Homemade 'Super Awesome Granola'

Last night after a soppy run and whipping up pasta for dinner, I was feeling the itch to try out a new recipe. I settled on The Single Dish's 'Super Awesome Granola' because who can pass up a recipe with that name? I highly recommend making this if you're not necessarily hungry for a sweet treat, but want a divine smelling kitchen and a little breakfast pizaz to save for later.

Recipe:
*I made a few slight changes to this recipe swapping canola oil for vegetable oil and traded pecans for almonds and walnuts. I also nixed the flaxseed bc I didn't have any and threw in some chia seeds instead.

2 cups oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup almonds
1/2-1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup flaxseeds
1/2 cup coconut
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups dried cherries

And be sure to watch your granola carefully. My oven is hot and I overcooked the mixture just a bit too much. Not burnt, but just a little more toasty than I'd prefer.

First, mix up the oats, coconut, brown sugar, nuts and spices.

A kitchen helper is necessary.

Pure maple syrup is the key here.

Stir the wet (maple syrup, vanilla, oil) into the dry (oat and spice mixture).

Lay it all out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300 deg for 35 min, stirring every 10 min or so.

Finally, mix in the tart cherries (I chose TJ's brand)!

It makes a great topper to a green monster smoothie, although the cherries did sink to bottom.

I'm looking forward to making the fruit and yogurt parfait with this. Yum.

In other news, it's pouring here. Sometimes the rain just makes me not care about how frumpy my work outfit may be. Today, for example, I'm wearing a pair of old gap pants that are a size or so too big and just hang from the hips. Bah! Here's to sunshine returning quick to these parts (and a JCrew shopping spree, of course)!