Granola

This is one of my family's favorite recipes and makes a great breakfast or snack. It is wonderful on plain yogurt!

The recipe is adapted from Mollie Katzen's "Very Crunchy Granola" and it lives up to its name!

3 c. rolled oats
1 1/4 c. bran/whole grain flakes cereal (look for a kind with less then 4 g. sugar per serving)
1 c. oat bran
1 c. sunflower seeds *
1 c. whole almonds *
1 c. pumpkin seeds *
3/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. REAL maple syrup
1 heaping T of vanilla extract
*seeds and nuts should be raw and unsalted (buy in bulk when possible, can be pricey!)

1. Preheat oven to 325 F and grease two cookie sheets (I use a little canola oil)
2. In a large bowl mix: oats, cereal, oat bran, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and almonds.
3. In a small bowl mix: oil, honey, maple syrup, and vanilla extract
4. Pour liquid mixture over dry mixture and mix well or until the oil mixture is evenly distributed.
5. Spread out the granola on the two cookie sheets and place in oven.
6. Stir granola and flip trays every 15 minutes. Granola will take between 30-45 minutes depending on how dark you like it.
7. When granola looks to be at the right color pull it out of the oven and let it cool. Enjoy!

*Note: The granola gets crunchy AFTER you pull it out of the oven. So your granola will still look kind of "soggy" when you take it out. Let the granola sit for 10-15 minutes before you stir it and it will get nice and crunchy.