Granola makes the perfect gift for the holidays. It is simple to make and almost everyone loves it.

Plus, it is a little healthier than a plate of cookies or candy. Not that we don’t all love sweet treats during the holidays, but healthy treats are also fun.

You can easily make a batch of regular homemade granola, pumpkin granola, strawberry granola, and this chocolate granola to give away as gifts. Wouldn’t a gift basket full of different homemade granola be a great gift to receive?

The first time I saw a recipe for Homemade Chocolate granola was from my friend JessieLeigh. I instantly knew I had to try the chocolate granola combination. I love chocolate and I love granola so I knew it would be a combination I would enjoy. My recipe is a little different than hers. And I think mine has a little more, or maybe a lot more chocolate, because you know you can never have too much chocolate. Her version has almonds in it, which I think would be a great addition if you can have nuts.

For more great Christmas ideas please visit the other bloggers joining me on this series.

Christmas Homeschool Fun: 1+1+1=1

Christmas Decorations: Songbird

Tips for a Healthy Holiday: The Thrifty Mama

Saving Money: Surviving the Stores

Travel Tips: Mom’s Travel Tales

Christmas Family Fun: Life as Mom

Homemade Christmas Gifts: The Happy Housewife

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Homemade Chocolate Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

My son loves granola, which is a bit strange since he is the picky eater of the family. I can’t really complain though since granola is a pretty healthy breakfast, especially when his favorite way to eat it is with yogurt.

The problem with granola though is all our food allergies. Most granola contains tree nuts and/or peanuts. My daughter is allergic to both those things, so store bought granola is not an option in our house.

Well, okay there are a few brands that make nut free granola, but they are expensive and hard to find. I have bought them, but I do not make a habit of it, especially when my 9 year old son can polish off two or more bowls for one meal.

So homemade granola is the perfect option for us. It is easy to make and I can vary the flavors. I have a plain nut free granola that we love. My kids also really enjoy my homemade strawberry granola, but since it is fall I have been experimenting with a few new flavors.

And our new favorite is homemade pumpkin granola. So easy, so good, and perfect for this time of year.

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Homemade Pumpkin Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

Do you love granola? Have you ever tried to make your own?

Well, it is really easy and so good. And this Strawberry Granola is a perfect summertime breakfast.

Over the last few years I have started making homemade granola more and more. My daughter’s nut and peanut allergy prevent us from buying most store granola and the ones that are safe are very expensive, so making them at home is often the safest and cheapest option for us.

However, we were getting tired of the same basic granola. I wanted something different and unique. Something that would change up our everyday granola recipe.

We often add fruit to our granola when we serve it, but I was looking for a way to change the actual granola. So, I started experimenting with my nut free granola recipe. I decided that the easiest way to add some fruit flavor to it would be to try adding  jelly to my basic recipe.

Jams and jellies are something that I always have on hand, so I knew it would be an easy addition to granola. I also thought that it would add some intense flavor without changing the recipe a lot.

I was a little worried that it would hurt the texture, but it did not hurt it at all, instead it made it even better. It was a bit crunchier than my regular homemade granola and it had a slight fruit taste to it. It was wonderful and we all loved it.

You can really change this up by using any jam or jelly. Try blackberry or raspberry. A boysenberry or even a grape jelly would be good. Really, you can make all kinds of variations of this. And you feel like you are eating something different everyday.

If you are looking for a healthy breakfast to serve your family, give homemade strawberry or other fruit flavored granola a try. I think you will love it.

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday.

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Homemade Strawberry Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

My baked peanut butter oatmeal has been one of the most popular recipes on my site.

I had no idea when I posted that recipe a year and half ago how many of my readers would make and love that recipe.

The baked peanut butter oatmeal recipe is one I came up with because my family loved both baked oatmeal and peanut butter. I had never seen anything like it and what I came up quickly became a family favorite.

Over the last few months I have been tweaking my basic baked peanut butter oatmeal to see what other versions I could come up with.

I have recently come up with two new versions that my family has loved.

