Jonah's Granola

When we are all together at Bear Lake, our son Jonah makes several big batches of his masterful granola-and everyone loves it! It's by far the best granola we've ever had, and it makes all storebought granola seem too oily or too sweet or just plain not that great. Whipping up a few batches of this before a family reunion is a great way to have a healthy and yummy breakfast on hand for everyone! This recipe makes about the equivalent of two big storebought boxes of granola.

Ingredients:

8 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (quick oats will do if that's all you've got)
1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamia nuts if you're Jonah and live in Hawaii, or whatever you've got)
1 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 cups flaked dry coconut
1 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (or canola oil)
1-2 cups raisins or Craisins (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix 4 cups oats and all other ingredients except raisins or Craisins together in an electric mixer, or by hand in a big bowl.

2. Add remaining 4 cups oats 1/2 cup at a time. It might nearly overflow, but you can do it!

3. Spread the mixture out evenly over two cookie sheets.

4. Bake at 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) for 26 minutes. (If you don't have a convection oven, rotate the sheets halfway through.) It's done when everything's golden and the edges are a bit brown. It'll be soft when you take it out of the oven, but after cooling, it'll become quite crispy.

5. When it's totally cooled, put it into a container, breaking up the big clumps as you scoop it off the cookie sheets. 6. Optional: Mix in 1-2 cups raisins or Craisins aftercooking or upon serving.