Our Family's Homemade Granola

All right ... here it is ... the most amazing homemade and good for you granola recipe ever put down on paper. Or so at least I think, and I've tried a lot of them. The fantastic thing about the recipe is that it can be tailored to your liking or whatever you might have on hand ... walnuts or pecans ... dried cranberries or raisins ... apple juice or orange juice ... you name it.

The Northwest's Best Granola

1/4 cup fruit juice - apple, orange, or any 100% stuff
1 1/2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal - no instant stuff here
1 to 2 cups nuts - roughly broken into pieces or left whole for a decadent look
2 cups dried fruit - raisins, apples, apricots, anything goes

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Get out two rimmed baking sheets.

Stir together juice, oil, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon and salt. Stir in oatmeal and nuts. Mix together very thoroughly. Divide between both baking sheets trying to spread out evenly.

Place in oven and set timer for 15 minutes. At that time, give each pan a stir and rotate the pans. Keep checking the granola every five minutes or so and giving it a stir. Don't walk away at this point as it can go from golden to burnt very quickly.

Remove from oven and let cool completely in pans. Once thoroughly cool, add in dried fruit and mix together. Put into tightly covered container to maintain freshness.

This is sooooo good straight from the container, but of course goes well with milk or even on top of your favorite yogurt. Tastes great and is healthy for you too!