Granola and breakfast...

Some people think they don't have time for breakfast. That's because they're over-thinking it. Breakfast just doesn't have to be complicated. 

Granola clusters mixed with dried berries, shaved almonds and topped with honey.

Granola is a very easy, quick and nourishing early morning treat, and lighting this shot was just as simple. We wanted to give it the look of morning. To do so, we started with a very large light source to emulate window light. We put this light in the back of our shot, to the right. This gave the set up a beautiful natural light look, but natural light often needs a fill, so we brought in a white card at the front left to fill in the contrast. We needed to add some ‘action’ to the shot, so we added a point light source, from the back left, to add some spectacular highlights. To finish, we used a hand-held mirror to fill in at the front of the granola, just a bit more than the white card did.

With all the types of granola on the market today, you'd think you could find one that contained all of your favorite grains, nuts and fruit and nothing more. Don’t despair –you actually can make it yourself, with a minimum amount of time and trouble.

Granola contains rolled or flaked grains, like old-fashioned oats, raw nuts (chopped), honey (brown sugar or your favorite sweetener), your oil of choice, and salt. Seeds (like sunflower or pumpkin), dried fruit (don’t bake the fruit), unsweetened coconut, spices, cocoa – even an egg white – are all fine, but optional.

Here’s the concept: combine, spread out on cookie sheet, bake, add dried fruit and eat. Cool and store the remainder in an air-tight jar or even Tupperware. Nothing fussy.

Easy, Customizable Granola Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Mix in bowl:

3 cups oats

1/2 cup raw nuts (chopped or sliced)

1/2 cup honey or brown sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp salt

Spread out mixture on foil-covered cookie sheet (sprayed with Pam).

Turn down the oven to 300 degrees and bake at least a half hour.

Stir at the half-way mark.

Add dried fruit AFTER you take it out of the oven.

Eat and enjoy.


If you’re into it, here’s how to shave almonds, otherwise, but sliced are perfectly okay:

http://www.wikihow.com/Shave-Almonds