Tina and Adam's Granola

We, in my household, are big fans of granola. We like granola with our yogurt, milk, or kefir. In the past, we bought Trader Joe's granola, most often the Vanilla Almond flavor. However, as we were going through quite a lot of this product each week, we started to take a closer look at the nutritional content. Although Trader Joe's granola is very good, it does contain a higher amount of sugar than I would like. Therefore, about a year and a half ago, we came up with our own recipe.

I have mentioned before that Adam does a lot of the everyday cooking in our house. However, granola is my territory. We came up with the recipe together, but I took responsibility for making a big batch every couple of weeks. Over time, I have tweaked the recipe slightly, and will share it with you in its current form.

1 1/2 lbs. rolled oats (regular, not quick cooking)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or to taste)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup water
2 cups mixed nuts, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

Mix the first 8 ingredients together (through water) in a big bowl, using your hands to clump the oats together. Once everything is well blended, pour the mixture onto the lined cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the granola begins to bake, chop 2 cups of nuts (I usually use almonds and walnuts, but the recipe is completely flexible). After 10 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and add the chopped nuts, stirring to mix with the oats. Bake for another 15 minutes. Again, remove from the oven and stir the mixture carefully. Finally, bake for another 15 minutes and remove from the oven. At this time, stir in the dried fruit and let cool on the cookie sheet. When cool, store in a sealed container to keep fresh.

This recipe can be made in many different ways. I have experimented with various dried fruits, chopping the larger pieces when necessary. For instance, I recommend dried apricots, cherries, or prunes. I also think dried blueberries or strawberries would be very good. The same idea applies to the nuts that you decide to include. You can just use one kind of nut, or several, or a complete mix.

This is a great money-saver for us. One batch of this granola lasts much longer than any box, or several boxes, of store-bought granola. We have many of the ingredients at home already for baking or other cooking, and the nuts and dried fruit can also be used as snacks. Buying regular rolled oats, especially in the bulk section of your supermarket or natural food store, is very budget-friendly, and as I said, a little goes a long way.