Here’s a great way to make your own healthy toasted oat cereal! I really like the taste of toasted oats—they have a richer, slightly nuttier flavor when they’re toasted in the oven. This cereal is not sweet like granola and it’s not as crunchy as granola either, since it doesn’t have a honey or maple syrup coating. But if you like the idea of eating pure toasted oats with dried cranberries, raisins, and nuts mixed in, then this cereal is for you! The cranberries and raisins give it a nice natural sweetness and the nuts give it a nice crunchiness!
You can serve this cereal with milk or, if you like your cereal more on the crunchy side, serve it over some vanilla yogurt. That’s actually how I prefer to eat it, with vanilla yogurt. And I like eating it with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup on top, too—that makes it sweet enough for me! This cereal is a nice option for those of you who like to have oatmeal for breakfast—it’s a toasted version of oatmeal!
Cranberry-Raisin Toasted Oat Cereal
CRANBERRY-RAISIN TOASTED OAT CEREAL by NancyC
Makes about 10 cups
7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup light olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped (or pecans)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup raisins, golden or dark
Milk or vanilla yogurt
Honey or maple syrup for drizzling over cereal
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line a 13 x 18″ rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper (or use 2 cookie sheets).
In large bowl, combine oats, oil, and salt, mixing until oats are evenly coated. Transfer mixture to baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Bake, stirring oats every 10 minutes, for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown.
Remove pan from oven and lower temperature to 350˚F. Sprinkle the chopped nuts evenly over the toasted oats and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let oat/nut mixture cool about 10 minutes, then put mixture into large bowl. Add the dried cranberries and raisins, stirring until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
Serve in cereal bowls with some milk or vanilla yogurt and add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup on top. Cereal can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe from NancyC | nancy-c.com
Another way you can make this—just toast the oats for about 30 minutes at 375˚F (stirring every 10 minutes) without adding the nuts; then, when you’re serving the toasted oat cereal, you can top it with fresh fruit, chopped nuts, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup, or whatever other toppings you like.
FYI, when you are toasting your oats, your kitchen will definitely have a toasty-oaty scent for a few hours! Which makes it kind of cozy on a cold day. Have you toasted oats before?
Sharing at Meal Plan Sunday, Weekend Potluck, Farmhouse Friday, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Homestead Blog Hop, LouLou Girls, Wonderful Wednesday, Inspire Me Monday, Happiness is Homemade.
NancyC 
What a lovely celebration of the season Nancy! Yum!
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Yes, it’s a great cereal for fall! 🙂
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I like that you don’t add a bunch of sugar to the oats. Plus it’s really pretty!
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Thanks, Mimi! 🙂 I like that it doesn’t have sugar added to the oats either—it’s nice to be able to just add as little or as much sweetness as you want just by drizzling the honey or maple syrup!
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Yum yum! This is so perfect for breakfast and I just love raisins. So good! I also love that there are other options on how to make this. You can’t go wrong with that!
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
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Yes, it’s definitely a great way to start your day! 🙂
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