Raw G'nola

It's what Ellie (my 2 year old) calls our granola. It's snowing up here in Kentucky and we're stuck inside. You know, I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about being stuck inside at this point in the year (well, if you're in the northern half of the US anyway). We're already used to the temperature being a frigid 12 degrees or so... we haven't been taking any walks or playing outdoors for the past month, so what's really going to change? I suppose now that the roads are slippery we don't even have the option of going anywhere and that's what makes the difference. Anyway, back to the granola. My good friend Elizabeth gave me a cookbook a year or so ago that we use all the time. ALL the time, Elizabeth. I'm so glad you accidentally ordered two of them :). She gave the granola recipe in it a thumbs up, so we had to try it. It is awesome, of course. I suppose most granola is very similar, but we love this recipe. It would be totally out of character for me to leave a recipe the same once I made it a few times (unless there was no room for experimentation), so I changed this recipe a little bit. We're not actually raw foodist around here, but Ellie found granola easier to eat if it wasn't crispy, so I just started leaving it un-cooked and now it's a raw recipe. Enjoy!
Here's my version:

Raw Granola

5 c oats
1/2 c flax meal
1/2 c wheat germ
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1/2 c chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans...)
1/4 c dried cranberries
1/4 c rasins
1/4 c coconut
- combine the above and mix
4 T canola oil
1/2 c honey
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
- combine these wet ingredients and add to the dry. Stir well and enjoy!