It started out a regular morning, getting my daily yogurt out of the fridge and wishing I had some granola to go with it. When I decided that I would immediately make my own. I tried a recipe a few days ago, but burned it because I didn't realize that the crunchiness of granola comes when you let it sit for a bit after it comes out of the oven, instead of cooking it longer.

I formulated this recipe myself from combining several online recipes to give me the ingredients I wanted. I actually made it two times today, tweeking the amounts just a little bit. Originally I had brown sugar and honey. But I felt all the sweetness was not needed. I wanted to take out "half the sugar", but decided instead to take out the brown sugar completely and leave all the honey since I needed the sticky/wet consistency to help hold the granola together.

2 cups rolled oats (I actually used half rolled oats and half steel-cut oats)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/4 cup honey
2 T oil
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, combine all ingredients except raisins and mix well to fully coat the oats. Spread in cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and add raisins. Cool in pan and store in air tight baggies or container.

12 servings, 136 cal, 5.2g fat, 20.9g carb, 2.8g pro

With the yummy smell emitting from the oven, I couldn't resist the urge to make oatmeal cookies. I know they are not the healthiest thing on the planet, but to please my husband I did use HALF the sugar and cut out a third of the butter. You know what, you would NEVER tell the difference! So here is my adjusted recipe taken from the back of the chocolate chip bag:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter (2 cubes)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 T milk (why is this ingredient here? I'm not sure!)
1 3/4 cups chocolate chips
2 cups oats (I like to use half rolled and half steel-cut)

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In mixing bowl beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs. Gradually add in flour mixture and milk. Stir in chocolate chips and oats. Drop by spoonfulls (I use my Pampered Chef medium scoop) onto un-greased pan (Pampered Chef stoneware rocks). Bake one pan at a time for 12-14 minutes on middle rack until edges are crisp, but middle is still soft. Cool completely. Makes 32 cookies.

182 cal, 9.2g fat, 22.1g carb, 2.8g pro. (I saved 46 cal, 2.9g fat, 5.4g carb, and 0.1 pro. per cookie by using less sugar and butter. Is that significant?)

The best part is that I did not snitch ANY chocolate chips while making the cookies. I did, however, snitch some just now while typing this from the bag. So I guess its not the best part after all. I guess the truly best part is that I made the granola while holding a baby half the time and entertaining a 2 year old the other half.