Granola Chix and Baby Chicks

I spent last week laying low in Pocatello with my mom enjoying a little down time with nowhere to go and nothing to do. That's my ideal summer week. We spent the time walking, shopping, talking and going to bed way to late. Now I need to catch up on my sleep!

Granola Chix: My Mom's good friend Barbie is a fabulous cook and always has fabulous recipes. My mom was talking about this recipe she has for granola and how her family just loves it and she can never make enough of it. I off handily told her to get the recipe and the next thing I knew we were making 3 double batches. I've never chopped so many almonds in my little life. My arm still hurts...As promised, the granola was yum and worth the time to make. Nate gobbles it up and discovered he LOVES it on vanilla yogurt. It was very easy to make and I now present you with the recipe. We experimented with it a little bit and tweaked it to our liking. Feel free to do the same and report back if you discover something fabulous, because I know you are ALL going to go right out and get the required ingredients. Right?

Granola
*6 cups old fashion oats
*4 cups your choice nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans)
*2 cups your choice dried fruit (raisins, craisins, crancherries) We used crancherries-So Good!
*1 cup wheat germ
*1 cup flax seed
*1 cup coconut
*2/3 cup olive oil
*2/3 cup honey
*2/3 cup maple syrup

Chop fruit and nuts and mix with dry ingredients in large bowl.

Bring to a foamy boil wet ingredients. Spread syrup over dry ingredients and mix to coat. Spread into 2 large cake pans and bake at 325 for 20-25 min. stirring every 10 min. Voile!

*Note* We were VERY generous with the coconut, olive oil, honey and maple syrup. We used almost double what the recipe called for. We also decided after making all 3 double batches that we would prefer it with less nuts. Next time we will only use 3 cups. There is a lot of chewing needed for the full 4 cups. It's a jaw work out for sure.

Baby Chicks: Since my sis doesn't have a blog and will not announce with banners and loudspeakers, I will speak for her. She will be adding to her absolutely darling family with baby #5 just days before Christmas. It will be a busy month. They will move into their new house and have a wee one all at the same time. It's a good thing I'm only minutes away. I might have to put her tree up ; ) She's already sporting the teeniest, tiniest baby bump, which is so cute on little her. Hank has taken to calling her 'Baby Mama' and I think it suits her just fine.