Homemade Granola

There are more than 750 posts on this blog and not one is about homemade granola...because I had never made it, until now.

I know. Those of you in the know are slapping your forehead. What took me so long!

Really, there is no excuse.

And now there is none for you either. Because it is dead simple, and you can make it with all of those bits of stuff in your pantry that you have been saving for whenever you a recipe that calls for sunflower seeds and pepitas and chopped nuts and shredded coconut and, well, you get the picture.

Add in some rolled oats, coconut oil, dried fruit of a sort, spice of a sort and bake for 20 minutes.

Yup, 20 minutes and then you have homemade granola. Just like that. To eat with your homemade yogurt, because that is really easy too. But that's for another day.

Happy Samhain! Halloween! Dias de los Muertos!

Homemade Granola
(makes 4 cups)

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (shelled kind, not the ones for birds)
1/2 cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
1 cup chopped almonds
5 pitted dates, cut in slivers and diced
1/2 cup coconut oil, brought to room temperature and liquified
3-4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons ground cardamom (or use cinnamon)
1 tablespoon agave (or honey or maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
1/2-1 teaspoon salt (depending on whether your nuts are salted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss to coat really well. Taste for salt and sweetness. I prefer my granola not sweet but a little sweetener brings out the flavoring of vanilla and in this case, cardamom. Feel free to substitute other nuts or dried fruit or add in some shredded coconut, whatever you desire. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then stir and bake a final 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before storing in tightly sealed jar.

Hugs!