My Momma's Granola

When we lived in Africa, my mother always made granola for our breakfasts.  For much of my life I took it for granted and would look forward to having toast or pancakes, which were our special treat on Saturdays.  Occasionally we would buy some British variety of packaged cereals like corn flakes or rice crisps, but I preferred granola over those, even if we did have problems with infestations of weevils in our oats.

Now as a grown up, I miss my mom's granola.  There is no store bought brand that can live up to it, no matter how hard they try.  And now that I can't eat gluten, I don't bother to buy cereal except for splurging a couple of times a year on Fruity Pebbles, which happen to be gluten free.

Without further ado, here is my mom's pure, unadulterated best ever granola recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
2. In a large mixing bowl, measure 10 cups of oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free variety)
3. Add the following ingredients in a blender and blend until well mixed
    - 1/2 C water
    - 1 C oil (I use light olive but you can use whatever oil you want)
    - 1 C brown sugar
    - 2 tsp Vanilla
    - 1 to 1&1/2 tsp Salt

4. Pour the blended concoction over the oats and stir until thoroughly mixed.
5. Lightly grease two cookie sheets
6. Spread the oat mix over the two cookie sheets and bake for 1 hour
7. Don't forget to lick the bowl!!

I like to let the granola sit in the oven and let it all cool down together, after I retrieve a bowlful for myself to snack on.  That makes the granola drier and crunchier.

Once it's all cooled down, break it up and put it in an air tight container.  I don't know how long it stays good for because I always eat mine before it has a chance to go stale.

Variations:
I like to add flax seed, ground flax flour and pecans to mine.  For the one I make, I used only 8 cups of oats, and added 1/3 C flax seeds, 2/3 C flax flour, and 1 heaping C of chopped pecans.

You could try adding coconut, almonds, or other add-ins.  Just make sure to adjust the amount of oats up or down accordingly.

I wish I had pictures of my yummy batch of breakfast goodness, but alas, one camera has sand in it and I could not figure out where I had hidden the other one from Z.