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I don’t know if this current craving is pregnancy induced or not, because this happens even when I’m not pregnant. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I grew up eating cereal like it was one of the four food groups we learned about in school. It was not uncommon for me to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
You think I’m exaggerating, don’t you? Believe me, I wish I was. Unfortunately, I speak the truth. I grew up in a house with two working parents who owned and operated a restaurant that was open from 6am-11pm.
Because of their schedule my brothers and I were often left to fend for ourselves for meals. That meant having a bowl (or two) of cereal for every meal was a pretty average day.
You’d think this would cause the opposite reaction and I’d be sick of cereal. Never want to eat it again after I left my parent’s house. Nope.
Once I got to college, even though the cafeteria was well-stocked with plenty of different meal options, I rarely went a day when I didn’t have at least 2 bowls of the crunchy, sugary goodness.
So here I am craving cereal again. There are worse things I could eat. I’ve given into the cravings and bought boxes of cereal here and there.
Here’s the thing, though. You know I pick out the healthiest variety I can find and of course those are the ones that are like $7.00 a box. For the tiniest little box that barely makes three bowls. Yeah, I needed an alternative.
Instead of continuing to buy boxes of the outrageously priced, organic, non-GMO, fewest ingredient cereal at the grocery store, I thought homemade granola would be a prime substitute.
I started to gather the ingredients for my standard maple cinnamon granola, and realized I didn’t have any applesauce. When I looked to see what kind of fruit I had to create a different puree, I saw frozen blueberries. That will work, I thought.
Then, I started tweaking the recipe more and more. What if I try to make this lower in sugar? I think it needs more wheat germ. Walnuts would be good. Soon, a whole new recipe was born.
And guess what? It tastes like blueberry pie! Apparently it is possible to mimic that flavor with a low in sugar and lower in calorie and fat count alternative.
Yes, you want to make this flavor of granola. Served with unsweetened almond milk and a few extra blueberries, it easily defeated my cereal craving.
Blueberry pie granola
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
Make ahead for a quick and easy breakfast!
Ingredients
- 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups wheat germ
- 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/8-1/2 teaspoon stevia*
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the oats, wheat germ, almonds, walnuts, seeds, cinnamon, stevia, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Microwave the frozen blueberries for about one minute. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. (This should yield a scant 3/4 cup puree) Add the blueberry puree, honey, vanilla, and butter to a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat.
- Pour the blueberry mixture over the oat mixture and mix until the two are evenly incorporated. Spread the mixture evenly onto the two baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes
*In the first batch I used 1/2 teaspoon stevia and it was really sweet. For the second batch I used 1/8 teaspoon and it was mildly sweet. Both batches were good, so it is really your preference. If you don’t have stevia, you can substitute a few tablespoons Sucanat or even (gasp!) brown sugar. 😉
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 325
- Sugar: 9.6g
- Sodium: 50mg
- Fat: 16.1g
- Carbohydrates: 39.3g
- Protein: 10.9g
This looks great! Is there a substitute for the wheat germ? Maybe flax seed? I try to keep my wheat intake low.
I think flaxseed meal would work fine as a substitute. You could probably also leave it out without a problem.
When I read this recipe I just had to make müsli… which I haven’t eaten for a long, long time. So thank you for the inspiration! I made my own müsli with apples and loved it! I hope you don’t mind me sharing the müsli recipe (my way with apples) on my blog? Have a great day! Love Frida
Share away! 🙂 Glad to inspire you. 🙂
Hi Maryea,
I suppose you could say I’ve been a secret reader since I’ve been reading your site for several months without commenting. The lack of comments doesn’t indicate my liking of your site because I have tried many recipes and really enjoyed them (and always look forward to new posts)! Anyway, this recipe has me salivating and I can’t wait to try it!
-Rachel
Hi Rachel! Thanks for coming out and commenting. 🙂 I hope you enjoy this recipe!
I made this and just finished the last of the batch. I have never made my own cereal or granola, and you are right, it is not like the sweet processed granolas that are sold in stores. At first, I was surprised by the taste, expecting for it to be much sweeter. But with each time I ate it, I liked it more and more! I have to make it again soon now that it is gone. It goes to show that we have trained ourselves with processed foods to want everything way too sweet. Once I got away from all the sugary foods, this granola was SO satisfying. Thank you!
It’s so true. I find the same to be true of salty foods. The more processed foods we eat, the more we think “real food” needs more salt.
This granola turned out fabulous! I omitted the stevia & used gave syrup instead of honey & it worked out really well. I also added toasted coconut flakes.
Ooh I love the coconut flakes addition. Definitely going to add some next time I make this!
This looks great! I’m definitely going to try this…about how long does this keep for? Where do you store it?
I’m sorry this is late–with a new baby in the house I’ve gotten behind on my comment replies. I keep mine stored in the pantry in an air-tight container. It keeps for about 2 weeks, but mine never lasts that long!
Blueberry PIE granola?! That just sounds delicious. I’m not a big cereal-eater, but I do get on my granola kicks occasionally. This looks perfect (and way more economical than those $7/box cereals!).
Definitely cheaper!
Nice timing, as last night my husband finished off the double batch of granola I made, oh, on Sunday. (My family sort of has a thing for homemade granola.) This sounds yummy!
We go through it quickly, too. Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly in the kitchen making more homemade snacks and such because I make something and I turn around and it’s gone!
Yummy! I’m thinking this would make a lovely Christmas gift (for those healthy eaters in my life) put into jars like you did with a pretty bow 🙂
Great idea!
Funny because my cereal kicks have been back this week after not having some for months!
This recipe looks really good! I’ve never made my own granola before and usually just purchase some in bulk at Whole Foods but looks like I might have to give it a try!
I tend to make my own because the store bought kind often has more sugar than I’d like.
I am so making some of this stuff this weekend! Oh I can’t wait, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome, Helen!
That is how most of my recipes are born too- not having what I need and just adding things I think sound good. This came together quite nicely! It will be a good snack for me to make and give away for Christmas!
That’s how most of mine are born, too! 😉 Either that or I get distracted by another ingredient I see, haha.
I’m always in the mood for a new cereal recipe! I’m definitely a cereal-a-holic too! No one can understand why I’d rather choose a bowl of cereal over a home-cooked meal–it’s just too good!
There is definitely something magical about a good bowl of cereal. 🙂
Oh I am definitely a cereal junkie! This looks so good!
This looks and sounds really good. I can’t wait to try it! I’ve been enjoying your pregnancy updates– I think I’m just a week ahead of you (and having a boy too), so I can relate to a lot of your posts!
Oh how fun! I hope you are enjoying your last few weeks of pregnancy. Can you believe we are almost there?! 🙂
Oh. My. Word. This sounds so good. I’m like you and I crave cereal a lot. My mom didn’t work when I was young, however, I grew up on a lot of processed foods. So, I ate cereal like it was going out of style. I would average about 2-3 bowls a day. And, it wasn’t the healthy kind. I cringe at all of the bad chemicals that were put into my growing body. Gross! I’m going to make this granola tonight, I think. I happen to have all of the ingredients. Do you think it would be okay to omit the stevia? I imagine with the blueberries and the honey it would probably be sweet enough for us.
Yes, I do think you could omit the stevia. As long as you aren’t expecting the regular, super sweet variety granola, it will still taste great.