While spending the summer at the Word Of Life Inn, I began an addiction to granola. Almost every single morning, I would have a banana and a bowl of blueberry yogurt with granola sprinkled on top. (Who am I kidding? I had a half bowl of yogurt with a half bowl of granola.) I LOVED that granola!!!
When I arrived back in NC, I brought a bag of the 'Inn granola' home with me. It was soon gone. I went to the store and bought some granola. I even bought really good granola with no 'icky stuff' in it at the Whole Food store in their bulk bin.
IT DID NOT COMPARE.
IT DID NOT COMPARE.
Since I had TONS of fresh, organic, blueberries that my uncle had picked for me, I HAD TO HAVE GRANOLA!
Fresh or frozen blueberries with french vanilla yogurt and homemade granola is one of my favorites... remember this picture?
I present to you my Homemade Granola:
Ingredients:
4 cups of quick oats
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
1/2 cup of chopped pecans
1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup of ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix well.
Put all wet ingredients into a small pot (except for the vanilla).
Stir while you bring to a boil.
After this mixture boils, remove it from the heat.
ADD THE VANILLA NOW.
Stir it into the liquid mixture.
Drizzle this liquid over top of the dry mixture.
STIR STIR STIR STIR... AND STIR SOME MORE.
Cover a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
Spread your granola evenly over the parchment paper.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes.
If you are cooking on a pan other than stoneware, you might want to stir this mixture half way through cooking to make sure it cooks evenly.
I use my favorite Pampered Chef bar pan.
But, you do NOT 'need' a special pan.
This can be cooked in a glass or stainless steel.
(Stay away from aluminum, or 'non stick' coated cookware.)
Make sure it is completely cooled then, store it in any type of air tight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Enjoy with blueberries and french vanilla yogurt,
or just as one of those 'eat-with-your-fingers' type of snacks.
FYI: Next time I am going to try replacing the oil with applesauce. Also, you could add any type of dry fruit to this mix.