Lets have some granola!!!

I love granola.....from buying the ingredients, finding the ingredients, making it, eating it, sharing it.........I LOVE IT!

I will write a very basic granola recipe and then give a million (literally, seriously) options and you decide your favorite.

5 cups of rolled oats.
1 cup sesame seeds.
1/2 cup pumpkin seed
1/2 cup sunflower seed
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup chopped papaya
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup
1tsp cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch allspice
1tsp orange zest
1tsp sea salt

1 cup of water and 1 cup of honey into a pot.   Heat and stir until the honey has dissolved into the water (simple syrup).   Then pour this mixture over the granola and mix together well.  Then mixture will tend to become moist and a bit mushy but keep mixing it until it is well blended.
Preheat the oven to 350F and place the granola on a tray.  You might have to do this in parts as if the tray is to small and the granola is thick on the tray the cooking will be uneven. (go with about 1/2 thickness on the tray)  If you cook a little bit at a time and cook it until golden brown, take it out of the oven and place in a bowl. The granola itself will be cooked evenly and toasted to perfection.  A little tip.......because you have added a sugar to the baking process (honey) once it comes out of the oven, it will continue to cook so don't let it get to brown or it might have more of a burnt flavour then a toasted flavour.

Now for the million different variations.   Use up what you have in your cupboards to make this, hemp seed, flax seed, a bag of trail mix, some crushed up granola bars that you might throw away, any dried fruit, any nuts, spelt oats, kamut oats, add fresh fruit at the end, add chopped dried fruit at the end so that it is not toasted the possibilities are endless.   Ask me any questions about this and lets make the best granola ever.   Another one of my favorites is Chai granola.....how do you do this......place your ingredients in a bowl then use the flavours from chai....fennel or anise seed,cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, bay leaves....you can add this to your water and honey mixture and let it sit for awhile to absorb the flavours then strain and add the liquid to the granola mixture....you cook it add your milk, soy beverage or yogurt and voila you have a nice chai granola for breakfast.   This is an individual flavour so play with the spices and see how much of each you like.

Let me know how this recipe goes for you so that I can help you where needed and tweak it to make it an easier recipe for everyone to do!!!

Thanks for your help and enjoy!!!