Wheaties granola

I should tell you how carefully I planned this recipe. I should tell you how I planned for substituting Wheaties for half the oats in an effort to enhance the texture, flavor, and nutrition of the recipe. I should also tell you that the truth is I ran out of oats. Ahem. Regardless of how I arrived at this version, I do make it this way on purpose now and I eat it with my lazy yogurt every single morning. And even the Kiddo loves it. That's kind of a miracle, folks. It's based on the recipe from Creative Kitchen because she didn't use seeds in her recipe; she's speaking my language.

Wheaties granola

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (the real stuff, not "pancake syrup")
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups Wheaties cereal
• 1 cup Craisins or raisins (optional, obviously)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F
2. Melt butter and honey or maple syrup in a saucepan, then stir in remaining ingredients, making sure everything is well coated with the butter mixture
3. Spread on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the oats are golden brown
4. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then scrape in long strokes with a spatula to aid clumping. Store in a jar or zip top bag in the fridge