Down to Earth Granola

We scheduled an appointment with Home Depot to have the bathroom floor in the basement measured for tile.  They didn't call until 9:00am to tell me that they were going to be here some time between 2:30 and 4:30pm.  I was going to go into work, but with driving, I only would have gotten in about 3 hours of work...

So, I decided to stay home and work on channeling my inner housewife.

This recipe has a little story.  Doug's Aunt Leslie is a great cook... well all of his aunts are because they learned from grandma.  Each time we go to her house, Doug snacks on her homemade "grainola" the whole time.  I asked for the recipe last time I was down there in June and finally decided to make it today.

Down to Earth Granola - Aunt Leslie
4 c. Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 c. Sliced Almonds
1/2 c. Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/3 c. Cooking Oil
1/3 c. Honey
1 tsp. Vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a bowl mix the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a saucepan, warm the oil and honey (do not boil).
4. Stir in vanilla after the oil and honey are warmed.
5. Pour liquid in saucepan over dry oat mixture in bowl.
6. Stir until just coated
7. Spray baking pan with non-stick spray (line with aluminum foil beforehand if you like)
8. Spread mixture into 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan (deep cookie pan).
9. Bake 30 minutes stirring gently every 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and let cool before breaking into pieces.

Step 2: Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl.

Steps 3-4: Warm oil and honey in saucepan, then add vanilla.

ALL DONE!  Time to eat it all!

I despise doing dishes, so most of the time I make Doug do them since I do all of the cooking.  I went ahead and cleaned up after this because it was so easy.  I just made sure to put down aluminum foil in the cookie pan first.  It took two pieces because I want to make edges to keep it all in.

The good thing is that this stuff is cheaper (AND TASTES BETTER) than the granola I buy in the grocery store.  It wasn't hard at all to make.  The hardest part was remembering to set the timer so I could stir it each time.  I also like that all of the ingredients, except for maybe the sliced almonds, are things that you have in your food pantry already.

After I took it out of the oven the last time, I let it sit for about 20 minutes before eating it.  It wasn't quite hard yet, but OH was it SO tasty.  Once it's completely hardened, I'll put it in a cereal container and add it to lunches to put in yogurt.   That is, if I don't eat it all first.