Great Day Granola

Hello All!!! Sheesh, seems like I've been away forever (hanging head in shame...)

Last week was just one of those crazy kid weeks. You know how it can be. Both of my girls are in dance and the recital was last Saturday. There was practice EVERY single night until the recital.

I did two big cook days so I didn't have to worry about it, but I'm not quite in the habit of having my camera (or iPhone) handy for pictures yet.

I decided since this was the only picture I did take, I would share the recipe with my cyberpeeps : )

This is a recipe from the Pillsbury bake off winners cookbook 2007. I love it, my kids love it, happy hubby loves it, kids friends love it... Need I say more??

Ingredients:

4 cups oats ( I think the quick cooking work best)

3 cups golden grahams cereal

3 cups fiber one cereal

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sunflower nuts

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 250F. Line 2 (15 by 10 inch) pans with parchment paper, spray lightly with cooking spray. In very large bowl, mix oats, both cereals, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds.

2. In a 2 qt. saucepan, cook brown sugar, oil, honey, and water over medium-high heat 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly until brown sugar is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and almond extract. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until well coated. Spread mixture evenly in pans.

3. Bake 1 hour (I do mine a little longer, cuz I likes mine crispy!) rearranging pans once halfway through baking. Cool completely on the pan, about 1 hour. Break into pieces. Store in tightly covered container. Serve as a breakfast cereal, snack or as a topping for ice cream, yogurt or fresh fruit.

There it is : ) This recipe is not only yummy, but is fun to experiment with. I've used honey nut cheerios or kashi heart to heart in place of the fiber one. Different kinds of nuts and so on...

This makes quite a bit, but disappears quickly and is so much cheaper than organic granola. I hope you get to try and enjoy!