Grand Granola

This recipe is for my friends Jess and Sandy, who asked for it. It makes a lot, but since they each have five children, I don't think they will mind:)

First, you need a VERY big bowl. Perhaps your washing machine might be big enough because you have to put 8 cups of whole oat goodness in there. That's a lot of oats. Did I mention you need a big bowl?

Next put in 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup honey and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar. Then toss in 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. of vanilla and 1 tsp. of cinnamon. You can stop right there, mix it up and cook it at 350 until just before you burn it (if you wait any longer, it will be burned).

Or...

You can make the fancy kind.



For the fancy kind, you can add in a half cup of sunflower seeds or a half cup of chopped almonds or a half cup of walnuts or even pecans. Or you can do a half cup of each!

However, you do it, just know that you can bake it or you can keep it raw by putting it in your dehydrator for a very long time (like 12-14 hours??). If you put it in your dehydrator, it may all disappear before you can get it put away. The little fingers in my house like to snatch it up quickly.

Once it has cooled, you can mix raisins or dried cranberries in it. And, if you're blogging late at night and you want something sweet but still good for you, you can put some chocolate chips in it and then stick it in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds. Then you can mix it up and eat some yummy chocolate/granola goodness without anyone asking you for some because it's really late and you're the only one crazy enough to still be up. Not that I've done this, of course. And not that I'm doing it right now. I'm just saying "if". (And if you do, be sure to rinse out your bowl so no one will find it in the morning!)

Now, when you're not being an up-all-night troll, you can serve this to your children and/or hubby instead of boxed cereal for breakfast. Just add some almond milk (or cow's milk, if you drink that) and maybe even cut up some bananas into it- but only if you're banana-obsessed like I am. You can also mix it into some yogurt or use it in a trail mix. Or you can put it waaaaaaaaay on the back of the pantry shelf where none of your troll offspring can find it and it will be saved it for your healthy-eating self.
Anyway you dish it, you will be in granola heaven and your body will be, too:)