Bluish Green

This is not necessarily a low-calorie recipe, but more one that avoids refined sugars and is still tasty, with mostly old-timey ingredients. Part of my change of lifestyle (in addition to bicycle commuting and working out at the gym) has been to cut out empty calories and to avoid refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup. The nice thing about making your own granola is controlling what goes into it:

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Ingredients:

1/4 cup - honey
1/4 cup - pure all-natural maple syrup
1/3 cup - boiling water
1/4 cup - Smart Balance Omega oil
6 cups - rolled oats
1 cup - sunflower kernels (we use Dakota Style brand, any will work)
1 cup - chopped almonds
1-2 cups - raisins (added last, can substitute other dried fruit or add more if you like)

Preparation:

Mix the oil, maple syrup, honey, and boiling water in a cup. Mix the oats, almonds, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Pour the liquids over the solids and mix until well coated.

Spread on two cookie sheets (pre-coated with light coating of oil) and bake at 325 F for 20-30 minutes, switching sheets from top to bottom half-way through and stirring. Bake until dry (taking longer if necessary).

When cool, add raisins, then remove it from cookie sheets and store in tupperware or other cool, dry place.

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I have been taking this granola (in a tupperware) in my bike pannier to work and munching it for breakfast and/or lunch (if I forget my lunch) and/or snacks. A batch lasts me 2-3 days, YMMV. It is quite filling stuff. Since I have cut most empty calories and sugar-added items from what I eat, this granola tastes like sweet oatmeal cookies to me (I'm not as used to sweet tastes any more), but my wife thinks it is a little bland and could use some more sugar. I like it so much, I felt like sharing the recipe here.

Good luck and have fun with it if so inclined.

skilsaw

Looks good! Preparing your own food is a great way to control what goes into it.

loneviking61

Thank you! I've been looking for a recipe like this.

chefisaac

Thanks for posting.

Granola recipes are not known to be low calorie. The ingredients do not lend themselves to low cal.

GetUpnGo

Many people don't realize that oats are quite tasty with no added sugar at all. They have a slightly sweet taste. You can eat them raw with milk, or even better, plain yogurt. Here's my recipe for delicious, heart-healthy oatmeal. Every ingredient in it lowers cholesterol. It's very filling.

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 apple
handful of plain almonds
1 tablespoon cinnamon (Yup, that says tablespoon. It lowers cholesterol)
handleful of ground flax

Cook 5 minutes. Top with plain, nonfat acidopholous yogurt

Evil Mastermind

My girlfriend makes us raw granola using a food dehydrator. Pretty much just all kinds of nuts, apples and fresh squeezed oranges, lemons, and grapefruits, and a big blast of cinnamon and other stuff plus the zest from the citrus. It's the best breakfast cereal I've ever eaten, and crazy loaded with good energy. I get by on ~1/3 cup of the stuff (+fruit) every morning.

If you're ever interested in getting into raw, the raw granola will rock you.