Zaroga's Granola

Oven temperature: 325° Bake Time: about 1 hour
Large roasting pan or two 13"x 9" pans

5 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I just break them into pieces)
1 cup of coconut
1 cup of honey
1 cup of oil 
assorted dried fruits such as raisins, craisins, dates, cherries, apricots or bananas.

Mix together in a large roasting pan or in a large mixing bowl or dish pan the oats, nuts and coconut. Thoroughly mix in the honey and then the oil. Do not mix the oil in before the honey nor at the same time as the honey. I've done both and it just did not turn out as well... learn from my mistakes :-) You can spray or wipe oil on your measuring cup before measuring the honey so it will come out easy.

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Bake stirring every ten minutes or so until all of the mixture is golden in color, not just the top portion.




If using two pans on two racks; swap them around after about 25 minutes. The granola will continue cooking after being taken from the oven, so watch it closely. The time will vary depending on your oven and what pans you use... so very important to keep an eye on the granola. When golden color throughout take the granola from the oven and stir. Stir it every 10 minutes or so until it cools. When the granola has cooled add your favorite dried fruits.



I used two cups of craisins and one cup of raisins. The mixture fit perfectly in a Rubbermaid 13 cup container. Within two weeks it is eaten in our house. When the children were at home it lasted two days :-)

You can have a different granola each time you make it... just choose different ingredients. How about some sunflower seeds instead of walnuts or pecans... maybe even peanuts. And you could add wheat germ.

Excellent with a bit of milk :-) It can be mixed in with other cereals or as a topping for yogurt.