How to make granola!

So, since the only commercial breakfast cereal I can eat these days is Rice Chex (and Corn Chex, but it's not as good), I've been making a lot of granola. It's gluten-free if you aren't sensitive to oats (which sometimes are manufactured on equipment that does wheat and has trace amounts of gluten in it). Oats have been no problem for me and my joints, so I've been eating a lot of them.

The fun thing about granola is that once you get gist of making it, you can make it with anything you want. My mom made this when we were kids, with just oats, almonds and sunflower seeds, so I took the basic idea and threw in whatever else I could scrounge up. The flax seeds are for nutrition rather than any exciting flavor (they've got the Omega-3s and a lot of fiber) but they add a little extra crunch. Here's the recipe I've been making lately...

Coconut-Almond Granola

4 TB of salted butter (if you're anti-butter for some reason, you could use vegetable oil, but I will recommend you to the Weston Price folks who, slight bit of kookery or not, have convinced me that real animal fats are good and that fake, freaky margarine-style fats are evil.)
3 TB honey (or more)
2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of sliced almonds
1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup of raw sunflower seed kernels
1/4 cup of flax seeds
2/3 cup raisins (or however much you want)
2/3 cup Craisins (or any other dried fruit you feel like)

Here's how it works:

1. Melt the butter and the honey in a big sauce pan.
2. Dump in everything except the raisins/Craisins/dried fruit.
3. Stir it all around thoroughly until everything is coated in butter and honey. The mix should look glossy but not wet, and still be crumbly.
4. Spread the granola out onto a jelly roll pan. Bake at 325 for 10 or 15 minutes or until its mostly golden brown, or a little darker. (Check on it periodically...ovens are tricky, and you don't want it to burn. You can bake it at 200 for longer, if you'd rather be more careful.)
5. Take it out of the oven, and mix it up while it's still warm or it'll cool together in clumps. It will stop being sticky as it cools. Once it's cool, dump it in an airtight container (or a leftover Quaker Oatmeal tub) and add whatever raisins, Craisins, or other dried fruit you want.

Done and done.


I eat mine with milk, like a regular cereal. Or with yogurt. Or straight out of the tub.