Fruit and Nut Spiced Granola

 

Fruit and Nut Spiced Granola

 Ingredients:

5 cups old fashioned Oats

½ stick Butter-unsalted

1 Tablespoon Rum extract

1 Teaspoon ground Ginger

2 Teaspoons ground Cinnamon

½ Teaspoon ground Cloves

1 Teaspoon ground Nutmeg

 

1/2 cup Honey

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 Teaspoons pure Vanilla

3/4 cup dried Cranberries

½ cup Peanuts or Sunflower seeds

½ cup raw Almonds

½ cup Yellow or brown Raisins or chopped Dates

1 cup Coconut flakes

 

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet pan with sides.

Over stovetop in a small pot, combine butter, vanilla, rum extract, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Melt on medium heat, and then set aside. In a large bowl, combine the old fashioned oats with the butter, sugar & spice mixture. Stir well until all the oats are well coated. Add peanuts, coconut and almonds.

 

 

Spread the granola evenly onto your greased baking sheet, & bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Every 5 minutes or so, take the granola out and stir. Bake another 10-15 minutes or until the granola gets crisp and golden brown. Take the granola out and mix in the cranberries and raisins. I let my granola cool in the oven to get extra crispy. Once completely cooled, store in a large airtight container or zip lock bag.

 

Bountiful Baskets

We participate in a food co-op, for fruits, vegetables, organic whole grain breads, and other healthy add-in's. Our pick up is bi-weekly, & is all run by volunteers (hence the name co-op). This is the second month we've contributed, & although you have to be creative surrounding planning meals, it gives you great options to cook with during the winter especially, when the offerings in local grocery stores are less than exciting. Plus, the organic option is great! Each main basket will contain a minture of 50% fruit & 50% veggies, for a 30 lb. basket.

Great Falls isn't a location that would normally have a variety of fresh veggies and fruits all winter, but because we have access to the co-op, which trucks in produce only a few days old, I am able to create recipes with ingredients like pineapple, eggplant, squash, and fresh herbs all winter long. It's good quality & inexpensive.

Since my garage pantry shelves act as an additional fridge in the winter, I have the room to store extra produce, which by the way keeps for up to a month. BONUS! So here's to dreaming up some more amazing recipes the rest of the winter long! Cheers!

Check it out: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

or https://www.facebook.com/BountifulBasketRecipes?ref=ts