Amy's Granola

Doh! Kerri beat me to it. Oh well, there's lots of great granola recipes out there. This is the one we use in our house. Just be aware, its not sweet. But that's because it uses Brown Rice Syrup instead of honey and brown sugar. Its a very forgiving recipe, so you can vary it as much as you like. My kids like it with coconut flakes and chocolate chips. Its an easy recipe to make with your kids too - lots of dumping stuff into the bowl. And best of all, no cooking involved. Just bakes for 30 mins.

Find Brown Rice Syrup in the Gluten-Free section at Bloom or at Whole Foods. Lundgren Farms is the only brand I've seen.

4 C oats (I use old fashioned)
1/2 C wheat germ
1 C chopped nuts
1 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C brown rice syrup
3/4 C veggie oil
1 T vanilla
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 C raisins or other dried fruit

Combine all ingredients except raisins. Mix well and spread on a shallow baking sheet (a large jelly roll pan is perfect). Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, gently flipping the granola every 10 minutes. Add the dried fruit when the mixture is done baking and allow to cool in the pan.

Once cool, use a flipper to transfer the granola to a large storage bowl, being careful not to break it up too much. You want large chunks. It should keep for about 2 weeks.

Variations:
1) Add 1 C sweetened coconut and 1 C chocolate chips (omit the raisins)
2) Use walnuts, pumpkin seeds and chopped dates
3) Add flax seeds, pecans or slivered almonds and dried chopped dried apricots.