Yummy Recipes - Homemade Granola

Cooking is one of my very favorite things to do. I wasn't interested in cooking at all until just a few years ago. Now I can't get enough of it. I like trying new recipes and anticipating how they will turn out. I like making people happy with food, namely my hubby. I like recipes that look fancy and complicated, but don't have a million ingredients. Some of my cooking rules are, "If the ingredient list is longer than the recipe instructions, I'm not making it!" and "If I don't know immediately where an ingredient is located in the grocery store, I'm not making that recipe!" Also, I prefer to have at least 75% of the ingredients already on hand. Simple. Fresh. Tasty. Healthy. OK, 95% of the recipes I make are healthy ... you gotta indulge sometimes!

Since I love it when friends share their favorite recipes with me, I've decided to start a reoccurring Yummy Recipes post to share with you. Plus, sometimes I really have to rack my brain for something interesting to post, and this will help to fill in the gaps!

My first Yummy Recipes post is a recipe that I found on my favorite recipe blog For the Love of Cooking. Pam always has delicious recipes with beautiful photographs, everything is well-organized and all the recipes are easy to medium difficulty level. I've made countless recipes off her blog, so I'll be giving her credit often! I make Homemade Granola almost every week. My hubby prefers it to the expensive Kashi cereal. We eat it with milk and also mixed in plain or vanilla yogurt.

Homemade Granola

• 4 cups oats
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup coconut, shredded
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, apple juice and vanilla. Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until evenly coated. Spread granola onto the baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake, stirring every 10 minutes for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Add the cranberries and mix thoroughly.

Store granola in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Enjoy!