DIY Homemade Granola

I used to make granola all the time as a healthy snack. I learned how to make it from a friend of mine who used to make homemade granola for her children to eat as cereal when they were young. Her children are grown now, so she doesn't make it anymore.

I thought about it making some because I bought quite a few seeds for the Kale crackers that I made last week. I've been snacking on the seeds as it they were peanuts but I thought that it would be nice to have a healthy snack while I am traveling instead of eating potato chips or something else if I want a treat.

I usually add dried fruit to my granola, but since I am trying to cut back on the sugar and the carbohydrates from my diet, I decided to leave the fruit out.

I used about 2 cups of whole rolled oats, chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, canola oil, pure maple syrup, cinnamon and some vanilla extract for added flavor.

Granola is like "trail mix" so you add what you want or have available that you like to snack on. The oil helps the oats to get crunchy and the maple syrup adds some sweetness. You can control how much maple syrup you add depending on how sweet you want the granola. Don't use more than 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract though.

I was out of my roasted almonds, but I would have liked some in the granola. I'll add those next time.

Add all of the ingreadients into a mixing bowl so that they can be coated. Then transfer the ingredients to a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Toast the granola for about 30 -35 minutes at 300 deg F. Be sure to stir up the granola after about 15 minutes or so, so that all of the oats can get good and crunchy.

Voila! The result is a healthy snack that will last for a couple of weeks if you don't eat it up too fast.

Bon Appetit!