Evolving Granola Recipe

 A couple of people (Julia and a missionary here) have asked how I make granola. I did have a recipe from Laura Nausin, but I've tweeked it beyond recognition.  (Scroll down for tweeked recipe)

I start out with 5 or 10 cups of oats. 10 cups if I have a big oven and two baking sheets. In Ghana there is only one baking sheet as that is deemed sufficient for two people.

Looks like black, green, and light green - not so -
Oats, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

Ignore the dark and light green color from the bowl, the light reflects green swirls in my ingredients.  To the Oats add different seeds. You can add nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc., etc., but Jeffrey can't have them). I add pumpkins seeds and sunflower seeds.

I am not sure why all these seeds are good for a body. Susie is the one who told me about them, I'm sure she could outline why.

In a different bowl I have a cup of water, 3/4 cup of oil (I use olive, the original used vegetable), 3/4 cup of chia seeds, 3/4 cup of hemp seed, 3/4 cup of flax seed, 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of agave, and 1/4 cup of maple syrup for flavor. I have noted if you add the chia seeds and water it will clump up. If you want sweet clumps, add water, oil, and sweeteners, then the chia seeds and other seeds and let sit a bit. The original recipe had brown sugar and maple syrup - I think.

Next, mix the two bowls of oat and oil/seeds thoroughly and dump it all onto a baking sheet. Spread it out to the edges so they don't get too crispy.

Tricky is knowing what Fahrenheit to Celsius is. 300 degree is 149 in Celsius. My oven shows 100 and 200, the rest is just proportional.  In fact this whole recipe is proportional as the metric system has everything in grams - every cup may be the same (there is even two measurements for that!) but grams varies by each ingredient's denseness. 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of butter will be different grams. tricky, tricky....

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes watching at the end as it toasts. In this oven I have to turn it mid-way as one side of the oven is hotter than the other.

Turn over with a spatula or  swirl it around so the other side can get toasted.

Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes still watching at the end so it doesn't burn on the edges.

Take it out and cool. After cooling, add dried fruit. One combo that is nice is dried cranberry and blueberries. Recently, I found a medley of dried fruit and we like it. Different batches in the past have had dried apricots, dried apples, dried currants, etc. Have fun with whatever makes you happy.

I put it in a tight container in the cupboard and watch it disappear in a few days. 

Evolving Granola Recipe

5 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats

1 or two cups of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds 

Optional: Chopped Almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews etc., etc.

In a separate bowl mix:

1 cup of water

3/4 cup of oil (olive or vegetable)

3/4 cup of flaxseed (I used the milled)

3/4 cup of chia seed

3/4 cup of hemp seed

1/2 cup of honey

1/2 cup of agave

Optional: 1/4 cup of Maple Syrup for flavor

Add the two bowls together, and then spread out on baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes at 300 degrees, then turn and bake for another 25 minutes. Cool

Add dried fruit: cranberries, blueberries, apricots, apple slices, currants, raisins, etc. etc.

Store in tight container on the shelf