Granola has long been a family favourite. It’s relatively healthy and easy to make.

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I am beside myself with joy that I have a chunk of time to not only eat my favourite breakfast of granola, yogurt and fresh fruit, but to do so while sharing the recipe here. At 10 weeks, our twin boys, Jack and Calvin are hitting some pretty sweet sleep milestones and it is making all the difference to us!

I’ve always said that nothing makes me happier than feeding people, and well, the universe was listening. When we brought the boys home from the hospital, and for several weeks afterwards, we were feeding them every two hours. I would breastfeed one, hand him off to Daragh who would top the baby up with a bottle, and then we would repeat with the second baby. After each feeding session I would pump for ten minutes. Then, we'd change their diapers and put them back to bed. That process took an hour and a half if everything went smoothly. That means that less than an hour later we were waking them up to feed them again. (I know what you are thinking…but, the old adage does not apply to premature twins.).

Now, I’ve heard of sleep deprivation. When I was pregnant, I knew it was coming for us. Everyone (family, friends, strangers on the street) told us to ‘get sleep now before the babies come because you won’t be getting any once they arrive!’. I knew that. I knew it as far as you can know it without really knowing it. It is indescribable. We were hallucinating regularly, and speaking incoherently to each other, doing our best to follow all the doctors instructions to keep our new babies alive and well. Imagine fumbling with a pillow as you wake up from a nap, sure that it’s a baby that you had been feeding, breastfeeding on the couch and watching the coat rack wriggle and dance, turning your head quickly to see what you thought you saw, but was really nothing. And now that we are still really in the thick of it, our sons only sleep for 4 1/2 hour stretches at night, we are over the hardest part and our wakeful hours feel like a sparkling dream! We’ve been cooking more, completing some tasks, getting out for the odd short walk or social distance visit with friends at the park, and using full sentences to communicate with each other… it’s fantastic. And to top it off, our baby boys have started smiling. Life is so different for us now, but I’d still say that nothing makes me happier than feeding people, especially my little ones.

We have had so much love and support from people who have left kind messages online, sent cards, gifts, and have left meals on our doorstep. We could have not survived the first month without our village, who still came through in the middle of a global pandemic. If you know someone who’s just had a baby send them a meal! If they had twins, send two! :)

(October 17, 2020)

It is now 9 weeks later, and I have a moment to sit down and finish this post. The boys are now a wriggling and rolling (just Jack so far) four month old. They are sleeping 7-10 hours stretches at night from time to time (just Calvin so far) and are just a joy to be around (most of the time!). In the mornings, we’re still at it with the granola! These crisp autumn mornings have me thinking about making apple-cranberry granola next time. You can get creative and add anything to it that you want! Do I have time to dehydrate my own fruit…?

Take care and keep cooking!

Ingredients

3/4 cup light oil

1-2 tbsp sesame oil (optional for nutty flavour)

1 cup honey

8 cups / 1 kg large flake rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

1-1 1/2 cups seeds/nuts/dried fruit of your choice*

*I use baked coconut chips, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds

Granola

Servings 16-24 Time 50 minutes

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk oil, honey and salt. Add oats and using a spatula stir until each grain is covered in honey mixture.

Spread oat mixture evenly onto the cookie sheets.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. Granola should be golden brown.

Remove trays from oven and sprinkle with seeds/nuts/dried fruit. Stir and leave to cool.

Store in airtight containers. Serve with yogurt or milk of your choice or use for a quick dessert topping for things like baked apples and ice cream.