This is not exactly a pie. And, it isn’t birdseed, either. But that is the name that jumped out at me and I couldn’t shake it loose, so here we are. It does look exactly like birdseed, and it is in a pie dish. Good enough for me.
Also, this isn’t a perfect recipe. My kids don’t like it because it is just too healthy. It has that toothsome, chewy personality that is perhaps most appreciated by those of us who actually brag about fiber consumption. I boil the honey to thin it out for mixing. And this will probably rankle any honey purist. It would bother me, except that it works better this way. It is a crumbly pie, which might irritate perfectionists. Have I got you REALLY excited to make this yet?
Let me try again. This has all of my favorite things in it…honey, oats, coconut, dried cherries and salty Marcona almonds. It forms into a nice flat pie that is easily cut into pieces. I have eaten it for 5 mornings in a row. It is so very easy to make. It has flax-seed in it which is ridiculously good for you. It has bran and oats in it which will…make your intestines happy. It has powdered milk in it which adds a little protein. I just plain like it. It makes me happy. This is an easy breakfast, snack, or dessert. It is wonderful with coffee.
Preparation:
1½ cups old fashioned oats
⅓ cup milled flaxseed
1 cup bran cereal
½ cup sweetened coconut
½ cup powdered non-fat dry milk
¼ cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
¼ cup salted Marcona almonds, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (optional)
½ cup honey
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, process the bran cereal until it is almost powdered. On a baking sheet, mix and spread out the oats, flax-seed and bran cereal. Bake it for 10 minutes, stirring once midway through cooking. Near the end of the 10 minutes, check to ensure that that they are not becoming overly browned. Remove the cooking sheet from the oven to cool slightly.
In a small saucepan, heat the honey until it is simmering. Simmer for one minute. Remove it from the heat.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, flax-seed, bran, coconut, powdered milk, cherries, almonds and vanilla sugar. Stir it to make sure all the milk is well distributed. Pour the honey over the oat mixture and stir it quickly to distribute the honey. This requires some mixing and mashing and breaking up of clumps. It is important that all of the dry ingredients be moistened by the honey.
Spray a 9″ pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. Place the mixture into the pie plate. Spray your hands with non-stick spray and then use your hands to push the mixture down into the pie plate. It is vital to compress the oats and other ingredients as it helps them stick together. Make sure to push the edges down all the way around the pie plate as well. The better you compress it, the less likely it is to crumble. Once it is completely cooled, it is ready to eat. Cover with plastic wrap after cutting.
Note:
Somewhere along the way, a certain brilliant person (not I), shared with the world this tip. In order to keep from making a mess with non-stick cooking spray, open your (dirty) dishwasher and spray your container with the dishwasher as a back drop, instead of all over your counters. I wish I could remember who wrote this, in order to thank the person by name, but I cannot.
I make my own vanilla sugar by (drumroll please) placing a cut vanilla bean in a jar of sugar. To learn more about the vanilla beans that I use see my post on Homemade Vanilla.
Marcona Almonds are slightly different from regular almonds. They are a bit sweeter and a bit softer. The ones I use come skinned and salted and they are awesome. My mother gets a giant bag for my husband every Christmas and I always say, “Dear God, how in the world do you think we are going to eat all of these,” in that naggy thankless daughter kind of way. And they are always gone by January 24th or so. I use them in salads (quinoa, tuna and apples) on cheese trays, and we eat them by the handful. My mom gets them from Nuts.com and this link will take you to the variety we use.
The pie plate was handmade for me by Leslie Freeman, a ceramic artist in Martha’s Vineyard. Here is a link to her ETSY site in case you need one.
This recipe is made for mix and match, so substitute away with the nuts and the fruits! For a more traditional granola try this Granola with pecans and maple syrup.
haha I was really amazed when I saw birdseed but it does look healthy and it’s something really different from what I’m used to but I really like it
Why do these recipes (“even in print friendly”) need to be 5 pages long? Such a waste!!!
My posts are 5 pages long because I like to take big juicy photographs, provide visual instructions for my readers, and I like to talk. Believe it or not, there are PIE readers who never cook a thing I make and just show up for the photos and banter.
