Home Made Granola and Updates

I've been terribly negligent with my blogs lately. A lot of that has to do with the past few months being completely crazy, both personally and professionally. I won't discuss the personal stuff, but I will explain the professional bit. I'm in the process of applying to Ph.D programs in clinical psychology which are RIDICULOUSLY competitive and difficult to get in to. Since around July I have been studying for GRE, taking the GRE, writing essays, assembling materials, applying for scholarships, filling out the FAFSA, etc. So I've been super busy, Chris has been doing a lot of the cooking during the week since on top of all that I'm still working 40 hours a week, and volunteering 5-15. So yeah, personal time is usually spent in comatose exhaustion. However things are starting to get better, all my applications are in and now I'm just waiting to find out who wants me to come for interiews (so far it's just University of Wyoming).

I thought I'd come back with something easy, delicious and more importantly (and fittingly) will save you some time during the week. Home made granola! Eat it with milk, over yogurt, by the handful! The best thing about making your own granola is that high end granola is expensive, this isn't and you can customize it anyway that you want. The recipe I'm going to give is my personal favorite, but I'll make some suggestions about possible substitutions to get you  started.

I am totally thinking about making a few batches to send out as Christmas gifts to my gluten tolerant friends and family.

Cherry, Pistachio and Coconut Granola

Ingredients:
1 large beaten egg white
3 cups old fashioned oats
1.5 cups chopped Pistachios (almonds, pecans, hazelnuts whatever floats your boat)
1/2 cup honey (agave, maple syrup)
1.5 cups coconut shavings (unsweetened, if you use sweetened make sure you cut the honey down to 1/3 of a cup)
1/2 cup coconut oil (sunflower seed oil, almond oil, olive oil)
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp kosher salt
0.5-1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups dried cherries (any kind of dried fruit really
Optional: 1/4 cup sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (add before baking), chocolate chips (after baking) really anything you think would taste good is fine.

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Toss together all ingredients above, except dried fruit. Spread on rimmed baking sheet
3. Bake, stirring every 10-12 minutes for 40-50 minutes until everything is golden brown and dry.
4. Mix in dried fruit, chocolate chips etc.
5. Let cool and store in an airtight container.