Just a little granola!

It has been awhile since I have shared one of my cooking adventures.  Maybe this is because I haven't had any recent cooking or baking adventures.  Well, anywhere, here is one of my favorites: granola.

Homemade granola is one of the best things ever because you get to eat as much as you want while at the same time being able to say that it is healthy AND this recipe makes enough to feed, well, lots and lots of people.  And I think that it goes without saying that buying granola at the store can be pretty expensive.    This isn't a recipe that I would put on any "meals for less than $10" list, but once you have bought the many ingredients you are stocked up and ready to go for the next time.  And the other best part is that you can add or delete any ingredients.  My favorite thing to add is flax seed.

Just follow these steps to ensure delicious and homemade granola.

1)  Head to Whole Foods and get the following (or if your pantry looks like the 'scoop for yourself' isle, you may only need a couple)

• 8 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups wheat germ (whatever that is, I'm not sure that I have ever actually found this)
• 1 1/2 cups oat bran
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup honey (increase by a lot if you want more granola chunks)
• 1 cup vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups raisins or sweetened dried cranberries (or whatever dried fruit you want)
• 1/2 cup flax seed

2)  Get your oven ready.  Try 325 degrees.

3)  Get your pans ready.  Like I said, this recipe makes A LOT, so you will need at least 2 large baking sheets.  Line them with parchment paper or those fancy baking rubber sheets.

4)  Chop the almonds, pecans and walnuts, and combine with oats, wheat germ, oat bran, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl, or just dump into mixing bowl.

5) Stir together the salt, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon and vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat then pour over the dry ingredients and stir to coat.

6)  Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.  And don't panic as you pour mountains of sticky oats and nuts on the baking sheets - as soon as you press and smooth down the granola onto the sheet, it will fit.

 7)  Bake in the preheated oven until cripsy and toasted.  The recipe says it will only take about 20 minutes, but in my vast experience, I have found that it is at least twice as long.  Wait for it to get golden brown especially it you want bites or chunks of granola.

8)  Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.  Oops, I'm not sure that I waited.  I might have put them in from the beginning, or not.  Not really sure.  Either way is probably okay.

9)  Congratulate yourself on making the worlds hugest batch of granola.  And congratulate any helpers that you may have had.  Even if they only carry around the recipe.  Finally, break into pieces after cooling and give to everyone you know.  They will be very impressed.

Hopefully it looks something like this:

Do you have a recipe that gets better and better each time?