Homemade Granola

I've been big on making homemade granola lately. It's an accumulation of wanting to know exactly what's in my food, trying to eat better, and saving a little money. The thing I love most about it is that you can put pretty much anything you want in there. It's like the casserole of baked goods.

Here's my favorite so far:

4 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup ground flax
1 cup coconut flakes
1 cup dried cranberries

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter

Melt ingredients over medium heat until well combined, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.

**Note! Here's a good place to make it healthier and use honey instead of this caramel sauce. I have a really weird thing against honey so I go this way. (I think it stems from my childhood when I used to get sick a lot and my mom would crush my medicine and mix it in there. Gag...)

If you want to do a honey mix, it would be:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Combine ingredients over medium heat

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl, and then mix in the caramel sauce (or honey). Grease a 9x13 pan, and gently press the mixture in there evenly.

Cook at 375* for 45 minutes stirring once in the middle.  That's it! So easy! For a more dessert bar, I've thrown in white chocolate chips & cranberries for the grownups, and mini chocolate chips for the kids. Honestly though, it's tasty enough with out that!  What's your favorite granola combo?

Oh, and here's a visual for how much it makes. ;)