“Welcome to ‘It’s a Nutty, Nutty, Nutty World.’ We’re just nuts about nuts. Crunch nuts with your lunch. Buy them by the bunch. Send them to friends far away to munch.”

This recipe makes me think of “Daria,” that amazing MTV show from the early 90’s about this brilliant, dorky, shy, angst-ridden, cynical high school girl, Daria, her family and classmates. The show’s really funny! In this particular episode, “It happened one nut,” Daria’s parents want her to go to counseling to improve her social skills or find a temp job in order to learn what the “real world” is really like. Yeah, scary! She tries to avoid both counseling and work but her clever dad finds her a job at a kiosk at the local shopping mall selling nuts. The only job requirements are wearing the weird uniform, bagging nuts, smiling and repeating the nut stand’s motto, which I quoted above, over and over and over again. Naturally, she has problems with all four job requirements, with very amusing results. Kevin, the good looking but sort of dumb high school football jock, is her co-worker. He really screws up the motto, saying wild things about nuts throughout the episode. Steven and I were cracking up the whole show and even now, ten years or more later (we saw reruns), we still will simply say “I’m nuts about nuts” and we’ll both laugh.

I love this granola. It’s full of nuts, so we think that you’ll be chanting “I’m nuts about nuts” when you taste it, too. The recipe’s relatively easy to make, tasty and super healthy; perfect for breakfast or even to eat as a snack.

key ingredients for health: rolled oats and wheat germ

Nutty, Nutty, Nutty Granola

3 cups rolled oats and barley
1 cup wheat germ
½ cup dry grated coconut
Pinch of salt
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup of raw cashews
¾ cup raw Brazil nut
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberry

How to:
Preheat oven to 275F. Place cashew and Brazil nuts in a zip lock bag, seal and roll a wine bottle over it to crush the nuts coarsely. Transfer them to large bowl then add the pumpkin seeds, coconut, wheat germ, salt and rolled oat/barley mix. Toss. Meanwhile place oil and brown sugar in a Pyrex glass dish, stir and nuke it in the microwave for about a minute or till it bubbles. Pour it into the nut mixture with the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Using a spatula toss it till liquid is incorporated and lumps are dissolved.

baking the nutty nutty nutty granola

Spread mix on a large shallow baking tray and bake for about 40 min. Mix two to three times during baking. For the last 3 minutes increase temp to 350F just to toast the granola a bit being careful not to burn it. Remove from oven. Let cool completely then transfer to a glass jar. Enjoy it with soy milk, yogurt or milk.

nutty nutty nutty granola for breakfast