The granola.
As I seem to have settled on this as my go-to granola recipe, I figured I'd post it, as people have asked for it. (But it's granola, and therefore quite forgiving -- change up the nuts or seeds or sweeteners or spices or fruits as you will!)
I started with this recipe and made alterations -- my version follows.
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oat bran
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup pecans
1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
Gooey part:
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Other:
1 cup dried coconut
2/3 cup dried pineapple
2/3 cup crystallized ginger
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1. Move oven rack to lower half of the oven and preheat to 325°. Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Chop almonds, pecans, walnuts and pumpkin seeds in the food processor (or by hand if you aren't lazy -- I, of course, am lazy). Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. (Another example of my supreme laziness: I do that in my stand mixer.)
3. Chuck all of the Gooey Part ingredients into a saucepan, heat on medium-ish until boiling. (I keep an eye on it as I'm working on the first part of #5 and I stir occasionally.) Remove from heat, dump it on the Dry Ingredients, mix until, you know, mixed. (Again, lazy souls like myself can just turn on the mixer.)
4. I do this in two batches, but it'll depend on how big your cookie sheets are (or how many you have) and your oven set-up and junk like that. Use your best judgment, kids. You are bright people. Spread the now-somewhat-gooey oat mixture onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, stir up and add dried coconut, bake for ten more minutes.
5. Chop up the dried pineapple and ginger. Mix the fruit into the semi-cooled granola, let it cool completely, pop it into an air-tight container, and you've got good eats until it's all gone. Which will happen soon.
Notes:
*As I've increased the types of nuts/seeds from the original recipe, I measure out the nuts and whatnot before I chop 'em. That seems to give me the correct proportions. Or at least, the proportions that I like. Also, I like them somewhat chunky, but that's my preference.
*I use cookie sheets with edges because I'm a disaster and I get enough granola all over the place as it is, thankyouverymuch. Mixing in the coconut without edges on the pan would be... well, let's just not think about it.
*My mother says that you can totally use olive oil rather than coconut oil and it doesn't make the granola taste strange. And I can back that statement up, as I've eaten her granola for my whole life. But I like the coconut oil -- because, OH MY GOD, just open a jar (I've been using this one because it's the only unrefined brand I've been able to find locally so far), take a whiff, and see if you can walk away. I doubt it. Ten minutes later, you'll probably still be standing there with your nose in the jar. (Assuming, of course, that you like coconut.) So I get a whiff of that every time I upcap the granola. Anyway, I like this blogger's philosophy about oils in general.
*I've been using turbinado sugar instead of brown sugar ever since I realized that brown sugar is more refined than white sugar. Which just seems silly. But everything I've read says that the two can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio, so go crazy with the brown sugar, brown sugar lovers!
*Despite my utter laziness, I do chop the fruit by hand. It's too sticky for my food processor. (Although I've read that popping it (the fruit) into the freezer for a bit makes it easier, but it's really not that much and it gives me something to do while I wait for the goo to boil.
*I've been buying all of my nuts & seeds & dried fruit at the natural food store. All of the nuts are unsalted, though the pumpkin seeds are roasted and lightly salted. As for the dried fruit, the pineapple is the low sugar/unsulphured kind, and I've been buying the diced ginger rolled in cane sugar. Oh, and I've been buying the dried, unsweetened coconut. But I'm sure that everyone's local stores have something slightly different, so yay for experimentation.
*Baking time can be adjusted for more/less crunchiness.
*As I've said, this recipe is way adaptable -- yesterday I tossed in a 1/4 cup of flaxseeds for kicks, and the time before that I realized I had some dried papaya languishing, so I chopped that up and threw it in. Pretty much yum no matter what!