter⁣
It's also part of my budgeting workbook, also in my Etsy shop.⁣
Good news though... there's a very similar free version in my resource library as well. Links are in my profile.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
⁣
#budget #budgeting #sinkingfund #savingmoney #savings  #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #budgetprintable #personalfinancetips  #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #bs1 #bs2 #bs3  #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these tw Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these two things are NOT the same to me.⁣
.⁣
𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you're using all of your money for expenses with none left over for savings. This usually happens when you're not aware of where you are spending your money, and how much you are spending. For us, this happened in the form of those tiny expenses that can add up to even larger expenses, and then an unexpected bill comes and you have nothing left to cover it.⁣
.⁣
𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you are giving every single cent you earn a job to do that aligns with your priorities - like in sinking funds, savings, expenses, debt payments, etc - until the next paycheck. You have the money on hand to cover some unexpected expenses, and you are mindful of your spending so that you're not leaking money through small purchases.⁣
.⁣
This doesn't mean that there still aren't bad months. Murphy's Law does happen. But you are aware of the spending, aware of the priorities, and where your money needs to be allocated.⁣
.⁣
So... just because you're budgeting paycheck to paycheck doesn't mean you're living paycheck to paycheck.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.
June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forw June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forward to a paycheck since we first made the switch to monthly pays. It was so bad we've got a new order to things.⁣
.⁣
Good news is that if our state keeps closing things down, we should hammer this out in no time!⁣
.⁣
To see the full breakdown of how bad June's paycheck was, check out the June 15th Budget Review on our YouTube channel here https://youtu.be/gXoEo33hIYQ. Link is also in the bio.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.
Load More... Follow on Instagram


Gymboree Sale On Now!

Copyright

I love it when you share our content! Please keep in mind that all content, images and text on this site are property of Making Cents Matter. Feel free to use no more than two photos on your own site, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Do not crop, edit, or remove any watermarks from any of my images without obtaining written permission from me first. Thank you!

Copyright © 2021 · Captivating Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in