Healthy Snack Ideas

Basic Granola

Serves: 12

2 1/2 cups Quick-cooking rolled oats
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
4 TBSPs margerine
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt (leave this out if the margerine is salted)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup raisins

(These are the basic ingredients. You can add other things such as pumkin seeds, flax seeds, cashews, almonds etc. according to your preferences.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9x2″ baking dish. In a large bowl combine the oats, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. Spread the mixture in the pan and bake for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

In a small saucepan, combine the margerine, brown sugar, honey and salt. Allow it to simmer while stirring until well mixed. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Add the wheat germ to the toasted oats mixture. Drizzle the honey mixture over the granola stirring to make sure that everything is evenly coated.

Put the pan back in the oven for five minutes longer or until golden. mix in the raisins and allow the granola to cool a bit in the pan. Use a spatula to break up the big chunks. After its completely cooled store it in an airtight container.

Yields 6 cups.