Best Ever Breakfast Bowl with Homemade Granola, Greek Yogurt, Fresh Berries, and Pistachio Brittle (Inspired by North Star Café)

How would you like to wake up to this?

It’s a bowl full of pure joy.

In August I went to paradise. When I say paradise, you are probably thinking of somewhere in Hawaii or the Caribbean, but I am talking about the little town of Houghton, Michigan (in the summer). It’s a tiny town in the Upper Peninsula and it is surrounded by beautiful lakes with sandy beaches that you have all to yourself. Or you can choose a rocky beach and hunt for agates along the shore. We spent the whole week swimming in the Great Lakes, fishing, and picking wild berries.

Oh, the wild berries! We found wild blueberries and black berries just growing free and wild along one of the beaches we had all to ourselves. We also found wild raspberries and thimble berries growing everywhere. One of my very favorite parts of the trip was going blueberry picking at Pancho’s farm. We filled buckets and buckets of the most amazing blueberries. My little Stella was running from bush to bush eating blueberries as fast as she could as if she knew the moment would end far too soon and she wanted to eat as many as she could before it was over. Oh, how I wish I were in the UP right now picking blueberries. (I made some really yummy blueberry crumble bars from Sweet Remedy. Click HERE to see them!)

One of the best parts of Houghton is my sister in-law and her delicious cooking. Listen to this amazing list:chocolate tres leches cake, homemade sour dough bread, homemade yogurt, fresh lake fish, veggie enchiladas, veggie lasagna, Portobello mushroom burgers on homemade buns, Mexican street corn, blueberry pancakes, and homemade granola. The granola!!!! It was filled with nuts, coconut, orange craisins, and pure maple syrup straight from the UP. Mix that with her homemade yogurt, some fresh picked blueberries, and a drizzle of Michigan maple syrup and that’s all you will ever need to eat for the rest of your life.

If you read my post about HOMEMADE GINGERALE, you will know how I am in love with Northstar Café in Columbus, Ohio. Its my very favorite restaurant for so many reasons. They have this amazing granola breakfast bowl that I could not stop thinking about while eating my sister in-law’s granola and yogurt. It has granola, yogurt, tons of fruit, pistachio-praline brittle, and a drizzle of honey. So today, I bring you the beauty and wonder of Houghton, Michigan combined with the magic of North Star Café in my adaptation of the best ever breakfast bowl.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Homemade Nutty Maple Granola:

Ingredients:

• 3 C. rolled oats
• 1/2 C. raw slivered almonds
• 1/2 C. raw cashew pieces (I used whole in the picture, but I think smaller pieces would be better)
• 1/2 C. peanuts
• 1/2 C. raw pecan halves
• 3/4 C. sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 C. + 2 TBSP. brown sugar
• 1/4 C. + 2 TBSP pure maple syrup
• 1/4 C. vegetable oil
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 C. orange flavored craisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 F. Spray two cookie sheets with oil or line with a silicone baking mat.

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.

3. In another small bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Pour this mixture onto the oat mixture in the big bowl and stir or toss until combined.

4. Spread the granola over the two baking sheets evenly and cook for 2 hours. Every half hour, turn the granola and rotate the trays from top to bottom and front to back. Remove from the oven and let it cool. Move it back to the big mixing bowl and mix in the craisins.

Pistachio Brittle:

Ingredients:

• 1 C. white sugar
• 1/4 C. water
• 1/2 C. pistachios (shells removed)

Directions:

1. Measure out the nuts and have them ready to add. Do not wait to do this until right before you add them or your sugar will burn while you go to pour out the nuts. I know from experience. Trust me. It may sound like over kill, but everything goes from perfect to burned in a matter of seconds. And make sure you will have about 10 minutes of uninterrupted time. Don’t leave to stop your baby from sticking bagel pieces inside the upright bass in your living room or you will burn the brittle.

2. Mix together the sugar and water in a medium pan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

3. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat up to medium-high and DO NOT STIR. Swish the pan around a few times, but don’t stir. As sugar crystals start to form on the side of the pan, brush them with a pastry brush dipped in water.

4. Wait and watch. It will just be white sugar water for awhile.

Then it will start to bubble and turn slightly yellowish. As soon as it is the color of honey, very quickly add the nuts and dump the whole thing out onto the pan. It should look like this:

If you burned it, it will look like this:

If you timed it just right, it will look like this:

5. Use a knife to pull the ends of the sugar blob out in all directions, making the brittle more thin. If the nuts are all in the same area, spread those around, too. Melted sugar can be extremely hot, so don’t touch it until it is all the way cooled off.

6. Once cool, break into irregular, small pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Best Ever Breakfast Bowl:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. homemade granola (recipe above)
• 1/2 C. plain Greek yogurt
• sliced strawberries
• sliced bananas
• fresh or frozen blueberries (in this picture I used frozen wild blueberries from Trader Joe’s)
• 1/8 to 1/4 C. (or however much you want) pistachio brittle (recipe above)
• a drizzle of pure maple syrup or honey, to taste

Directions:

1. Add the granola to a bowl. Scoop the yogurt onto the granola.

2. Add the fruit and pistachio brittle. Drizzle the whole thing with pure maple syrup or honey.

By Edible Experiments (granola recipe inspired by a recipe from my sister in-law, Chelsea, who got the recipe from her friend Jane.)