Granola

As many of you know, Steve has been traveling to Sweden to collaborate with colleagues since 1989.  He particularly enjoys the Swedish breakfasts, which consist of muesli, nuts, seeds, fruit, and yogurt, along with cold meats and cheese.  So he has adopted the habit of having granola, yogurt and fruit every day at home (unless I bake something he can't resist).  For years we bought different brands of commercial granola, but about 4 or 5 years ago, I started making my own.  I started with a simple recipe that I saw Tyler Florence make on television, then gradually added more nuts...there are probably twice as many nuts now compared to when I began.  So it's a nice, crunchy granola.  I like it with milk and bananas or peaches (in season), but it's also good to just snack on.  And simple to make.

GRANOLA

4 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 1/2 cups raw pecans (I like the pecan halves)
1/2 cup organic flax seeds (for the Omega 3s)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (Steve likes the Vietnamese)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 290 degrees F.

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray, otherwise you'll never be able to chisel it out at the end.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats

almonds,

pecans,

flax seeds,

brown sugar

salt,

and cinnamon,

then stir well to distribute the ingredients.

Next, heat canola oil and honey in a small saucepan until you see small bubbles.

Remove from the heat and whisk in vanilla.

Pour hot oil/honey/vanilla mixture over the oats and nuts, and stir until it is evenly distributed.  You should be able to see a coating on the nuts.

Spread the granola in the prepared pan,

and put it in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.  Stir once after 20 minutes, making sure that all of the granola is uniform in color.  See how nice and toasty brown it is now?

Let it cool completely (45-60 minutes), then use a spatula to transfer it to a container like the plastic one we use with a scoop inside it.  It keeps forever, or at least it has never lasted long enough at our house to get stale.