I was looking to come up with a version that would be perfect for the fall, but one that would also work well during the holidays. Since pumpkin is the perfect fall and holiday food, I decided to take out the peanut butter and replace it with pumpkin. I also added some cinnamon and extra brown sugar.

What I came up with is now a family favorite that is perfect for the holidays. I have made this several times over the last couple months and my whole family enjoys it.

In fact, I have doubled this recipe several times and we eat it over a few days for breakfast. This makes for a quick and easy breakfast several days a week because all I have to do is reheat it in the morning.

I hope you enjoy this for breakfast as much as we do.

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Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

My kids love granola. I have often bought granola, but it is expensive and is full of ingredients that I cannot control. Making granola at home is a  less expensive and much healthier option.

Over the years I have found several homemade granola recipes  that my family really enjoys, but this recipe today is one that I have made many times and it is a favorite of ours.

The recipe originally came from an Ebook that Money Saving Mom put together several years ago. I actually think the Ebook was done before she started Money Saving Mom. I enjoyed the Ebook and this was my favorite recipe from it.

This is one of the easiest granolas that I have made. Not only is this granola easy to put together, but it is does not cook for long at all.  Many granola recipes take close to an hour in the oven, this one cooks for less than 20 minutes.

This recipe contains peanut butter, which is the way I have made it many times. However, I recently adapted it for my daughter’s peanut allergy, using the Soy Nut Butter and it worked great.  I think this would turn out well with any nut butter, so you can adjust it as needed.

This granola would also be great used in my granola cookies.

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Peanut Butter Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

Yesterday I posted a really easy nut free homemade granola on my allergy site. It is our new favorite homemade granola and is a recipe anyone would enjoy.

And if you can have nuts or peanuts you could easily add them in.

Do you make homemade granola?

If not it is really easy and you should give it a try.

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Easy Homemade Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

I have two girls. I have found that girls like things a little fancier than boys. My son does not care how his food looks, as long as it tastes good. My girls on the other hand like food to look pretty.

We often eat granola and yogurt for breakfast. Normally this is just a bowl of yogurt with granola sprinkled on top.

However, I recently served this for breakfast.

I simply layered vanilla yogurt and granola in a fancy glass, but you would have thought I was serving my girls a very fancy breakfast that they had never had before. It was the same food they had always had, just served in a different way.

Simple things like this can take regular everyday food, that sometimes gets boring, and make it unique and special.

And for the record my son was not impressed and he ate his yogurt and granola in a bowl like we normally do. But I guess that is the difference between boys and girls for you.

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday.

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Granola Sundaes is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.

Crunchy Breakfast Cereal

This is a recipe I got from an old Taste of Home Cookbook

6 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups flaked coconut
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup all-bran cereal
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
Directions: In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, coconut, pecans, wheat germ and cereal. In another bowl, mix oil, water, vanilla and salt. Pour over oat mixture; toss to coat. Pour into two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake at 275° for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Add raisins. Store in airtight container. Yield: 16

The next two I got off of epicurious.com

Molasses-Peanut Granola

In addition to being great with milk at breakfast time, this is nice sprinkled over yogurt, fruit or ice cream, or baked into your favorite granola cookies or bars.
Servings: Makes about 7 cups.

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup golden raisins
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Spray large roasting pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Mix oats, peanuts and coconut in prepared roasting pan. Combine molasses, brown sugar, 1/4 cup water and oil in heavy small saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Pour hot molasses mixture over oat mixture; toss to coat well.
Bake granola 20 minutes. Stir raisins into granola. Bake until granola is deep golden, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer pan to rack. Using metal spatula, scrape bottom of pan to loosen granola. Cool completely in pan, occasionally scraping bottom of pan with spatula to prevent granola from sticking.
(Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

Vanilla-Scented Granola

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 300°F. Lightly spray large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Mix next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Combine oil, honey, and sugar in small saucepan; bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour hot liquid over oat mixture; stir well. Using hands, toss mixture until thoroughly mixed.
Spread granola on prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer sheet to rack; cool granola completely. (Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

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Granola is a post from: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures ©2011 LynnsKitchenAdventures - All rights reserved.