Lazy Recipes Make Me Smile

I've been wanting to find a good homemade granola; it seems like a good way to get some healthy extras in your diet.  Christine inspired me to think outside of the box in that she doesn't just use oatmeal as a base; she uses whatever cereal she has at home and sticks it into a method that is perfect for me:  the lazy granola method.  Basically, you let it cook in the oven overnight (or approximately 8 hours) as the oven cools down.  No stirring, no fussing.  Perfect.  I had bought a bunch of Cheerios because they were on sale and was looking for a good way to use them so that we weren't eating Cheerios for breakfast every day for 2 months.  Christine's idea seemed to fit.  So using this recipe, I did a double batch with Cheerios, old fashioned oats, unsweeteneed coconut, a handful of sunflower seeds that were just hanging around, cinnamon, vanilla, honey, maple syrup, and some milled flax seeds.  The comments under the recipe listed a bunch of variations that I am now anxious to try.  Applesauce in place of the oil.  Peanut butter.  Of course there are unlimited fruit options like raisins, dried cherries, dried apples...

The kids ate it for breakfast this morning with milk.  It wasn't as big of a hit this morning as it was last night when I let them eat it straight off of the cooled pan.  D's opinion has yet to be made known.  He made kind of a stinky skunk face last night but if you know him, you know that's part of his personality-making goofy comments that have little to do his real opinion.  He was mostly just trying to give me a had time because he knew I was excited about the whole deal.  I had it this morning with some peaches that I had dehydrated. (I cannot stand to drink milk so as I always do, I had mine dry. Long story on the milk thing...somehow got it in my head around age 3 that I didn't like milk. Now I can't even make myself drink it without gagging. It's a complete psychological issue.) I thought it was pretty tasty.  Easy eat as cereal, to top your yogurt, or to mix with nuts and M and M's for a trail mix.  Definitely worth making again.