Last weekend’s weather had me dreaming. Sunday’s sunny, cool breeze made me dread the impending winter and thirsting for one last camping trip.

Camping always makes me think of two kinds of food — the first of which is always fish. Catching your own food has to be one of the most rewarding experiences in the world. I can think of few more satisfying feelings than lying next to a campfire with a belly full of catfish and bluegill.

I got so gosh darned nostalgic about fishing I almost went out to try some in the Iowa River. Then, common sense got the better of me. Any fish that manages to stay alive in the Iowa River is not a fish I want to be eating.

Instead, I stayed inside and made the second food camping always makes me of — granola. I think I associate camping with granola because of the incredibly delicious kind at the summer camp I went to as a kid. I never got the recipe the camp used — but I still make this easy version when I get hungry for camping.

— by Tanner Koomar

Yum Yum Granola

Ingredients:

1⁄4 cup butter

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave-safe bowl. Mix in honey, syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla. Microwave on medium heat for about a minute or until the mixture is quite thin. In mixing bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Stir liquid ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Grease a 9-by-13 baking sheet with walls and spread granola evenly out on it. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes to keep it from clumping. You’re done.