Have you ever made your own granola?  If not, you should give it a try.  Super simple, inexpensive and oh, so yummy!  I found a recipe a long time ago and have modified it over the years to suit my own tastes.  I think it originally came from an Amish cookbook, but I don’t remember which one anymore.

Homemade Granola

In a large mixing bowl combine 6 cups old fashioned oats, 3/4 cup walnuts coarsely chopped, 3/4 cup almonds coarsely chopped, (any additional seeds, nuts, mix-ins you may want – I think the original recipe called for sunflower seeds and sesame seeds also, but we didn’t like those very well in the mix), and 3/4 cup brown sugar.

In a separate bowl whisk together 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I might try to experiment and see if coconut oil would work next time – it sounds delish.)  Drizzle honey and oil mixture over oat mixture and mix well.

Spread the uncooked granola on two well-greased jelly roll pans and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Take out and stir, re-spread the mixture evenly over the pans and bake 10 more minutes.  When you remove from the oven the second time you will want to stir the mixture and then stir it every few minutes until it cools.

If you do not stir it as often it is okay, it is just that the sugars will stick together to make large clumps that will need to be broken apart later.  Store airtight.  I just stick mine in a gallon freezer bag.  Refrigerate to keep fresh.  This can be frozen it you wanted to make up a bunch in advance.

If you wanted to add dried fruit to your granola, I think I would add it at the end just before storing and not as a mix in to be baked.  My kiddos don’t really like dried fruit in their breakfast cereal so I haven’t done that yet.  We love to eat this granola with milk or even sprinkled over yogurt (vanilla is best) with fresh grapes stirred in!  Enjoy!