No Granola at the Hoover Dam

Flax Seed Granola with Cherry and Almond

Ryan wanted to take me to Hoover Dam. He had been there with his family years ago and remembers having a good time. I’m  always game when it comes to being outdoors before it gets too hot. Can you believe I’ve lived in Vegas all my life but some how I’ve never made it out to the Hoover Dam 😉

The Dam is only about 40 minutes away and not a bad drive at all. Believe it or not there is water in the desert! I wanted to make us a yummy snack to eat on the road and to have while we went on the tour. Most of the time the food offered at these places is usually less than tasty. Too bad we couldn’t get it through security! I wasn’t expecting to have to pass through airport like security! When the guard asked to look in my handbag she told me no food was allowed inside 😦 I had to toss a bag of my freshly made granola in the trash so sad! Despite not having a crunchy snack the tour was still pretty cool.

Ingredients

6 cups Rolled Oats (not Quick Oats)

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Honey

1/4 cup Molasses

3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1-1/2 cup rice cereal

1 cup flax seeds

1 cup dried cherries

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350º.

In a bowl, toss the oats and almonds with the coconut oil and salt. Spread the mixture out on 2 baking sheets and place in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, shaking the pan twice and making sure they don’t burn. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce heat to 325º.

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey and molasses. Heat the mixture slowly, stirring until all combined. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.

In another bowl mix the toasted oats and almonds with the rice cereal, flax seeds, and cherries. Pour in the sugar mixture, stirring as you pour. Toss to combine; it will be sticky!

Use your hands to press into a parchment lined baking sheet. You can rub a little coconut oil on your hands to keep the granola from sticking. Bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Lift the bars from the pan and use you hands to break it into pieces.

 You can keep some pieces bigger to eat like a bar or if you want you can crumble it up smaller to put on top of your yogurt or oatmeal. Just don’t take it to snack on at Hoover Dam! 😉