June 16, 2021

Granola Noshes

Q. How else can you enjoy granola other than breakfast?

A. Thought you'd never ask!

Granola is so much more than a breakfast food. When I first began making granola, I experimented with sweet as well as savory recipes. At that time, more than 25 years ago, granola wasn't thought of as a savory food. I first saw it on a breakfast menu at a small restaurant in Vermont...it intrigued me and I set out to make my own.

Over the years I've served it many ways outside of breakfast.

Granola outside of breakfast

Brown Sugar Granola Biscotti

I bake with granola...in cookies, breads, cakes, pies and other desserts. We've even used it as a sprinkle topping for decadent truffles with Carolina Martin from The Bom! Chocolate truffle making parties.

Check out this recipe for peanut butter bar cookies with Pat's Granola. I made these for a recent segment on New Day Cleveland which you can view from this link:

Cookie bar pops

I also have used granola as a crunchy coating for fish, chicken and seafood--just crush it finely with a rolling pin between two sheets of waxed paper.

Love croutons, but don't have any on hand? Sprinkle a generous handful of granola over your salads. Ginger Spiced and Tropical pair tastefully with chicken salads, fruit salads or tossed spring greens. I'm a fan of fruit on salads and will use strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, oranges, peaches, pineapple, pears and apples. Fruit salads lend themselves to adding cheese like feta, goat and parmesanas well as roasted nuts like walnuts, pecans or almonds. A tasty protein rich one dish meal.

Spring mix salad greens with rotisserie chicken and fresh sliced strawberries.

Arugula and mixed greens, sliced grapes, blueberries, blackberries, and oranges. Combined with feta cheese crumbles and dried cranberries. That's Ginger Spiced Pat's Granola as a salad topper.

Stay tuned for more meal ideas...

Pat Bennett is the founder and President of Pat's Granola, a Cleveland based food and lifestyle company.