Healthy Homemade Snack

 Here's a healthy homemade snack perfect for school lunch boxes or a mid-day treat.  

HARVEST GRANOLA
Recipe Yield: 8 Cups

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

Mix together in large bowl

4 cups rolled oats

1.5 cup walnuts

1.5 cup dried cherries (chopped)

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

1 cup sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds (optional)

Mix together in smaller bowl

1 1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey (never serve raw honey to children)

1/3 cup maple syrup (or brown sugar)

(if you don't have honey or maple syrup use 3/4 cup brown sugar and vanilla extract)

Pour liquid mixture over the oat mixture and stir w/ wooden spoon until oats and seeds are well coated.  Spread evenly onto sheet pan (if you have parchment paper put it on the sheet pan to make cleanup easier) Bake at 300 degrees F -stirring frequently with a spatula.  Granola will burn easily so keep and eye on it especially around the edges of the pan.  Bake until mixture turns nice, even golden brown about 25-30 min.

***IMPORTANT-Whole dried fruit is a choking hazard for children.  Please chop the cherries into smaller pieces before mixing them into granola.

Some thoughts after making it...about 1/3 less oil and add I think it could use some white chocolate chunks (after it's baked)

This morning I mixed it with some Greek Yogurt (Fage, Chobani, & Oikos are all great brands and available at most supermarkets) and berries and it was perfect.  Enjoy!