What A Crock (Pot) Granola

Gorgeous granola from SmittenFoodie at Food Buzz

I love granola.  I like it plain, snitched out of the container.  I love it warm and soft, smooshed into balls.  I love it over ice cream or mixed into yogurt.  I love it with milk for breakfast.  I love it made into cookies or granola bars.  We eat a lot of oatmeal during the winter, but summer is too hot and granola is perfect.  Trent makes good granola, and we practically inhale it.  I don't, because I usually burn it.

I had heard of granola recipes cooked in a crock pot.  Stephanie at Crockpot365 said,

"This is one of the only times I haven't burnt granola, and my kids have been eating it non-stop since the first batch came out of the crock. I'm going to go have some more right now."

A Year of Slow Cooking at Crockpot 365

So I gathered my oats and nuts and honey and all the other good stuff, mixed it up in my big trusty crock, vented the lid, and stirred it every half hour.  The house smelled wonderful.  The kids were dying for oatmeal cookies.  It got done late, just before bed.  Ben had some for a midnight snack, even though it was still hot.  I left the vented lid on, figured it would cool through the night, and went to bed.  I was pretty pleased with myself for doing such a good job, and looking forward to a yummy, easy, good-for-you breakfast.

(Things don't always turn out like you want them to, do they?)  The bad news:  I forgot to TURN OFF the crock.  The very bad news:  I burnt the granola, and the kitchen reeks.  The very, very bad news: I had actually made TWO batches, and burnt them both!  The very, very, very bad news: I think I way have ruined two wonderfully useful crocks.

All the nasty-smelling oaty mess went to feed my brother-in-law's chickens.  I scrubbed for a long time, and still didn't get the green crock clean enough to use.  

(Bad words!)