My family loves granola. We put it on yogurt, sprinkle it on smoothies and smoothie bowls, eat it as cereal, and eat it by the handful.  I have a store-bought brand of granola that I love, but when I make it myself, I can control what ingredients and how much of those ingredients are in the granola. The ingredients I use are ones we always have here at our house. Plus, as always, the ingredients are clean and minimal. And it tastes good! The recipe we use was originally from thelivefitgirls.com, but I've added some of my own twists. Below is the recipe we use at our house.

You will need: 

• 3 cups rolled oats (we use Trader Joe's rolled oats)
• 1/2 cup chopped raw almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• pinch of pink Himalayan salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tsp melted coconut oil

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then, chop up raw almonds and walnuts. Feel free to use whatever nuts or seeds you prefer.  Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and pecans all sound good too!

In a large bowl, mix together the rolled oats, chopped nuts, cinnamon, and a pinch or two of salt. I add the salt because I love the sweet and salty taste.

Spread the dry ingredients onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. You want the oats and nuts to be lightly toasted. They will smell so good!

While those ingredients are toasting in the oven, mix the vanilla extract, honey, and melted coconut oil together in a small bowl. Once the dry ingredients are done in the oven, remove them, and place them back in the large mixing bowl. Drizzle the wet ingredients onto the dry ingredients and mix well.

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper. Spread the mixture onto the wax paper. Place the baking sheet back into the oven. Turn the oven off, and let the granola in the oven for 8 minutes. Once the granola is finished in the oven, remove and let cool completely.

Very carefully, peel the cooled granola off of the wax paper. I do this step very slowly to avoid getting any little pieces of wax paper stuck to my granola.  I store the granola in a large mason jar at room temperature. As you can see, my tiny helper couldn't wait to eat it!

There are so many other ingredients you can add to this recipe for a different flavor and texture. Try adding some unsweetened coconut flakes, dried fruit, different nuts and seeds, or a different spice such as pumpkin spice. Enjoy!