Ya..I know that granola has been popular for a long time.  I can even remember as a kid when it became a breakfast cereal and I begged my parents to buy it in the grocery store which, by the way,  never happened.  So I might be a bit behind the curve in writing about granola, but I thought I would share my City Boy Hens Granola Recipe with you.  Around here we’ve all been eating oatmeal lately for breakfast and granola makes a great topping to a somewhat bland and boring breakfast.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups  rolled oats (I use “quick” oats)

1 cup  sliced almonds

1 cup  shelled pumpkin seeds

1  cup of shredded coconut

1 cup  raisins

1 cup dried and cubed papaya

1/2 teaspoon  sea salt

1/2 cup  honey

1/4 cup  sunflower oil

1 teaspoon  vanilla extract

1 egg white

Note:  Feel free to omit or substitute different ingredients.

Directions

Combine oats,  almonds, pumpkin seeds, and coconut together in a large mixing bowl.  Add salt and stir the dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, combine the oil, honey, egg white and vanilla extract.  Note:  Add the oil first.  This will help prevent the honey from sticking to your bowl.  Add these wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and continue to stir until everything is nicely coated.

Spoon the granola out of the bowl onto 2 baking sheets and place in the oven for 45 minutes at 300 degrees Ferinheight.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven every 15 minutes in order to stir the granola.

After 45 minutes, the granola should be light brown and smell incredible.  Pull the baking sheets out and add the raisins and dried fruit.  Put the granola back in the oven for 5 minutes.  Note:  If you were to bake the raisins and dried fruit for the entire duration of time, they would be incredible hard and/or burnt.

Remove from oven, cool, and pack into 2 mason jars. Enjoy as a quick snack or as a topping on oatmeal, yogurt, or…………..