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Sheet Pan Sunday: Vallery Lomas' favorite healthy breakfast is this easy granola

In terms of equipment, all you need is one bowl, one spoon and a sheet pan.
Vallery Lomas

The humble sheet pan is the hero of weekday cooking. Its sleek, spacious surface allows the busy home cook to get a balanced meal — protein! starch! vegetables! — on the table quickly with very little prep or cleanup. Just chop, drop and roast.

That’s why every week, we’ll be sharing throw-it-all-on-a-sheet-pan recipes from our favorite chefs and home cooks. Whether you’re cooking for yourself, friends, family or meal-prepping for the week, you should keep these one-pan meals in your back pocket — or, rather, your oven.

This week, "Great American Baking Show" winner Vallery Lomas shares her go-to, healthy-ish quarantine breakfast: Coconut, Cherry and Almond Granola.

Vallery Lomas, the baker-blogger behind Foodie in New York and winner of the Great American Baking Show.
Vallery Lomas, the baker-blogger behind Foodie in New York and winner of the Great American Baking Show.The Confetti Project

I made granola for the first time a few months ago. Before this year, I have always purchased it in bulk— just a little at a time to top my yogurt at breakfast. But I’m shopping for groceries a lot less these days, and I’m stocking my pantry with versatile items in their purest form.

My cupboard is filled with rolled oats, nuts, spices and even dried fruit. As I was staring at a container full of rolled oats and craving granola, I decided to finally take the plunge and make homemade granola.

Feel free to swap in your favorite dried fruits — the world is your granola oyster!
Feel free to swap in your favorite dried fruits — the world is your granola oyster!Courtesy of Vallery Lomas

Making your own granola is satisfying, delicious and couldn’t be simpler. It’s my favorite kind of baking project: the “mix-and-bake.” In terms of equipment, all you need is one bowl, one spoon and a sheet pan. The granola is baked low and slow — just 250°F — so that the moisture from the oil and maple syrup dry out and it can be preserved.

The granola will stay fresh for 3-4 weeks at room temperature and can also be frozen (but not in a glass container!).
The granola will stay fresh for 3-4 weeks at room temperature and can also be frozen (but not in a glass container!).Courtesy of Vallery Lomas

This granola is so good I couldn’t help but eat the warm, crunchy, toasted oats by the handful as they came out the oven. It’s also great for meal prep if that’s your jam. You can make a batch at the beginning of the week, and it will last you all week — or more!

Click in below for the full recipe:

Coconut, Cherry and Almond Granola