Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Granola

What a grand August weekend it was! I'm surprised how close to perfect it played out. I did nothing fabulous. Nothing newsworthy. Really nothing noteworthy, except for the things that I love and a few things to make next week a little easier. I never stepped one foot in a car. Everything happened right around my own house. It was all simple and homey and in the end, just what I needed.
Here's what I did:
I ran 7 miles Saturday morning, finished off a great novel sent to me from my friend Gigi, swam laps in the pool very slowly while pretending to be Michael Phelps, made summer themed sugar cookies with my little charges, attended church, broke up 376 meaningless arguments, sewed the beginning of Sailor's Halloween costume (Belle), cooked tons of great food for this week's posts, baked wheat bread, made lesson plans for the coming week plus graded a few papers, caught up on my phone calls to a few of my sisters, and had dinner guests and impromptu breakfast guests. Guess who did the laundry and cleaned the bathrooms? Quiet Man. And that after mowing the lawn, pulling the weeds, and working on his doctorate classes. I almost didn't even notice to say thanks, so I'm saying it again now. Thank you. Again. Folks, here's what to have for breakfast on a perfect weekend or weekday morning. Homemade crunchy granola just can not be beat. We've all been munching on it like mad. It's cheap to make, so good for you, and is absolutely outstanding with some yogurt and fresh fruit. I've got one more reason you should make up a batch: I'm using my homemade granola in our Tuesday with Dorie cookie. See ya then.
Money Saving Tips: Homemade granola is already so much cheaper than the store bought variety, plus you can customize it according to what you already have on hand. I love to make granola when I have just a few nuts left at the bottom of a couple different bags. I'll use just about any kind. If you can't find wheat germ at a good price, just use extra oatmeal.
Homemade Brown Sugar Cinnamon Granola
Estimated Cost: $3.50
Notes: I didn't have any wheat germ on hand and my market was asking more than $5.00 for a jar, so I swapped it for some of my favorite high fiber cereal pictured below.
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup wheat germ (or additional oatmeal or high fiber cereal)
1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)
3/4 cup dried fruit, if desired, such as cranberries, raisins, etc.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and coat with no-stick cooking spray. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, oil, water and cinnamon. Bring just to a simmer. Meanwhile, place oats, wheat germ, and nuts on prepared baking sheet. Pour brown sugar mixture over the top and toss to coat. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring often, or until granola is crisp. Stir in dried fruit, if using.
*Brown Bag Lunch suggestion: Place a container of yogurt in the freezer. In the morning, pack up the frozen yogurt and a baggie of granola. By lunch time, the yogurt will be thawed but still cold and will make a lovely lunch with a sprinkle of the protein and fiber rich granola.
Coming First Light of Tuesday:
Tuesdays with Dorie
Brown Sugar, Pecan, and Chocolate Chip Granola Grabbers