Granola

Here it goes, my first recipe, my inauguration into the foodie blogger world.  I'm sorry my usual photography centric personality did not take a lot of photo's during, imagine the process for now.  I have decided this past month to do what I have been wanting to do for years, to push my family towards all healthy/homemade food.  My ancestors are probably saying, so what?  I always cooked this way.  My mom is probably saying, why are you doing so much.  I LOVE to prepare food, and really love sharing food with family and friends.  I feel like an addict.  "Hello my name is Stephanie and I am a cooking addict."  Moving on. This recipe is my way of bringing my granola loving husband, and my not too thrilled with boxed cereal me, together.  This recipe started with an Alton Brown (my favorite Food Network Chef of all time) recipe and morphed into my own version. I made some changes to his recipe.

Ingredients for this recipe are: 3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup slivered almonds, 1/2 cup popped
quinoa (see directions below), 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used turbinado),
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1/4 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil), 3/4 teaspoon
salt, 1 cup dried fruit (I used my homemade dried cranberries)

 Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, and sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 parchment paper lined sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add dried fruit and mix until evenly distributed.

Popping Quinoa: First preheat saute pan to medium, second pour quinoa into pan(only enough to cover), third shake slightly when they begin to pop to avoid burning and remove from heat.  The process is really a matter of seconds not minutes, and the popped quinoa look like very small balls.

Enjoy!