Easy Granola
 
 
THM:E, low fat, sugar free, gluten/egg/dairy/nut free (be sure to use non-contaminated ingredients if necessary)
Author:
Serves: 7 cups (approx. 7 servings)
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 1 T THM Super Sweet Blend
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. maple flavoring
  • ¾ tsp. salt*
  • 6 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
  • -
  • 7 cups leftover cooked oatmeal made from old fashioned oats, cooled (thawed if frozen) - use gluten free oats if necessary (my oatmeal was salted)
  • 2 cups leftover cooked brown rice, cooled (thawed if frozen) - make sure the rice is certified gluten free if gluten is an issue - short grain brown rice that is well cooked and completely soft works best here. I do not suggest using instant brown rice as it doesn't soften up nearly as well. My rice was unsalted.
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first set of ingredients. Add the oatmeal and brown rice and knead the whole mess together with your hands until everything is distributed evenly.
  2. Spread the mixture equally onto 2 dehydrator trays (ideally using a nonstick liner provided with the dehydrator) and smooth it out so it's fairly thin. Dehydrate it until crispy. I set it at 135 degrees F for 6 hours, then down to 115 degrees F for another 8 hours (overnight). Flip the sheets of granola over half-way through dehydration.
  3. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can make this in the oven. I spread it out onto two greased cookie sheets using my hands (it will be like 2 thin sheets of baked oatmeal, basically). I would bake it at 350 degrees until crispy, flipping the granola and switching the pans between the top and bottom oven racks every 30 minutes. At some point in the process, break the granola into pieces so it can dry out faster. When I tested this, I put it in the oven for an hour at 300 degrees, 45 minutes at 350 degrees, turned the oven off and cracked the door open while I went to my church's vacation Bible school, then came back 3 hours later and baked at 350 degrees again for a little over an hour. 350 degrees until dry and crispy should do the trick...haha. Let it set out on the counter overnight to cool and dry out some more. It's really not an exact science. Some of the granola will probably still be slightly chewy in the middle if making this in the oven (the dehydrator does a better job about sucking the moisture out), so if you make this in the oven, store the finished product in the refrigerator.
  4. You could also try baking this at a lower temperature, like 175 degrees, for a longer period of time. Low and slow will probably give you a more evenly crispy result. All depends on how much time you have.
  5. When the granola is done, the easiest way to break it up into pieces is to put it into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag and smash it with a rolling pin. If you made the granola in a dehydrator, you can store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature. If you made it in the oven, I recommend keeping it in the fridge. Yields 7 cups (7 servings).
Notes
*Edit salt amounts if necessary. My oatmeal was salted but my brown rice was not.
Feel free to add more flavorings/spices/sweetener to customize this to your own personal tastes!
Recipe by Briana Thomas at https://www.briana-thomas.com/easy-granola/