[Abinsmom]

I've been making my own granola for a couple of years now. The recipe I follow calls for Splenda, but if you're hesitant to use it, experiment with more molasses. If you're a lover of grains like I am, you don't really need much sweetness (which is why most of the commercial granolas are such overkill). I love that most of these ingredients can be bought in bulk, and there is so much fiber!
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Granola

All seeds and nuts used are raw – unroasted and unsalted. Bulk foods are perfect for this stuff and you can purchase only the amount you need.

2 ½ cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
½ cup sesame seeds
2/3 cup wheat germ
¾ cup flaked unsweetened coconut (in health food section, NOT in baking section!)
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup wheat bran
¼ cup flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup Splenda
¾ cup vanilla-flavored whey protein powder (expensive, but full of protein)
¼ tsp blackstrap molasses (use more if you are not using Splenda)
½ cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In a large, shallow roasting pan (like you would use for meat, not a cookie sheet – needs to have sides). Combine the rolled oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, wheat germ, coconut, walnuts, almonds, bran, flax seed, cinnamon, Splenda, and protein powder, mixing very well.

Stir the molasses into the canola oil. It won’t really blend with it, but it will help the molasses get evenly distributed. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir until it’s uniformly distributed.

Place in the oven and toast for an hour, stirring once or twice. Store in a tightly covered container.

Makes about 16 servings of ½ cup. Net carbs in a ½ cup serving are 15.8. Serving has 11.6 grams of protein.