When we heard that our friends from Anchorage were coming to visit for a few days, I began to think about the groceries I needed to purchase and foods I wanted to have on hand. One food item immediately came to mind...granola. Granola is such a great breakfast item because it's easy to serve...as a cereal with milk...as a topping for yogurt...or just a handful for a quick snack. With weekday schedules and everyone getting up and leaving at various times, homemade granola is a wonderful breakfast food to have available so guests can serve themselves.

I have several granola recipes that I love! This week I decided to make the granola recipe given to me by a friend, Michelle. The recipe came from Alton Brown on the Food Network. I love this recipe not only for its' flavor, but also for the "clump factor"...yep, love those clumps! Here goes...

The recipe calls for slivered almonds and cashews but I prefer whole almonds and pecans so I made that substitution. I also doubled the recipe!

Wet ingredients premixed and added to dry ingredients...

Granola mixture spread in pans to bake...coated with Trader Joe's Coconut Oil spray.

The recipe for this Granola, courtesy of Alton Brown, is:

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds (or whole)

1 cup cashews (or pecans or walnuts)

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins ( I omitted this).

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In large bowl, combine oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour into 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve even color. Remove from oven and transfer to large bowl. Add raisins and mix to distribute evenly.

Prep time is 10 minutes. Bake time is 1 hour 15 minutes.

Add a platter of fruit, maybe some yogurt, and your breakfast is good to go! Bon appetit!