For the love of oats!

I don't know what it is but I love oats... I love oatmeal, overnight oats, oats with a twist, oatmeal cookies, granola bars, granola, and even my favorite veggie burger has oats in it.  In my never ending goal to eat as little processed food as possible I decided to experiment with making my own granola.  I'm not a big cereal lover but I love having a bowl of granola with milk or even dry granola as a snack.

About 10 months ago a friend shared a recipe with me for homemade granola bars and I thought, "Wahoo! These will be great!" Then I saw how much brown sugar I needed to add along with honey, maple syrup, and other items that would sweeten them naturally.  I figured I would just skip the butter and brown sugar and they would be fine.  Ha! I modified them a little too much (I also put way less honey because I'm not a fan of the taste of honey) and while it was darn tasty it was not a granola bar.  There was no way whatever that was was holding the granola bar shape but it was pretty good granola just not quite perfect for me.

Last week I decided to try my hand again at making my own granola and started a hunt for a great granola recipe.  I found a few that seemed like they would be tasty and they all had mixed reviews.  I decided to take what I liked about the recipes I saw as well as what I liked about the granola bar recipe I tried and get a little creative and the end result was perfectly sweet but not to sweet and easy to make granola.

I started with pure maple syrup, honey, vanilla extract, and safflower oil.  After I whisked those ingredients together I added in the old-fashioned oats, chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, and unsalted peanut butter.  I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and then spread out the granola mixture.  I baked it for 15 minutes then added in the dried cranberries and baked for an additional 10 minutes.

This recipe would be great with sunflower seeds, any type of nut, and different dried fruit mix-ins.  Next time I think I will add some mini chocolate chips to satisfy my sweet tooth. Seriously, this granola took all of 10 minutes to prep and put in to containers after it cooked. I love that not only was it tasty but it was easy and quick.

For the Love of Oats Granola

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Oil (I used safflower)
• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup Walnuts- chopped
• 1/2 cup Almonds- chopped
• 1/3 cup unsalted, smooth peanut butter
• 1/3-1/2 cup dried cranberries
• Any other add-ins you might like

Directions

• In a large bowl whisk together the oil, maple syrup, honey, and vanilla extract.
• Add all remaining ingredients except the dried cranberries, combine, and spread into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
• Take out of the oven, mix in dried cranberries, and return to the oven for 10 additional minutes.
• Let cool and enjoy!