Homemade Granola

Granola is just toasted oats with a mixture of dried fruit, seeds and nuts.  Homemade granola is so easy to make, so why spend more on the store-bought one?  Since I don't eat oatmeal, but I do buy rolled oats for muffin, cookie, bar and bread, so why not make it into granola too right?  I love the granola on yogurt, so I actually made this for my yogurt.  Besides topping my yogurt with granola, I also added some hemp seeds and chia seeds.  And that would be our dessert!

Granola would make a great snack too.  One or two hands full if you found yourself not really hungry or you just want something to chew.  You actually make this in less than 30 minutes and most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.  Next time I would add some nuts too, to make it better.

Recipe adapted from Chow.com with some modification.

Ingredients:

3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3 Tbsp. packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries, diced
1/4 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup organic shredded coconut

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 300'F.

2.  Lined a baking sheet with foil.

3.  In a large bowl, add the first 4 ingredients, mix well.  Then, add honey, oil, vanilla and stir to combine or until the oats are thoroughly coated.

4.  Spread the mixture on the prepared baking sheet.  Spread it evenly into a thin layer.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Stir and bake for additional 5-15 minutes more or until the granola is light golden brown color.

5.  Cool completely.  Then, add the cranberries, sunflower seeds and coconut shreds.  Mix well.  Store the granola in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.