Granola

Matt and I have agreed that we are going to be serious about saving money this year. I have started to clip coupons and purchase items that are on sale and with those items I try to come up with recipes that taste good, are somewhat healthy and aren't full of preservatives and artificial ingredients.

I have lots of oats and dried cranberries on hand so I thought I'd make some granola. This is Alton Brown's recipe (it's good) which I tweaked just a little due to the lack of ingredients in my cupboard. For something a little healthier, try reducing the sugar a little and substituting half the oil with apple sauce. If you don't have maple syrup, use honey.

GRANOLA

3 cups oats

1/4 cup + 2 T brown sugar

1/4 cup + 2T maple syrup

1/4 cup oil

3/4 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven: 250 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients, except for the oats and cranberries in a large bowl. Toss in oats. Bake for about an hour or until a nice toasty color, tossing every 15 minutes. Cool. Toss in dried cranberries.

Yield: 6 servings

Price per serving: Aprox. $0.30