Homemade Granola

My mom gave me a recipe for homemade granola

(she got it from my aunt...love recipes like that)

 and since we didn't have a busy run all over everywhere

weekend I decided to give it a shot

6 cups oatmeal (the real stuff - not instant)

1 cup nuts - your choice

1 cup craisins/raisins/whatever you have around the house

1 cup oil

1/2 cup brown sugar (I did a wee bit more)

1/4 cup honey (mine was closer to 1/2)

You can adjust your amounts

depending on how chunky you want it to be

more oil, brown sugar & honey = more chunky

First gather your little helpers

(warning they are likely to eat a good amount of your ingredients

so measure accordingly :)

We (Lilly) mixed up our oatmeal, nuts & craisins/raisins mixture

Also it is important to have your chaptstick at your side at all times

and SCREAM if someone tries to take it away

chap lips are serious business according to Nolee

Next mix up your brown sugar, oil & honey

and boil on the stove to dissolve the sugars

Lilly was totally fascinated by the little bear

in the brown sugar bin...I think she thought it was a toy

I forgot in there 

Let your 2 year old help you dump the brown sugar in

as she laughes and giggles...

warning she won't have the best aim 

but don't worry any spills will be totally taken care

of by your helpers

Nothing like brown sugar licked straight off the counters :)

After you pour your boiled mixture over your oatmeal mixture

bake at 350 for around 20 min

stirring around the 10 min mark

Oh and I did add a tablespoon or 2 of cocoa

just to give it a hint of a chocolate flavor

So when it was all said and done I had enough home made granola

to fill this canister and then some (this is a few days into it...so some 

of it has already disappeared :).  

The girls have been eating it as snacks and cereal

(note if you use the cocoa like I did this will turn give your milk

that nice chocolaty flavor and your kids will LOVE to drink it

after they eat the cereal...they even asked to drink mine!)

I have yet to put it in yogurt, but want to give that a try too