I made granola this past week, after a long time of eating boxed cereals. Mmmmmm, this is soooo good, and soooo cheap... why did I wait so long to make this stuff? Here's my simple recipe:

5 lbs oatmeal, 1 lb butter, 2 cups honey (or equivalent in brown sugar), 3 Tbsp vanilla.

Warm the oatmeal in a 350 degree oven, stirring occasionally, takes about 20 minutes. while that is warming, mix the other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk well, and dribble over the hot oatmeal while stirring. Mix very well, and return to baking pans in oven. Bake, stirring often, till nicely toasted. Mix with other ingredients as wished, after toasting. I like roasted sunflower seeds, coconut, raisins, pecans, chopped dates, etc. Experiment!

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), December 12, 2001

Answers

Cool, and I was just going to ask the question: How do you make granola because I am always buying those litte .25 cent bars- cheaper than candy bars and better while cutting wood (fills me up). This will be cheaper still. THANKS!!

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), December 13, 2001.

Kevin, if you press it into a pan with some butter, spread preserved fruit on top, put on another layer (I think the original recipe called for eggs and flour to cement the granola together) and bake at 350 for a time you can MAKE your own fruit & granola bars...

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), December 13, 2001.

Whoa! This sounds wonderful! I am no cook so do you just make your oatmeal from Old Fashioned Oats as per the recipe? And how many cups of dry do you use to come out with 5 lbs of oatmeal? Thanks! LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), December 14, 2001.

Sounds great, but does anyone have a good granol recipe without added fat?

-- Phillip Rhoads (philliprhoads@aol.com), December 14, 2001.

Hi guys. Um... I'm from England... what exactly *is* grenola? :-)

-- Katherine Dakin (bronzemythighs@aol.com), December 14, 2001.

Katherine, Granola is a wonderful rough cereal mix, Huge sections of supermarket aisles here are devoted to its many forms. It started as just plain crunchy mini globs of toasted oatmeal with honey and brown sugar, but has morphed to granolas that are almost like trail mixes, to granola in bar form, with nuts, raisins, fruit filling, chewy instad of crunchy bar versions, etc. Are you familiar withthe term mueseli? That is like granola. Try the recipe, put in your favourite crunchy treats and enjoy. Homemade is so much better than preservative-filled store-bought.

-- Debbie in Mo (risingwind@socket.net), December 14, 2001.

Phillip - this isn't no fat but it is low fat. 1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats 1/4 cup wheat germ 1/4 cup sunflower seeds 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1/4 cup flaked coconut (I leave this out - don't like coconut) 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup honey 2 tbs vegetable oil Mix oats, wheat germ, walnut, coconut, cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in oil and honey to coat. Spread in greased 8x8 pan and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes stirring after 10. Remove from oven and add dried fruit if desired. This a small enough recipe so you can try it without wasting if you don't like it. Easy to double just use a larger pan.

-- Barb (MBRanch@POP.ctctel.com), December 14, 2001.