After Valentine's Day, February can be kind of bleak as far as food inspiration goes. I am headed to Arizona to do some hiking in the Sedona area and thought it might be nice to have some home made granola for snacking. I was excited to discover this new granola stovetop making technique from Nicole at Craftsy. I was not looking forward to the slow bake, stir every so often traditional oven baking method. This skillet version was ready in 8 minutes compared to the 45 minute oven route. The ingredient tips came from Monica at Spark People. I did not add dried fruit but instead added fresh ginger and orange zest give a boost of flavor. You may want to make 2 batches of this since it disappears so quickly. I cooked it in a 10" skillet and used 1 1/2 c oatmeal, some recipes called for 2 cups or more, but I wanted to have plenty of room in the pan for stirring and that plan worked out great.

Stovetop Granola with Ginger & Orange Zest

Adapted recipe from Craftsy and Spark People

Ingredients:

1 tsp orange zest, organic if available
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated, organic if available
2 T brown sugar
1/2 c toasted sliced almonds
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1/4 c sweetened coconut flakes
2 T vegetable oil(I used coconut oil)
1 T honey

Mix together brown sugar and orange and ginger. Add oil and honey to heavy bottomed pan on medium low heat and stir in brown sugar mixture. Continue to stir until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Add oats, coconut and almonds to the pan and cook stirring frequently until oats toasted to a light brown color, about 5-7 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and transfer to a parchment lined cooking sheet. Spread into an even layer to cool. Once it is cool, store in an airtight container for up to a week.

And see the highlights of my vacation here.