Today's recipe is for homemade cranberry pecan granola. Although granola is pretty healthy to begin with, this goes a step further by using unsweetened applesauce instead of a similar amount of oil. This also includes some optional toasted wheat germ.

Ingredients:
5 cups old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
2 Tbs canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt or 1/2 tsp regular table salt
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 cup of dried cranberries.

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and use a small pot on the stovetop to the canola oil with the honey. Let that heat up a bit and then add the unsweetened applesauce and vanilla. Stir to combine and turn the heat off.

Next, use a large mixing bowl to combine the oats with the wheat germ, light brown sugar, cinnamon and salt and toss those to combine. Then, add the applesauce mixture and toss until everything is well-coated.

Lastly, fold in the pecans and spread the mixture out onto a large, heavy-bottomed baking tray. Place that onto the center rack of the preheated oven.

That is going to take just about 40 to 45 minutes to bake. Stir it around quite often, using the spoon to pull the outside edges into the center as it is baking.

At this point, let it cool down to room temperature and then add it to a large mixing bowl and fold in 1 cup of dried cranberries.