Homemade Granola

Do you know someone who has trouble rationing things?  For example, if Tim and I are sharing a brownie and ice cream dessert, I like to have a bite of ice cream with each bite of brownie up to the last bite.  Is that so wrong?  Tim on the other hand will take a HUGE scoop of ice cream with his brownie bite, therefore making me take LESS ice cream with each of my bites if I want to continue rationing the ice cream.  He does this ALL the time.  Lesson learned: No sharing with Tim.

Our neighbor always makes this AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS granola for us and Tim hoards it.  At first I tried to ration it over several days, but I've now learned that if I want to get in while the gettin's good, I've got to go all out.  Granola for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone!  Just kidding {...not really}.  I've tried to get my neighbor's recipe, but she's very secretive about it.  I think I've finally found a recipe that comes close to hers...and I'm going to share it with you!

Ingredients:
6 cups of whole oats
1/4-1/2 cup of flax seed
1-1.5 cups of dried fruit {I prefer raisins, dried blueberries and dried cranberries}
1 cup of sliced or chopped nuts {I used sliced almonds and chopped pecans}
1/2 cup of canola oil
2/3 cup of maple syrup
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2-3 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tsp of cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg {optional} 
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven 325 degrees.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. 

3.  Add oats, nuts, flax seed, dried fruit and mix.  {I add the dried fruit to the mixture, but some people prefer to mix it in after baking is complete.}

4.  Coat a 9x13 baking pan with nonstick spray. Pour oat mixture in and level but don't flatten it.

5.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Set a timer so you don't burn it! Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently rotate the oat mixture.  Put it back in the oven for 10 minutes increments. Repeat stirring every 10 minutes until golden brown and crispy. You'll be able to tell when it's done because the oats will be dried out and crunchy! This usually takes about 50-60 minutes total for me.

6.  Remove from oven mix in dried fruit and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks!

This tastes great on yogurt.  It also makes a great gift!