Recipe - granola

Handsome Hero could eat his weight in granola and yogurt. Literally. And not just any ol' granola and yogurt.  

My name is Beth and my husband is addicted to expensive granola and greek yogurt.

I'm thinking of asking him to stop eating it and just start smoking. It would be cheaper.

We have been looking into ways we can eliminate waste from the grocery budget, and making my own granola was a no brainer.

Granola is one of those yummy somethings that can be altered to suit any taste, and since Handsome Hero goes through it so quickly, I have been able to tweak a recipe to suit us.  We'll call it Lewis Granola, or maybe Handsome Hero granola, or maybe Granola Hero, or maybe Hero Granola.  Mmm...Hero Granola.  Yeah, that has a nice ring to it.

Hero Granola
Ingredients
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
4 cups oats
1 cup or so of nuts
2/3 cup or so of dried fruit


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put your oats in a large bowl.

Chop your nuts and add them to the oats.  I like using a knife on them so that I don't get so many crumbs. We used raw almonds, walnuts, and brazil nuts here because we had them, but you can use whatever you please.  Use raw nuts if possible, but if all you have are salted nuts, taste it before you add the salt - you may not need it.

In a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Microwave until butter is melted.

Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.  Add in the dried fruit.  Again, use whatever you like.  We did a mixture of dried blueberries and cherries, because raisins are yucky.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.  Spread the granola evenly and place in the oven on the middle rack.

Cook for around twenty-five minutes, stirring once or twice.  Once it is golden brown, take it out and let it cool on the pan.  It hardens as it cools. 

Tip:  The longer you let it sit in the pan, the bigger the clusters of granola.  Handsome Hero loves clusters, so I left it for awhile, though, as you can see, we sneaked some early....  Anyway, if you don't like clusters, put the granola in a container with a lid before it is completely cool and shake them apart.

Place granola in a container.  The angle of this picture is a bit deceptive.  The recipe makes about two quarts.

To us, this is perfect granola, but like I said, tweak it to suit you.  Maybe add some pumpkin spice and use raisins {not that we would} for a Fall granola.  Or cranberries and pistachios for a Christmas granola.  Christmas granola?  That sounds weird.  Scratch that last one.  Anyway, you could add a little ginger and nutmeg and make a nice alternative to this granola, too.

You know I was kidding about smoking, right?  Just checking.