Making Granola

Something new that I decided to try while I was on my own in July was to make my own granola. My verdict is that it was a raging success, and Matt agrees it is delicious and he would happily eat it! The one thing I will do differently next time is not add any dried fruit to the granola before I bake it. Most of my craisins turning into little cranberry rocks.

I used a recipe from thefrugalgirl.com that I would link to but it's a huge post because she has tons of pictures and a give-away on the same post. It boils down to:

Mix these ingredients together:
6 cups oatmeal
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruitCombine the below ingredients on low heat in a small pot, stir together and pour over oatmeal mixture:
1/2 cup oil (I used coconut oil as recommended. Pricey but healthy.)
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp vanilla

Spread the entire mixture out on baking sheets and bake at 300F. Stir after 15 minutes and every 2-5 minutes after that until golden brown.

If you are very attentive, you will see that I cooked my granola in baking pans, not on sheets. This was to make stirring easier, and it was a great success! Although I think it delayed the toasting. For me, it took about an hour to cook, checking on it every ten minutes or so, but in the end, it came out perfectly! Toasted and crunchy and healthy and yummy!!