Breakfast Cereals

With the economy in a downward spiral and job opportunities in the construction field few and far between we have pulled out all the stops and started making our own breakfast cereals. It started with the peanut butter granola and has now morphed to two other breakfast delights: Grape nuts and Honey Smacks.
The Grape nuts recipe caught our attention one night when Matt was going through his mom's recipe box that we inherited and found a card labeled Grandma Buckingham's Grape nuts. So he tried it out and I would venture to say that it is even better than store bought Grape nuts.
Here it is:

Grandma Buckinghams Grape nuts-
2 C whole wheat flour
2 C white flour
2 C corn meal
2 T baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 C buttermilk
1 C brown sugar
1 C dark karo syrup

Mix ingredients together and spread into 2 jelly roll pans. Bake 200 degrees for 1 hr or more. Take out of the oven and let cool enough to be able to handle it. Break into pieces. When cool grind into smaller pieces in a course grinder or blender. Put it back on the jelly roll pans and toast lightly in the oven. Let it cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Honey Smacks is my brain child. I bought a bag of Organic Puffed Kamut at Walmart and thought it would be a decent cereal if the kids put some sugar over it. Well, no amount of sugar sprinkled on top would help these taste like anything more than paper. As I contemplated the bag of Kamut I remembered a recipe I had made before for Maple glazed pecans and decided to use the same method to try to create Honey Smacks. It worked!!!! And the cost is ALOT less than buying a box of the stuff. I bought the bag of Kamut for a little over a dollar and had the honey in my pantry.

Honey Smacks

2 C puffed Kamut or puffed wheat
1/3 C honey

In a nonstick skillet on med-high heat add the honey, making sure it is not too thick. Once it is relatively thin pour in the kamut. With a wooden spoon stir the kamut around until it is all covered with the honey. Continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Remove from the heat and spread out on to a cookie sheet or something else so that it can lay flat and cool. Cool completely and then break it apart. Store in an airtight containter.

I am sure this one is gonna be completely gone fast when my 11yr old figures out it is in the house.

Peanut Butter Granola

Yesterday I was re-immersing myself into the foodie blog world again and I came across this recipe. I decided to try it for breakfast and am so glad I did. If you click on the recipe title it will take you to the blog I lifted it from. My husband loved it and one of the kids tried it and really liked it too. It was the child that hates Oatmeal Tuesdays- so now I will give her the choice of granola or oatmeal. I will definitely make this one again and again and again.....

Peanut Butter Granola Cereal

• 5 cups rolled oats- I used Bob's Red Mill 5 grain cereal
  
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flax seed
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.
3. Heat coconut oil, honey, and peanut butter on medium heat until smooth.
4. Evenly pour honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until completely combines
5. Spread mixture over two large cookie sheets.
   

Bake for 20 minutes until oats and nuts are toasted. Let stand until cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.