Grand Granola!

Hi Everyone! I was busy gallivanting the world this past week for work so I didn't have a chance to write. ;) I'm hoping to get in a few posts this week since I will be home for the next 10 days straight! Yay! Danny and I will leave on vacation in 19 days and I can't wait! I've been traveling for work so much lately and I still have one more trip between now and then so I'm looking forward to some much needed pool, beach and margarita time! With that in mind, we've been trying to come up with some meal ideas for our vacation. Danny and I are rather active and when I'm not busy traveling, we like to go for runs or walks in the evening after work. One of our main discussion topics on these run/walks as of late is what we're going to make while we're away. We're staying in a condo in Florida and we tend to cook quite a bit to not only save money but also calories during the day. Don't get me wrong, we'll do our fair share of eating out for dinner but why spend the money on breakfast and lunch when we can make equally fresh and fun food on our own? So...if you know me well, you know that my favorite breakfast items of all time are yogurt, fruit and granola parfaits. Absolute YUM! I love the Panera yogurt parfaits most especially because of their granola. It's not overly sweet but is full of crunchy clusters and lots of pecans! :) I am determined to find a copy cat recipe that I can doctor up and pack with us to make our own yogurt parfaits in the morning for breakfast. Next step- Pinterest of course!! I searched many recipes and put together one of my own using several of the key ingredients. I have to say- I think it's pretty close to the Panera version and I'm sold on making this for our morning munchies! Try it and let me know what you think! (As a side note- when I tried this today, I only made a half-batch to be sure I liked it before using all of my ingredients. I'll definitely make a full batch, maybe even double, for us to take and use all week long).

What you'll need for the granola:
4 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup shredded or chipped coconut (I used shredded from Walmart)
1 cup nuts of choice, chopped coarsely (I used pecans- they're my fave!)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup (spend the money and get the real stuff if you can!)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Optional- 1 cup dried fruit (I left this out since I'm going to be using it on yogurt but as cereal it would be great!)

To make the granola:
1.  Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease with Crisco).
2. Mix together the oats, coconut, nuts and sea salt in a bowl.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. After melted, take off the heat and mix in the honey, maple syrup and vanilla extract. 
4. Pour the butter mixture over the mixed oats and make sure the dry ingredients are fully coated with the butter mixture.
5. Spread this onto your prepared baking sheet and put into your preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. I took mine out every 6-7minutes to stir and did this 3 times. Be careful not to over bake it (the nuts will burn); you'll notice a nice golden brown color as it gets close to finished.
6. You may notice that the granola is pretty sticky when it first comes out of the oven but let it sit for a while. I left mine on the oven in the pan for a good 15 minutes, then I transferred it over to an air tight container. It was quite crispy by that point and great for whatever you want to use it on! If you're using dried fruit, mix it in after it's had a chance to cool. It should store in an air tight container for a few weeks. 

Right after it came out of the oven:

Final Product:

  
ENJOY!

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