These past few weeks have been quite the whirlwind. We spent Labor day weekend in San Francisco, covering good ground on an ambitious itinerary, from biking across Golden Gate on a historic heat-wave-turned-beatutifully-clear day to embarking on a 3am Mission burrito mission to meeting up with Penn pals all around the city. It was an adventure that just kept going when we landed back home in Miami to news of Hurricane Irma fast approaching. We had just one day of med school classes, and then classes for the remainder of the week were cancelled so students could evacuate. We stayed with our parent’s an hour north of Miami during the storm and miraculously didn’t lose power or experience any major property damage (RIP papaya tree). Unfortunately the same can’t be said for many other parts of Florida, especially the Keys, where we were actually planning to run our first half marathon in October (that’s now been postponed).

We’ve finished our first week of classes post-hurrication and things are settling back to normal. Today I’m glad to finally write-up a recipe we’ve been making almost weekly now, our go-to granola! It’s a basic recipe that can be easily adapted based on season, whim, what’s on hand, etc. We’ve added sesame seeds, chia seeds, and most recently with the advent of fall, spiced things up quite literally with pumpkin spice, pecans, and raisins. Mornings are infinitely better with homemade granola, so get baking!

Go-To Granola

Makes 1 jar-full (34 oz)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup almonds, chopped
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• ½ tbsp cinnamon
• Dash of salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until homogenous.
3. Pour the mixture out onto a baking sheet. On a flat surface, shake the tray to level the mixture. Bake for 15 min or till toasted.
4. Let cool completely. Break up the granola (a dough cutter works perfectly, just scrape up the granola and it’ll break on its own) and store in an airtight container.

Keep it classic or add an autumn twist!