Go-To Granola Camping Recipe

I do like granola. It's got such a satisfying crunch, and since it's a mixture of lots of nuts and seeds ’at least the way we make it’ popping a handful into my mouth sort of feels like I'm taking a bite out of nature itself.

Granola recipes tend to have a lot of ingredients in common, but still manage to come out as unique finished products, some subtly different from their oaty cousins, and some more obviously original. Some are very sweet, while others are savory.

As an interesting historical aside, I recently learned that granola was originally made with wheat, but softer-on-the-teeth oats were eventually subbed in as the food grew in popularity from hippie rediscovery in the 1960s and its commercialization over the following decade.

If you ask me, all kinds of granolas are satisfying–the oat ones, anyway–especially when properly paired with something cool and smooth to counter the crispiness.

My wife calls this particular recipe of hers multi-tasking granola, because it can handle so much on its own, sunup to sundown.

On one camping trip alone this past summer, this granola was:

• eaten plain
• poured into a bowl with milk, like cereal
• used as a yogurt parfait topping (yes, we had parfaits in the woods)
• baked as a topping for an apricot crisp

About the only thing we didn't do with it was eat it with ice cream? although I can't be certain that didn't happen, since there was ice cream and this granola didn't last the whole trip. Someone was chowing down on it.

Come to think of it, these are all things I mentioned last time I shared a more fall-themed granola recipe, so maybe all granola is multi-tasking. However hard your granola is working is hard enough, I'm sure.

I recommend this recipe as something to try at home, then take along on your next journey into the outdoors. You can, of course, add your own ingredients and make your own substitutions to create a granola with your own particular stamp on it.

GO-TO GRANOLA

WHAT YOU NEED:

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled outs
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 Tbsp fennel seeds
• 2 Tbsp chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp flax meal
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice blend
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Evenly spread the mixture on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring the ingredients every 15 minutes until everything is crispy and golden.

Note that if maple syrup isn't your sweetener of choice, you can substitute honey instead. Honey was a sweetener of choice in the early days of producing granola in large batches for grocery store delivery. If honey is too expensive in your neck of the woods, you can use regular sugar. If you don't like regular sugar, I guess you can put in some other sort of sweetener, but you'll have to determine which one works best on your own. I'm out of ideas.

Another great thing about granola is its portability. It travels well in a canister or bag, and it can be served up by a spoon dipped in, a hand scooping it out, or a quick pour into a waiting bowl. Just be sure to keep it locked away from the air, whether you're eating this one shortly after it's baked or are packing it to take on a four-night, five-day stay in the woods. Stale granola, as in granola that's lost its crunch, is one variation I don't enjoy.

Well, I don't enjoy as much. Because, hey, it's still granola.