Makin' Granola!

Finished product (with skim milk) prior to entering my belly. (6/30/14)

Recently, while stopping off at the local megalo-mart for groceries, I attempted to place a bag of packaged granola in the cart for purchase. My wife, who has recently taken to making her own yogurt, suggested that we should try making our own granola too. Back to the shelf went the packaged granola and onto the web went my wife as she pulled up the most basic granola recipe she could find, quickly determining which ingredients we already had and what needed to be purchased. Though I tried to balk at the idea of making something I could simply purchase, my wife assured me that it was very difficult to screw-up the making of granola.

Mom's Best Granola from AllRecipes.com was the first search result to come up and so was the one we prepared. As with most recipes, and especially one's as flexible as granola, I did tailor ingredients to suit my own (admittedly basic) tastes.

Dry ingredients: Rolled oats, wheat germ, raisins, coconut, sunflower seeds, and sugar. (6/29/14)

Wet ingredients: vanilla extract, vegetable oil, boiling water, (6/29/14)

Dry and wet mixed together (with some cinnamon added for good measure)! (6/29/14)

Into the oven. (6/29/14)

Ready to eat. (6/29/14)

The final product (as seen at the top of the post) was very tasty. While flavorful, the texture was further improved by the addition of raisins and, after cooking, banana slices. This issue of texture is one I have with most granola that do not include fruit, and not a function of this particular recipe. My wife was, not surprisingly, also correct in asserting the ease with which the granola can be prepared: it was very easy to do, requiring little more than mastery of dry and wet measuring cups and an adequately supplied pantry. As an added preparation bonus for the cooking impaired--or those like I who successfully feign the inability to cook--it is very difficult to overcook granola.

During the course of the summer weeks ahead, I'm hoping to try some different recipes. in search of one that hits the right mark, and "Mom's Best Granola" was definitely a good place to start!