delicious...

Our Family eats a lot of granola, especially one that we love from Trader Joes called Organic Grannies Granola... the only problem is that it's almost $4 a box, and a box doesn't last very long in our house between 4 people sharing it. So, while on my quest to stay dedicated to being an Organic family, I have been trying to figure out ways to 'do it myself' if you will... While making homemade applesauce the other day to put in the freezer for the winter, my mom reminded me that I had taken home Grandma's old food dehydrator when we were cleaning her basement out earlier in the summer. So, while cutting up our 25lbs of Gravenstien Apples for our applesauce we decided to dry some at the same time. That got us thinking about the Granola we love, it has dried apples and other goodies in it. I said out loud I wish I knew how to make homemade granola... and my Mom says 'you know you can make granola in the dehydrator too'. Ahhh, no, mom I'm new at this...

So, we found a recipe, and the results are DDDDDelicious!!!!! You must try this! So, here is the recipe so you can try it yourself! :)

Homemade Grannies Granola

*we made ours with organic ingredients, but you wouldn't have to... but you should ;)

5c. Organic Rolled Oats
3/4c. Organic Brown Sugar
1/2c. wheat germ
1/2c. chopped dried apple
1/2c. organic or local honey
1c. raisins
1c. chopped nuts (we like walnuts)
1/3c. salad oil
1tsp. pure vanilla
3/4c. melted organic or local butter
1tsp. cinnamon
Combine ingredients in large bowl with wooden spoon.
Spread onto dehydrator
(I'm pretty sure you could do the same thing in baking sheets in the oven)
dry @ 145 degrees until crunchy (use fruit roll sheet attachments w/dehydrator)
I dried mine for about 9 hours, but keep checking it until it's the texture you like.
Crumble up granola and put into an air tight container for storage!

Wa-La your own Granola!