Homemade Granola

The husband and I love granola.  We eat it every morning.  He likes a sprinkle on top of his oatmeal and I like mine with vanilla yogurt and some fruit.  The thing I can't get over is how crazy expensive it is.  We buy ours at Aldi's and it still is twice what cereal cost.   I made granola bars once before and they were easy and delicious, you can find the recipe here.  So after figuring out what would go in a basic granola I realized it should be really cheap to make a bunch.  Most of the basic ingredients you might already have.  You can pretty much add whatever nuts, seeds, and dried fruits that you like and pick your favorite liquid sweetener, I use honey, but maple syrup, agave and molasses are also good options.  I used canola oil as oil is traditional in most recipes to help bind it together, I have seen some recipes that call for fruit juice and I'll probably try that at some point.  The basic formula for making your own granola is 1 part oil, 1 part liquid sweetener, 4 parts grains, 1 part fruit, 1 part nuts/seeds.  You can of course add more or less to taste.  The oil and liquid sweetener need to stay pretty close to this ratio if you want to have clumps.

Here is my basic recipe

4 c. whole oats
1 c. canola oil
1 c. wheat germ
1 c. honey
4 tbs brown sugar
4 tbs. splenda
1 c. raw almonds
1 c dried cherries
1 tbs cinnamon
( I added 1 c. of dried sweetened coconut to half of this batch)

mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and put on a baking sheet with sides in a single layer, for this amount I baked it in three batches.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Stir the mixture every five minutes.  Let cool.  Store in airtight container.  You can freeze this too.