Basic Friendly Granola...

There are lots of granola recipes on the internet. This one is really nothing special, just a very basic, "add what you will" sort of recipe.

In our home, we use the word "friendly" when speaking about food that certain people can eat. There is "Bekah friendly" with no egg, dairy, peanuts, almonds, or soy; "Lyddie friendly" is gluten free, and "Mom friendly" has not eggs.

Sometimes, it gets hard to find something that is just plain friendly! Fortunately, this granola is adaptable to all sorts of dietary needs.

*6cups rolled oats (gluten free if you need it)
*1/2 cup coconut oil (or other oil of your choice)
*1/2 cup of something sweet-- liquid sweetener works best-- honey, agave syrup, maple syrup-- today, I used brown sugar because I was out of maple syrup and honey. It worked fine, but had to be broken up a bit more when mixing

optional:
*1/2 cup milled flax seed-- I add milled flax seed to a lot of things
*1-2 cups nuts or seeds of your choice--I used sunflower seeds and pumkin seeds, but depending on your dietary needs, you could use walnuts, pecans, coconut flakes, almonds, cashews, peanuts....
*1 cup dried fruit of your choice--I didn't use any. If you do, you'll want to add them AFTER the granola has baked. Fruit will burn quickly and be yucky
*1 cup chocolate chips--again, if you use these, you will want to add them after the granola has cooled.
*a bit of cinnamon (I never add cinnamon because I don't like it)
*just about anything else you might think of that would be good in granola.

Preheat oven to 290. Mix all dry ingredients (except dried fruit) in a large mixing bowl. Put oil and sweetener in a saucepot and heat just until almost simmery. Pour oil/sweetener mix over oat mix, and stir together until everything is well coated. Spread granola on baking sheets and place in oven. Every 10 minutes, pull out pans and stir the granola so that it is well toasted-- about 30-40 minutes total. After granola is cooled, add dried fruit or chocolate chips and store in air tight container.