Granola for Busy Ladies

School is right around the corner. Yeah, I said that. You can ignore it. No matter what is around the corner, we are all busy. We are at the stage in our house where the 9 month old is into everything and the toddler doesn't like the 9 month old touching anything. That leaves only very small increments of time to do things-- especially cooking and cleaning my bathroom, but I might just be avoiding that one. Today I bring to you a recipe for a super easy, fairly hands-off, granola. I know, I know. I bring to you recipes of granola likeness all the time. I like oatmeal. I like it so much that I recently bought twelve 42 ounce containers of old fashioned oats (the sale price was only $2 a carton! Somebody side with me that I am not crazy...)

This is a little different from the muesli recipe-- this is a true, chunky granola and has a bit more sweetener in it. We eat this granola recipe like cereal, but it is also great topped on ice cream (with peanut butter, yum!), on top of yogurt, or snuck by the chunk without your toddler knowing as you creep through the kitchen, not that I've done that.

What you'll need:

• 6-8 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1-2 cups chopped nuts and/or seeds (almonds, pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds,  etc.)
• 1/2-1 cup ground flax seed and/or wheat germ (optional)
• 1/2 T cinnamon
• 1 cup shredded coconut (optional, though I feel this adds great chewy texture)
• about 3/4 cup coconut oil
• about 3/4 cup maple syrup (or to taste)

What you'll do:

1. Set aside the need to follow recipes exactly. I mean it. I demand that you only use a 1 cup measuring cup, a big bowl, a big spoon, a dish to melt the coconut oil, and a pan. We don't need additional dishes to wash!
2. Measure dry ingredients first (key to only using one measuring cup!). Mix together oats, nuts/seeds, flax seed/wheat germ, cinnamon, and shredded coconut in a big bowl. Try to separate coconut shreds if possible. Exact measuring is not needed. Use your palm to measure cinnamon.
3. Using same measuring cup as you used for dry ingredients, measure roughly 3/4 cup coconut oil and spoon into a microwave safe dish. Melt in microwave.
4. Using the same measuring cup as previous, measure roughly 3/4 cup maple syrup. Pour into dish with coconut oil and mix together.
5. Pour liquid ingredients onto dry ingredients. Stir well so that everything is coated.
6. Pour oat mixture onto a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides all around) lined with parchment paper. (Use only one pan.) Using the bowl that you used to melt the coconut oil, squash the oat mixture down so that it is flattened evenly. This will help create a chunky granola and also eliminates the need to hover and stir your oats.
7. Bake at 275 degrees for 20 minutes. Rotate pan and cook another 20 minutes. Turn off oven and allow to cool completely. It needs to cool to get crispy.
8. Break apart and enjoy! Wash minimal dishes and enjoy coffee while it is baking, instead of warding off children with third and fourth arms every time you need to open the oven to stir.

Feel free to play around with this "recipe" to better match your families palates. Click here to print.

What recipes have you changed for your busy lifestyle? Anyone else have children climbing into oven drawers while you aren't looking?