Who doesn't love a good healthy snack? Most grocery stores and markets now carry a wide range of good health products to mix up and make your own trail mix with. Organic raw nuts are very popular around our house, stored in multiple cupboards and on the counter, even in ziplocs in our glove compartments in our cars!
Before you start, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats
- 3/4 cup Wheat Germ Powder
- 3/4 cup Organic Sunflower Seeds
- 1 cup Now Foods Soybeans, crushed
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Organic Honey
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Crystal Salt
- 1/2 cup Eden Foods Dried Cranberries
- 3 tablespoons Organic Pumpkin Seeds
- To crush your soybeans, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet, measuring cup or sauce pan. (I used the bottom of the peanut jar and it worked great).
- Then, mix the soybeans, oats, wheat germ, and organic sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don't get burned.
- Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11x13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.
- Put the brown sugar, organic honey, butter, vanilla and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
- By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl: the grains, the liquid "glue", and the dried fruit. Don't forget to turn off your oven!
- Mix everything very very well. Now, pour your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.
- Spread out the mixture with a wood spoon or spatula (Careful, it will be hot!)
- Now fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola.
- Wait 3-4 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.
- Carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.
- Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife, (now sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you'd like.