Making Granola – a healthy snack

We’re always looking for a healthy snack around our house.  I enjoy snacking and likely missed my calling as a professional competitive eater (only slightly joking).  I’ll routinely open our snack drawer and those beneath it searching for something to snack on.   Many times I’m greeted with a snack drawer as barren and sparsely inhabited as the dark side of the moon.  It is my goal to populate this wasteland.

Tricia tore out a page from Southern Living Magazine that had a recipe for Honey-Nut Granola and had it clothes-pinned to her recipe easel.  Imagine my excitement the other day when I came in the door and stopped mid-stride in my bee-line to the snack drawer by two trays of warm homemade granola!  She altered the recipe a little bit.  Here’s what you need:

Homemade Granola

6 cups uncooked oats

2 ½ cups chopped pecans

¼ cup sunflower seeds

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup butter melted

½ cup honey
¼ cup sugar and molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

1 (6oz) box of raisins

First we assembled all of the dry ingredients:

And then all of the 'wet' ingredients:

It can’t get much easier than this.  Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl

Combine the melted butter and the next four ingredients into a container.

Stir it all up to mix it.

Pour it over the oat mixture…

Stir it up real good until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are evenly coated.

Divide the mixture into two baking pans and place in oven about 6 inches from the top heating element.

Bake the granola mixture at 325 for 25-30 minutes so that the granola toasts.  You’ll want to stir so every 10 minutes or so as you want it to be evenly toasted.  Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool.  When completely cool, add raisins and stir.

We poured into a zip loc storage bag and put it in the snack drawer.  The directions said that it will stay good at room temperature for 3 days or can be frozen for 6 months.  We didn’t have to worry about the ‘expiration dates’ as the zip loc bag was empty in no time!

The nice thing about this granola is the versatility.  You can add anything you want, depending on your desired level of “healthiness.”  You can add dried cranberries or other types of dried fruit, banana chips, Chocolate chips, M&Ms, etc.  We ate it right out of the bag.  We also made some homemade ice cream and sprinkled plenty of the granola on top of the ice cream.  This received the two thumbs up rating at our house and we will definitely make it again.