I tested your 5 page theory. Print Friendly not only allows you to remove the images but it also allows you to scroll over any paragraph you don’t need and click it to make it disappear. Then you print. If you click the “remove images” and you click on the introduction to delete it and the notes to delete them, you are left with only the ingredients and instructions. It takes two seconds to do and you are left with a recipe that easily prints on one page. I suppose it takes a little fiddling over on Print Friendly to figure that out, but the other alternative is for me to create a whole other document for each post with its own URL on google docs, tie it to my website, and allow people to print from that. It is rather cumbersome and I have decided that Print Friendly is the best way to allow printing in a shorter format without having to re-design my website or deal with installing widgets that would substantially change the appearance of my website. Given the frequency with which I post, I cannot add another step to the process. There is only one of me, and I am the writer, cook and photographer, as well as a wife and mother.
When I make my first million on PIE, and I am only about $999,000 dollars away from that goal, I intend to hire a team of web experts and graphic designers to make my webpage perfect for everyone. I’m not there yet. But, I do work for hours every day cooking and taking photos and learning every little thing I can about providing FREE content to people all over the world for no other reason than that I like to share recipes and stories with my friends. Funny thing, I just spent all morning convincing my kids (who wanted me to go outside and play with them) that mommy needed to prepare and photograph a recipe so I would be on top of things for my website. Usually, I get a “high five” here and there from my friends for my efforts. But occasionally, I am met with a “what a waste” comment and it is more depressing than you can imagine. No offense, Connie, but I bust my ass to do this, as flawed as my execution might be. It is fun sometimes. It is always personally rewarding to create. But sometimes I sincerely wonder why I’m not outside playing with my kids.
On another note, if you want to be paper free, a laudable goal to be sure, PIE was designed specifically to be ipad and iphone friendly. You can bookmark any recipe and have it available at the touch of a finger. I apologize for taking your comment a little bit personally, but I’m afraid it simply is personal to me especially since my rewards for doing this are primarily non-economic.
I love reading your posts!!! don’t let other’s negativity get you down!!!
Thanks a million, Nancy. I appreciate you.
Connie as the geekiest member of Team PIE, whose job it is to find widgets like Print Friendly and make decisions about the sites interface, I must admit your comment stings.
Bloggers are one of reasons that the internet is a wonderful resource full of free content. They more often than not toil tirelessly to share their passion with not much more than kudos for their efforts. Blogging for dollars is not as easy as a google search would have you think. PIE is not about a paycheck, we are lucky if the hard won ads that are now running on the site pay for hosting.
Please think carefully before you hit send next time you go to post a comment like this and remember the blog you are grabbing a free recipe from is someone’s labor of love.
Connie, even as a senior citizen I want to tell you PDF files….I am sure you see that when you go to print the recipe out??? You can save any recipe in PDF on Kelly’s site. I love it, wish all the blogs I frequent did that. With PDF you can print out any page you want and only that page. If you want to print out the recipe and not the picture you can copy and paste it on Word and print it out fast. Only takes a minute or two if you know what you are doing. I save a folder with all Kelly’s recipes then if I want one I just go in and pull it up, it means you need to retain that recipe rather than print out all the pictures Connie. I live in Texas so I love Kelly’s sharing of her time out and her recipes are simply to die for. I learn something new everyday from her blog. Your never too old to learn Connie. Print out only the recipe ingredients so you can make it. Very simple. I appreciate all that Kelly does, evidently you know her to comment on her taking time from her family to take pictures, write a blog, so on??? Oh you don’t know her personally, just want something to grip about since you aren’t familiar with PDF files and printing out just what you need….I see.
I meant Gripe, not grip. OPPS….I will call it a senior moment Connie, I have many of them.
oh, this looks yum! It sounds similar to some bars I buy from the supermarket that I’m obsessed with. I love the idea for the spray in the dishwasher too…genius!
Can’t wait to try this! I usually eat a store-bought granola bar for breakfast each day (sad, right? lol), but I’m trying to start eating more home-made food, so this is definitely on my “must do” list.
As a big fan who rarely comments, I’d just like to say thank you for your efforts! Your blog is fantastic. I have come here many times in search of something to cook for my friends, or to surprise my husband, or just for something new. Unfortunately, this is the internet, and there will always be someone with something negative to say. Just remember that there are LOTS of people who truly appreciate what you do, even if we don’t often leave comments.
Thank you CH! I truly appreciate it. You have brightened my day!