Squeak's Favorite Granola

Breakfast.  It's the most important meal of the day.  Ugh! I sound just like Ma! 

My all time favorite breakfast is going to the Bridge Diner and having an Egg Beater veggie omelet with a side of home fries and a glass of tomato juice. Yeah, I'm one of those sick kids that likes tomato juice!  Preferably with some salt sprinkled on top.

My second favorite breakfast is a bowl of cereal, because I can eat it in front of the TV, in my jammies and everything tastes better when you're wearing jammies! 
But it's kind of depressing to go to the grocery store and look at that cereal aisle.  Cereal as far as the eye can see.  But lots of them have gluten so there aren't too many that I can eat.  I do enjoy a nice bowl of Cinnamon Chex every now and then but that stuff just doesn't seem to hold me over.  An hour later, my tummy is grumbling and I'm looking for the second course!  Ma said that's because you need a high protein, high fiber breakfast and lots of those cereals don't meet those requirements.  So we started buying gluten-free granola.  They aren't bad but they just didn't make my tummy sing.

So I sat there one morning, analyzing my bowl of cereal and I got to thinking... [cue wavy thought cloud] This would be so much better if it had more almonds and maybe some cashews... and less fruit.  And some toasty pumpkin seeds. [cue dreamy thought cloud]  Mmmmm, pumpkin seeds. [cue light bulb] Maybe I should try making my own cereal!  I mean really, how hard could it be?  So I mixed up all of my favorite things, toasted them in the oven and viola!  Yum in a bowl!  OK, it wasn't that easy.  I had to make it a couple times before I got it just right.  But then, viola!  Yum in a bowl!

Squeak's Favorite Granola

• 4 cups gluten-free rolled oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews
• 1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (I like Nutiva extra-virgin coconut oil)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a very large bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, brown sugar and salt.  Stir in oil and maple syrup and mix well.

Spread the mixture evenly onto 2 large baking pans and cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  If it isn't toasty,  golden brown, cook for another 15 minutes. But make sure you don't burn it!

Remove from oven and let cool.  Store in an airtight container.
Sweep the floor.  Because I always seem to make a mess when I make granola!

Makes about 16 servings
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Top with your favorite milk or yogurt (Chobani Greek yogurt is my fave!) and some fruit.  This fuels me up and holds me over until lunch.  It's also good sprinkled on ice cream or use it as the crumb topping for a fruit crisp.

These are my favorite ingredients but you can make this your favorite granola by using any combination of ingredients that makes your tummy sing.  Just make sure the nut/seed/fruit combination adds up to about 4-5 cups and add the dried fruit after it cools.  Substitute honey or agave instead of maple syrup, use any kind of veggie, olive or nut oil, add cinnamon or other spices. [cue dreamy thought cloud]  Mmmm, so many options...

Tips:
Buy raw, unsalted nuts and seeds and store them in the freezer so they stay fresh.
We tried several brands of coconut oil but like Nutiva organic extra-virgin the best.  Ma gets it from Amazon.com
Flax seed meal is sooo good for you and it's easy to sneak a little bit into all your recipes.