granola!

I ask you: WHY have I never made granola?

Reasons for asking why:
1. We go through copious amounts of granola/fancy organic no-HFCS cereal in my house.
2. It is expensive to buy boxed granola!
3. All of those boxes add up to a lot of waste, right? (although...all those bags you use to get stuff out of the bulk bins does, too...unless you save them like a good environmentalist would)
4. Making granola is SOOO easy!

A super-duper friend of mine gave me La Dolce Vegan! for my birthday this year, and I have been so happy and excited by all the new recipes at hand. I wanted to make something easy for this week's breakfasts...and then I came across a few tasty-sounding granola recipes. I've always thought about making granola, but I have just never done it..and now I suggest that you quickly whip up a batch. You can collect all the right amounts (or estimates of the right amounts) of the ingredients at the bulk bins - then go home and just dump all that shit into a bowl...and you are almost there! OK - enough with all of this granola praise...on to the recipe.

Cranberry Almond Pecan Granola
(altered from La Dolce Vegan!)

4 c. rolled oats
1 1/3 c. sliced almonds
1 1/3 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1 1/3 c. pecans
1 scant c. unrefined sugar
2 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
2/3 c. cranberry juice
1/4 c. oil
1 1/2 c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, combine the oats through the spices, then add the juice and oil, and mix until well combined. Spread granola in a single layer on two large baking pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring and rotating the pans after 10 minutes. Let granola cool, untouched (no stirring! you will get better clusters that way), then add cranberries when cool. Store in an airtight container and enjoy all week long with delectable soy milk.
p.s. don't the pictures look better? (granted, the ones from the last post are cell phone pics) I bought a new camera with my birthday money - yay!