Favorite Thing #23: Granola

I don't have much time to post today. This weekend is incredibly busy. Like a bit mind bloggingly busy. Lets see, today goes something like this...

9am. Gabe's soccer game.

11am. Husband at dentist. 

11am-1pm. Holly attempts to finish paper due at midnight.

2pm. Gabe's soccer game.

3pm-5pm. Holly does finishing touches on paper due at midnight.

6pm. Girl's night out, including a movie and dinner.

I just wanted to take a few moments to share my latest accomplishment! I mastered my granola recipe! Yippee! I've been wanting to make my own granola for awhile now, and found a fantastic recipe thanks to Clean Eating. But it took me 3 tries to get it just right (I had to lower the recommended oven temp and stir it mroe often during cooking. The changed oven temp is noted below). I have all of the indredients on hand, most of the time. I'm a big fan of the bulk section these days, so my Mason jars are chock full of granoly goodness. 

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened 

3 tbsp natural peanut butter

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/3 cup raw honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 200°F.
Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix until evenly blended.
Press mixture into two baking pans and bake for 15 minutes. Mix granola, turn pan. Bake for another 15 minutes. Mix granola, turn pan. Finally, bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Let cool in pan. It will harden as it cools. Store in an airtight jar.
 

You will end up with two trays of deliciousness that look like this. Yum. 

I also added a dash or two of cinnamon. 

Success!

Source: http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/Recipes/Recipe/Simple-Sunflower-Seed-Granola.aspx