Mennonite Monday - Granola

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week I wanted to make something a little different, so I chose Granola (pg 137 Y) by Leona Sawatzky.  I liked this recipe because it had less ingredients than some of the other granola recipes and it took less time to cook.  
All of the recipes for granola called for wheat germ,which I was not able to find.  I really didn't look too hard for it, so I have no idea if it is easy to find.  I basically convinced Mike to stop at Walmart on the way home from the state fair, so I could pick up some wheat germ.  I'm not a fan of Walmart, especially the groceries, because it is hard to find what you need and their Great Value brand is taking over the name brand products.  This trip basically solidified my frustrations after I asked an employee where I could find Wheat Germ and he looked at me like I was talking in a different language.  Anyway, I did not include wheat germ in this recipe, and I hope those of you who try it have better luck finding wheat germ.  

Granola

6 cups oatmeal

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup wheat germ 

1/3 cup cup sesame seeds (optional) 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (optional) 

1 1/2 cup raisins (optional) 

Heat oats in an ungreased pan 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Combine all dry ingredients with oatmeal.  Mix together liquid things.  Then add to dry mixture.  Bake in oblong pan at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Stir often so that it will cook evenly.  Cool.  Stir until crumbly.  Store in a tight container in the refrigerator.

 6 cups of oatmeal

 Mixing the liquid ingredients. 

 I added my dry ingredients to the pan that the oatmeal was in, so I didn't make a bunch of pans dirty. 

 Adding raisins and nuts. 

 Adding the liquid ingredients. 

 Everything mixed together before it went to the oven. 

.  The crispy finished product.