Homemade granola is where its at. It's one of those awesome, good for you foods, that is simple to make at home and infinitely better than the stuff you can buy at the grocery store (even the really expensive ones). You can easily adapt it to your tastes and it makes your whole house smell heavenly for hours afterward. I like a lot of mix-ins in mine, but if you would like yours to be more oat heavy feel free to cut back the fruit, nuts, and seeds by a few tablespoons. In this batch I used pecans, pepitas, flax seeds, raw buckwheat, cherries and golden raisins. Other great combos are almonds, cherries and vanilla (just add 1t of vanilla extract to the syrup mix) or try hazelnuts, apricots and a bit of chocolate. You could even add a bit of lemon or orange zest to the syrup mixture to lighten it up a bit, the possibilities really are endless. Go forth and make your own cereal!

Anything Goes Granola

2 cups rolled oats

1t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1t salt

3T oil

1/4c honey. maple syrup, agave, or golden syrup (I used maple and golden)

1/4c brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, go wild)

2/3 cup dried fruit my faves are tart cherries and golden raisins

1/4 cup seeds (optional) I used flax, pepitas, sunflower and raw buckwheat, sesame seeds would be great too

Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat mat

In a large bowl combine the oats, salt, and spices

In a medium bowl (or measuring cup) combine the oil, syrups, and sugar

Pour mixture over the oats and stir well to combine, or just use your hands

Pour the oats onto a baking sheet and press with your hands

Bake for 15 min, then gently stir (the more you stir, the less clumpy and delicious your finished granola will be), then sprinkle the nuts over the granola

Continue to bake, stirring every 7 minutes or so until the granola is deep golden, about 20 minutes

Let the granola cool completely, then gently mix in the seeds and dried fruit. If you are using sesame seeds, mix them in the granola about 5 minutes before you take it out of the oven to toast them a bit.

Keeps in an airtight container on the counter for about a week, or in the freezer for about a month.