My mother has always been ahead of her time, especially when it came to food.  Way before flax-seed, puffed millet, quinoa, and roasted soy beans were part of the hipster food scene, she was ordering these items from Walnut Acres and having them delivered to our house.  I remember leafing through The Whole Earth Catalog as a seven-year old, even at that age I was smitten by the vast collection of items for sale. Everything you could need for a self-sustainable lifestyle.  Steve Jobs said “It was sort of like Google in paperback form” .  This granola was a staple in our house – naturally a catalog promoting self-reliance would have a granola recipe…

4 cups whole rolled oats

1 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup flax-seed

1 cup roasted soy beans

1 1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 cup nuts – I use sliced almonds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup bran (I omit)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Pre-heat the oven the 325 degrees
• Combine all the dry ingredients
• Combine oil, honey and vanilla and heat in a saucepan
• Pour over the dry ingredients and toss until well coated
• Spread out on a oiled cookie sheet
• Bake for 15 minutes, stir and continue baking for about 5-10 more minutes or until the granola is lightly browned
• Cool the granola on the cookie sheet, it will crisp up as it cools
• When it is completely cooled store in an air tight container at room temperature

The changes/additions I have made:

Substitute half Lyles Golden Syrup and half maple syrup for the honey – it will make the granola very crisp, I prefer it.

Substitute melted butter for half the oil

Add raisins and other chopped fruit

Pumpkin seeds for the soy beans

Bottom line:  Add and subtract what you like, but keep the ratios.  The only thing I would not substitute out would be the oats .

The front cover

Lyle’s is cane syrup – try using this in place of corn syrup in pecan pie -you will never go back..