Homemade Granola

 This is amazingly easy, no fat added, very nutritious … and delicious. No more of that boxed stuff.  This is done entirely the day before, then served the next day, and the one after that.  Make great munching snack for the kids as well.

Follow this link to the recipe:
Homemade Granola

• 4 cups oatmeal – not the instant or steel cut varieties, but whole flakes
• ½ cup each of wheat bran, wheat germ and flaxseed meal (can change proportions, but keep at 1 ½ cups total
• 1 cup coconut
• 2 cups chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds or a mix)
• ¾ cup cranapple juice
• 1 cup maple syrup, honey, or other syrup
• 2 cups chopped dried fruit

Follow this link to the recipe:

Homemade Granola

Night before:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the oatmeal, wheat bran, wheat germ, flaxseed meal and coconut. In a mixing cup, mix the syrup and juice until blended, then pour over the cereals. Stir until all is moistened, then turn onto a jellyroll pan (large cookie sheet with sides). Spread out evenly, and put into oven for an hour, stirring and breaking apart the large clumps every 20 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in fruit. Put back in oven, turn it off, and let cool overnight. Serve, or store in airtight container.

Next morning:
Serve. Eat.

NOTES:

• These proportions are a suggestion, but you can vary it. Want more oatmeal? Add another cup or two. Can’t find flaxseed meal? Use more bran. Don’t like coconut? Leave it out.
• Try sunflower seeds or sesame seeds for part of the nuts.
•  For chopped fruit: buy pre-chopped, use dried berries, or snip dried fruit pieces, such as peaches or mangos or apples, with scissors.  Or skip the fruit.
•  For chopped nuts: put whole nuts in a large ziplock bag, leaving the top partially open, then pound with a flat meat pounder (NOT one with teeth) or a rolling pin.
•  For syrup: maple is great – the real stuff. Today, I didn’t have enough maple, so used some almond syrup meant for flavoring coffee, and got a nice marzipan flavor in the granola.