homemade food is good.

As Kedzie naps and my house fills with the sweet aroma of homemade granola, I had this overwhelming urge to share this recipe with you all. It's a recipe that Sam got from one of our friends (thanks Heidi) who got the recipe from a summer camp she worked at. It doesn't sound too spectacular at first, but then you make it and tweak it to fit you, and then it ends up being your favorite breakfast. Mine includes a bit of plain yogurt, fresh fruit and a sprinkling of chocolate chips...you CANNOT go wrong.

Let me just preface this by saying, I was not a granola eater. Never. It was always way too crunchy and not quite delicious enough. It had raisins (yuck) or weird seeds I just wasn't interested in consuming. Then, Sam made this. It doesn't get all stuck together, it has just the right amount of sweet and salty and is only packed with outrageously good for you things. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

Oh, and as you can see from the picture of the granola roasting in our turkey roasting pan, this recipe makes a lot. 1/2 it or give some away. As for the two of us, we keep it in a huge mason jar and run out every 3-4 weeks. Kedzie's even started to enjoy it (now that he has some molars!).

GRANOLA (adapted from recipe from Covenant Point):

Mix all of the following ingredients together:
3 oz. brown sugar
7 oz. slivered almonds
2 oz. sesame seeds
4 oz. sunflower seeds
2 oz. flax seeds (we added this)
1/2 oz. wheat germ (I've omitted this when I didn't have any on hand)
5 oz. shredded coconut (we use unsweetened and the granola is still plenty sweet)
1/2 T. salt
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1 t. pure almond extract
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup salad oil (we've used evoo and canola oil, both are delicious...we've stuck with canola lately to keep costs down)

Once all this is mixed then add:
1 lb. 5 oz. rolled oats (the original recipe calls for quick oats but we use regular rolled oats without a problem)

Spread the mixture on pans 1/2 inch deep. (Like I said, we use the turkey roasting pan and I think it might be deeper than 1/2 inch). Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour (usually takes 1 1/4 hours for my thickness of granola) or until golden brown. Stir every 15 minutes while baking.

Hope you enjoy!
n.