Home Made Granola~ Recipe

This is a recipe that I grew up with. We loved it. Mom usually made this several times a month. When my son was little he loved his grammas granola, too. So, I thought I would share it with you here, even tho' there are many recipes out there for this wonderful and healthy 'cereal' or snack.

Ingredients:

4 cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 cup raisins

1/3 cup honey (or try 100% pure Maple Syrup)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sliced almonds

1/2 tsp Real Vanilla extract (stronger than imitation)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I prefer dark)

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

1/2 tsp Allspice (or to taste)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup cashew pieces

Set oven to 300*

Put the honey and oil in a sauce pan and heat it a bit so that you can incorporate the vanilla into it.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Then pour the honey mixture over it. Stir with a wooden spoon till it is starting to mix up nicely. Finish mixing it good with your hands.  Then, spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet and bake for 40 - 50 minutes, checking every 10 minutes and stirring it around the sheet with the wooden spoon. You want it to brown nicely, but not scorch, so keep an eye on it.        

This is so good, and you can have it for breakfast or just anytime.

So, maybe you want some 'on the go' granola too? Well, mom never made these (we didn't have these back then)but you can make granola bars quite easily, too. 

Just make a sort of caramel using:

1/2 stick of butter or margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey (or the 100% pure Maple Syrup)

Put this into a sauce pan, bring to a boil, then simmer it for a couple of minutes until the sugar is melted. Remove from heat. 

Put your 2 cups of home made granola into the sauce pan and mix it up well.

Spread it packed nicely into a 9x13 pan and let it sit and cool till you can handle it and cut it into your bar sizes. Wrap each bar in waxed paper or plastic wrap.

I usually change the flavors around for variety....like chocolate chips, hazelnuts, Sunflower seeds, other types of dried fruits chopped up small enough. You can do many variations with the granola or the bars to tailor them to your likes. Again with the wonder of making things yourself - great, right?

These are natural, healthy, and very tasty.  Plus, they will be cheaper than the purchased stuff, and no chemicals or other things that we prefer not to have in our foods. 

Healthy reading:

• The Ultimate Healthy Snack List including Healthy Snacks for Adults & Healthy Snacks for Kids: Discover over 130 Healthy Snack Recipes - Fruit Snacks, ... Recipes, Gluten-Free Snacks and more!
• Healthy Snacks to Go
• Raw Energy: 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body
• 100-Calorie Snack Cookbook