Cheap and Delicious Granola

One day while blog hopping, I came across a blog that offered "e-books" for free.  The books were all about meal planning and special tips to make feeding your family a little easier and lighter on the budget.  I usually pass over these, because most times I don't learn too much new...not to sound like a snob, but unfortunately, you can't get blood from a turnip.  Everything that we can/want to do, we do.  But I did go ahead and sign up for the Minute with Molly Newsletter that promises to give frugal tips, because I wanted the e-book!

The e-book is definitely worth it.  You do have to download it, of course, and print if you want a paper copy, but I have been very impressed with the spreadsheets and recipes.  One of the recipes that I already tried out was the Yummy Homemade Granola on page 32.  Its so delicious!  Not sure of the cost to make a batch.  I made a half of a batch to test it out.  I added raisins and flax seed.  I gotta say, adding flax seed is such a simple way to add a little more fiber in your food.  You can hardly tell its there and when its toasted, as it is in this granola, it adds a great texture!  :o)

Yummy Homemade Granola  

 1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8 cups oatmeal (quick oats)

In a large, 4-quart saucepan, melt the margarine or butter and the brown sugar

together. Stir it up and let it simmer for a few minutes (2-3 minutes). Add the salt and

cinnamon, then the oatmeal. Remove pot from heat and stir until all the oatmeal is

coated. Spread the granola onto 2 cookie sheets (with sides) and bake at 375° for 10

minutes, until golden brown. Cool granola completely on pan, then break up into pieces

and transfer to a container. Add raisins or nuts if desired.

For us, since we only made a half batch, we substituted about a 1/2 cup of the oatmeal for the flax seed.  It turned out dry for some reason.  It was still good and tasted like the kind that you buy at the store, just didn't harder as much as the recipe said it would.  Maybe the flax seed changed that.  I'm sure there is something online about adding flax seed and maybe adding more liquid, but again, it worked fine!  The big kids even asked for some of this!!