I. Must. Share.

When we moved into our current neighborhood, we were excited to learn there was a young couple, Cory & Jess, living two doors down, and they had a baby boy, Tristan. At the time, almost 4 years ago, we only had Ella and she was just about 9 months old. We thought we were so fortunate to have found a couple, living so close, with whom we had so much in common! In our first conversation, we realized Ella and Tristan were born 6 days apart! How ironic, right? Well, the irony only begins there...4 months after settling into our new home, I found out I was pregnant again! Within the same week, I was having a conversation with Jess, and upon sharing my news with her, I learned she was pregnant, too! Though our due dates were a couple weeks apart, our babies (mine a girl, hers a boy) were born 3 days apart! About 15 months later, Jess called me to tell me she was pregnant again and because my hubby and I were actually going to start trying for our third (because we never actually tried before Chloe), I knew we'd have our third babies close together! Sure enough, Aidan (yet another boy for them) and Chloe (and another girl for us) are about 2 1/2 months apart (quite a long span for us, but still close!).

So, having our children so close in age has been wonderful and, as you can imagine, gives me and Jess a lot to talk about. Jess and I could practically pass as sisters and have been mistaken as that on many occasions. There have been several times, while dropping off Ella at school (Ella and Tristan go to preschool together), that someone has stopped me in the hallway thinking I was Jess. Once they notice I'm toting 3 little girls versus 3 little boys on my arms, they realize they have the wrong Mommy. Aside from looking alike and having kids the same age, we share a lot of the same beliefs, have similar parenting styles and share an interest in healthy, natural foods. I'm not much of a cook, but I love getting new recipes for easy, healthy recipes. Jess is great about trying new recipes and passing them along to me. One she recently gave me, and I just tried out today, was a recipe for Homemade Granola. It's amazing! It's so amazing, in fact, I couldn't help but post the recipe on my blog and share it with all of YOU!

Maple Almond Granola

- 4 1/2 C. (18 ounces) of old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
- 3/4 C. shelled, raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 C. slivered or coarsely chopped raw almonds
- 2 T. ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 C. pure maple syrup, preferably Grade A Dark Amber
- 1/3 C. Canola Oil
- 1 C. Raisins

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325.

Place the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the maple syrup and oil and stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spread the granola on a rimmed baking sheet of about 12 X 17 inches. Bake the granola until it begins to brown, about 25 minutes, then stir it with a flat spatula. Let the granola continue to bake until it's light golden brown, dry and fragrant, 15 - 20 minutes longer. Stir the granola at least once more as it bakes and watch is closely in the final minutes as it can easily burn.

Place the baking sheet on a cooking rack, add the raisins, and stir to combine. Let the granola cool completely. Transfer the granola to an airtight container. It can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 month or frozen for up to 6 months. You can serve the granola straight from the freezer. It doesn't get hard and it thaws almost instantly.

Makes about 8 cups.

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe as much as we will!