I'm a big fan of Good Eats with Alton Brown. The food is always simple (no maitake mushrooms in every recipe), his approach is a little off the wall, and he shares great bits of useless information here and there. Wonderful show.

In his show about oatmeal there's a great recipe for granola. It's simple, cheap, and tastes wonderful. I've started making it 2 or 3 times a week. I eat it for breakfast and as snacks throughout the day. One of my friends recommended I start a business selling the stuff. It is that good, but I don't think I'm up for a granola business.

The basic recipe is thus:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup sweet shredded coconut
• 1 cup almond slivers
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3/4 tablespoon salt

Mix well, then add:

• 6 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix that around really well. Pop it in a 250° oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. After it's done, toss in some raisins or other dried fruit.

So, that's a good recipe. If you compare it to the one listed at foodtv.com, you'll notice I left off the 1 cup of cashews. I don't really like cashews. I've also found that a generous sprinkling of cinammon with just a touch of nutmeg is delicious. That's probably my favorite so far. Or mix in about 1/4 cup of cocoa for a chocolate splash. I've also found that adding a little bit more syrup and being very careful about the stirring can make for bigger clumps, if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

I'm still working on some more variations. Stay tuned.