Granola

At one point last year I checked my food storage- between Cannery cases, Costco bags from my parents, and cartons purchased at the grocery store I had WAY TOO MUCH oats. So, rationally, I looked for a way to mix it with sugar and oil and eat it for breakfast.

Following is the recipe I found online, and then modified myself. In keeping with previous recipes, I find the most basic one I can and mess around until we like it. You can mix in any dried fruit you like after baking- we used dried cannery apples this time. In the past I've used raisins, Craisins, and dried goji berries.

This is different than the granola you'll find at the store- because it's so much lower in fat and sugar it doesn't form sugary clumps or clusters- each oat is coated, but separate. Of course it's good in milk, but my favorite is to eat it over a bowl of yogurt. As the nuts cook with the oat mixture they roast a little bit, giving this a delicious nutty taste. Pecans are my favorite nuts to use, mostly because I had a lot of broken ones in my freezer left over from this endeavor last Christmas.

Granola

Ingredients:
4 cups oats
1 and 1/2 cups nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 to 1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups dried fruit

1. In a large bowl stir together first 5 ingredients (the dry ingredients)
2. Either in microwave or on stove heat together vegetable oil and honey. Remove from heat and add vanilla- I like to add a little more than it calls for.
3. Pour liquid over oat mixture and stir to coat well. Spread on a 15x10" jelly roll sheet (baking pan with sides) and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
4. Let cool and put in storage container- add fruit, mix, and seal. Will keep for a week at room temperature or 3 months in the freezer.