homemade granola

Back in the summer my Dad gave me a tub of his home made granola. After the first bowl I knew I would start making my own, but as procrastination sometimes happens, it wasn't until this winter that I got around to doing it. Now, I will never buy a box of store bought cereal again. This filling and tasty and just so delicious granola is something I have been making every week or so for the past few months. One batch lasts us about 10 days, and we eat it just about every morning. We haven't tired of it yet. I enjoy making it too. I enjoy adjusting the recipe each time for something different- more honey and less oil makes for a more chunky and crunchy batch, maple syrup (my favorite) taste much different from the vanilla, different dried fruits can really affect the flavour (I prefer raisins) and I add more nuts because I tried it once and it was our best batch yet. Granola has always been my favorite weekday breakfast, and now it's one of my favorite things to make myself too. I like the fact that I now stock my shelves with jars full of an assortment of nuts, I like the way it smells while it's baking, I like that you have to mix it with your hands, and I even like that I now eat it dry as a snack. Here's the basic recipe, passed on from my aunt to my dad to me, and I'm sure it's been modified along the way, but I think that's why it's just so darn good.

Dry ingredients:
4 C. rolled oats
1 C. wheat germ
1/2 C. raw sunflower seeds
1/4 C. brown sesame seeds
1/4 C. pumpkin seeds
1 C. chopped nuts (mix of almonds, walnuts, pecans, ect.)
1/2 t. sea salt
Mix well.

Wet ingredients:
1/3 C. grapeseed or other veg. oil
1/2 C. honey
1 T. maple syrup OR 1 t. vanilla

Optional dried fruit and berries:
Try a handful of raisins, chopped dates, apricots, dried cranberries, goji berries

directions:
Mix liquid ingredients well. If you put the oil in the measuring cup first it helps the other ingredients keep from sticking when you pour it out. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture. Using your hands, mix together they wet and dry until evenly mixed and thoroughly wet.
Spread onto 2 cookie sheets and put these into a preheated 250 degree oven. After 30 minutes, remove, stir well, switch the two trays in the oven and back for another 30 minutes. This is important to do!
After the second 30 minutes remove from oven and sprinkle each sheet with dried fruit (chopped) and berries (either fresh or dried) to taste. Stir well, let cool.