If you google Lip Lady's Granola you'll find the recipe we love. It's not overly sweet and you can vary the fruit. I don't add fruit when I make it as several of my family don't care for raisins or other fruit. I add the raisins when I fix a bowl. It also gives a choice for nuts. I think I usually use slivered almonds and chopped pecans. It freezes well for quite a long time.

There is also a funny story included about how the recipe came about.

I make this version from dishesdone (former Cooking forum member).

Granola

3 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned oats, not quick cooking)

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

dried fruit, optional

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, combine honey, oil, and salt. Drizzle the honey mixture into the bowl with the oats and mix it all together. Pour onto a large, rimmed sheet pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10 or 15 minutes. It should be golden brown. Be careful not to burn it.

Remove from oven and cool completely. Add raisins or dried fruit, if you like, and mix until combined. Let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Carol's notes: You can use any nuts you like or leave them out, use maple syrup instead of honey. This is just a basic recipe, make it any way you like. Add vanilla extract, add some orange zest, cloves, anything goes!

Catticusmockingbird: Is that calendar in the background done by a Maine artist? I used to get one yearly-love the scenes!

Lizbeth, yes. That's Catherine Breer's work. My SIL lives in Maine and sent it as a Christmas gift one year. I bought my own for a few years. I've kept them. They can eventually be reused in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026, & 2044. ;)

I'll have to dig mine out; am sure I would not have been able to discard those scenes. Mine were by a male artist-can't remember his name.

Here's one I have made. My advice, don't make granola. It's home-made crack, that's what my friend calls it! Nothing like fresh, delish. Don't add dried fruits to granola you intend to store for long periods, the fruit really dries out.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apricot-yogurt-parfait-with-california-granola-1986138

Hm... I've wracked my mind and just come up with too much knowledge about the history of granola (John Harvey Kellogg to Wavy Gravy) and not enough cooking tips.

Not a recipe, but watch out for too much of a good thing. It's easy to make three pieces of granola with enough calories for a whole breakfast. It's easy to scorch it though it doesn't look burnt, but tastes acrid. It's easy to get it so hard you have to soak it to eat it.

Parchment paper is your friend. :)

I've made this more than once (I leave out the flax seeds) and we love it.

MAPLE APRICOT GRANOLA
Gourmet, February 2003

Active time: 20 min
Start to finish: 1 hr
serving size Makes about 10 cups.

1/4 cup flaxseeds (1 1/4 oz)
6 cups old-fashioned oats (18 oz)
2 cups sliced almonds (8 oz)
1 cup hulled (green) pumpkin seeds (not roasted; 5 oz)
1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds (not roasted; 2 1/2 oz)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup crystallized ginger (2 1/2 oz; optional), finely chopped
2 cups dried apricots (11 oz), finely chopped

Accompaniments: plain yogurt or milk; honey or maple syrup
Special equipment: an electric coffee/spice grinder
preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Finely grind flaxseeds in coffee/spice grinder, then stir together with oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, salt, oil, and syrup in a large bowl.
Spread mixture evenly in 2 large shallow baking pans (1 inch deep) and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, stirring and switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden brown, about 30 minutes total.
Cool granola completely in pans on racks, then stir in ginger (if using) and apricots.

 Granola can be made 1 week ahead and kept in an airtight container at cool room temperature, or frozen 1 month.

Yes, watch your oven and not your timer. Lower the temp to 300-325. Most recipes use too high a heat. Every oven is different. Middle rack or just below. I make a big batch, two trays, and rotate them every time I give it a stir.

Recipes on the web are all over the place and way too sweet for us. Ina has one that uses I think 4 cups of fruit and nuts to 4 cups oats, (what?!) +sugars.

I use 2 Tbsp maple syrup in a 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup avocado oil, shake in a jar and pour over 8 cups oats. The water help form a minor amount of clustering but not much. A couple egg whites wisked into your nuts/seeds then poured over the oats will make clusters. Or soaked chia seed but we don't want clusters.

I don't make it the same every time. Just use the fruit/nut/seeds I have on hand. I do stock quite a bit in the freezer so I always have options.

A bit of olive oil is good and a Tbsp of soy sauce for another savory note...

Dried fruits I toss in after it comes out of the oven. I store in the freezer in 3-4 cup food saver portions. We don't eat much since up so early but like to take along a 1/2 cup plain yogurt and a couple heaping Tbsps of granola.

My favorite commercial brand is EarlyBird Choc-a-doodle doo ...less sweet and they use olive oil but it is really more like a dessert snack. Work stocks a half a dozen in rotation at any given time but all are too sweet for me.

I would look at a few 1/2 dozen recipes like above and adjust to your liking after a trial run half batch.

Many thanks to each of you. I am going to cobble together some ingredients and try making some. My DH & I really like granola with Greek yogurt but the stuff I find in packages is too sweet and uses an amazing amount of oil. This isn't a New Year's resolution - just looking for fast/easy breakfasts that we like.

I stock fruit in the freezer...blueberries, raspberries, cherries from the garden. Greek yogurt, frozen fruit, then granola. The frozen fruit keeps it cold and thaws on our commute....fresh apple or pear sometimes.

Lower fat and sugar granola isn't as crispy and doesn't keep as well. It's great to make fresh at home in small batches for that reason.

I recently made and am powering through a batch of granola. Using up my ingredient rediscoveries in a grand pantry cleaning. I make it differently every time. I sometimes use peanut butter as part of the fat. I prefer not too sweet, no dried fruit and a fair amount of seeds/nuts. Maybe 4:1 oats to seeds. 1/2 cup or so of oil and honey/syrup each in 15 + cups of dry ingredients.

Last batch - coconut oil, honey, pb, oats, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, flax and sesame seed, unsweetened coconut.

The granola I like is not sweet, doesn't have coconut or chocolate in it and is pretty simple to make. I keep it in a jar in the freezer and eat it on yogurt or applesauce.

4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (I like Bob Mills extra thick)

1 c nuts, pecans or walnuts

1/2 c pepitas

1/2 sun flower seeds

1 t fine grain sea salt

1/2 cinnamon

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 maple syrup

1 t vanilla

2/3 c dried fruit (I like cherries)

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, combine everything except dried fruit. Pour oil, syrup and vanilla over and mix well until every oat and nut is coated. Pour granola onto your parchment lined pan and spread even layer. Bake 21 to 23 minutes stirring halfway. Let cool, then break up and dtir in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 to 2 weeks or in a sealed freezer bag in freezer for up to 3 months.

To follow up on pillog. You might want to give a try to muesli. Practically the only difference from granola is that it's less sweet and oily, also no-bake. The original Bircher version didn't have dried fruit but that's not the case any more and even Bircher later added different versions, including prunes or other dried fruit as subs for apples or berries.

Y'know. If you don't like things like raw oats, you could also moisten muesli slightly and toast it spread on a baking sheet for a short time, so it would be cooked muesli. ;) I wasn't really talking about the original Bircher muesli, though the apples could be good for you. Just general oats and "twigs" breakfast. Commercial mueslis often have other cereals in them, like rye or corn flakes and puffed quinoa or rice. I'm partial to puffed quinoa. :) Any of the things you'd put in granola could go in it as well.