Granola.

This post is dedicated to Q, the first person I've ever met that made their own granola (although the granola he makes sounds much more complicated - and delicious- than mine!).

Tonight Tim was watching basketball and I was bored, so I thought I would make some granola.  I had some organic quick oats (I know, I know, quick oats aren't as nutritious as regular oats) that I bought a long time ago and figured I might as well use up.  Here were the ingredients I used:

• 2 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 3 cups quick oats
• 2 tbsp chia (aka Salba) seeds crushed
• 1/2 cup crushed cashews
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

First I melted the butter and added the maple syrup.  In a large separate bowl, I combined the remaining ingredients.  I had to blend the cashews in a food processor because all I had was whole cashews (I pretty much just used all the things I needed to use up: granola, cashews, chia seeds).  Then I poured the butter/syrup mixture on the dry ingredients and mixed everything really well.  I spread the granola evenly      on a baking pan that I had buttered.  By the way, I don't know how the rest of you butter things, but I used to use paper towels to smear it on, but I've started just using my hands and find that actually works a lot better.

I heated the oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit and baked for about 40 minutes, taking the pan out of the oven every ten minutes to stir it around and make sure none of it burned or got too toasty.  It looks like it turned out great!  I snacked on a little of it while it was warm and it is very tasty indeed!