Carrot Cake Granola

Carrot Cake Granola

 

Ah, granola, the breakfast of choice for many fitness fanatics across the country. But is it healthy for you? A quick look at the ingredients on any sort of store bought granola reveals additives, preservatives  and fillers all of which are completely uncessary. Excess sugars, and in many cases trans fats, leave the helpless granola on my black list quite often. Not to mention the fact that a 11.5 oz bag can cost over $6! Who really has the luxury to pay nearly $2 an ounce for some glorified oats? Not this gal. So for all the aforementioned reasons, I prefer to make my own. Honestly, I'm kinda over everything being packaged and presented to me from someone else like it's supposed to be better just because you stamp a big ol' trademark on it. I mean seriously, nothing is simply homemade anymore. Are we that lazy or that busy that we can't be bothered to combine ingredients, grate cheese, or boil water? Maybe you are that busy...or lazy...so maybe this blog is not for you. Which is fine, to each their own. But have any of you ever tried to make an entire meal from scratch just to see what it would taste like? I'm telling you, packaged and processed with not find their way into your cart thereafter.

 

*Geez, get off your soapbox already*

 

Sorry, sometimes I'm just get swept away in the tides of yesteryear when life was a slower, simpler, and a bit more wholesome. Just do me a favor, make one thing--just one--completely from scratch and tell me you don't see and taste a difference. I'm betting you'll feel a difference too, head held high, shoulders back. Because you made it, not Betty Crocker, whoever that lady is.

 

Carrot Cake Granola

 

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (flakes would work too)

3/4 cup finely shredded carrots

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut sugar (or applesauce, brown sugar, agave, etc)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg (less if it's freshly grated)

1/2 raisins or dates

1/2 pecans or walnuts

 

Instructions

Combine oats, coconut, and carrots and set aside. In a saucepan, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, and coconut sugar over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the vanilla and spices. Pour over the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined.

 

Spread on a parchment lined backing sheet. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. Stir and bake another 15 minutes. Be careful to watch for burning.

 

Once removed from the oven add in the nuts and dried fruit. Store in an airtight container.

 

That's it. That is what you pay $6 for at the store...

 

Life is better homemade,

~LL

 



Peanut Butter Granola

       Almost four and half years ago (what?!) I went to France. I went with a program through my high school after I graduated and considered it a "hooray for me!" sort of trip. It was a blast and I hope one day I can travel to other places and explore the world some more. After I returned, I was asked by my teacher to write a column for our local newspaper. Here is what my eighteen-year-old-self wrote:

When a person goes to another country he never knows what to fully expect. Of course stories are heard like "the people there are hairy" or "the entire place just holds an awful stench to it" but that still doesn't cover everything. Even if it did, that was another person's experience, not your own. You have to make your own decisions and observations. Here are some of the things that I observed:

There are no water fountains anywhere in France. When you find one, drink up and fill your water bottles because you probably won't find one for the rest of the day. If you get thirsty and you're out of water, guess what? You have to pay basically a million dollars (about two Euros) for even a small water bottle. Either that or you mooch off of your friends, but you can't do that all the time. It's not very polite.

Public bathrooms that you don't have to pay for are virtually impossible to find, though they are more common than water fountains. When I was staying with my host family in Grenoble, Laura, the daughter, and I decided to go shopping. A few hours into our little escapade I realized that after drinking a liter of water I needed a bathroom. If Laura hadn't been with me I don't know what I would have done because she led me to the only public bathroom in the shopping district: top floor, far back corner, of the Galeries Lafayette.

Peanut butter doesn't exist in France. OK, so you may find one jar of peanut butter in the foreign section of a supermarket, but that's it. Needless to say, if you can't find peanut butter in a grocery store, you can't find it in their candy bars either. I was quite disappointed.

These are just a few examples of the traits about France that one wouldn't expect, or at least I wouldn't. The small things about a country are what make it unique. If you look at the world from a large scale, everywhere seems the same. Politics, money (or lack there of), the desire for power, etc. ... However, when you look deeper, on a smaller scale, you see the things that make a country special, whether you like those things or not (like the lack of peanut butter and water fountains).

This trip is something I will never forget. The people I traveled with, the teachers who put up with us and made it all happen, and the country itself have left an impact on my life that I wouldn't change for the world.

     Sometimes I think it'd be fun to go back in time and talk to my younger self--not necessarily to lecture or anything but just to simply talk. I think I'd make myself laugh. Anyway, I thought of this article for a very specific reason: my mini peanut butter rant. It is so American, and I love it! Basically, if anybody ever criticizes you (and you're American) for an excessive love of peanut butter, just tell them that you're embracing your patriotism, haha.





Peanut Butter Granola
Recipe from shape.com

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

Directions
--Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

--Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray or use a silpat. Set aside.

--Stir together the peanut butter and honey in a tiny sauce pan over low heat until the peanut butter is melted into the honey. (You can use a microwave if you really want to, but it zaps out the great qualities of the honey.)

 --Remove from heat and mix in the cinnamon and vanilla, then add the oats and stir it all together until the oats are completely covered with the peanut butter blend.

--Spread the covered oats onto the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes until the granola is slightly browned. If you kept your granola in larger chunks you may need to go longer, but watch out for burning.

---Let the granola cool until it's crunchy, just a few minutes is all. It won't be as rock solid as store bought granola, but it'll still have a nice bite to it =)





Happy Baking!
--H

Maple Spice Peanut Butter Granola

With the holidays here, it seems that there is far too much sugar around and no matter how strong my will power may be the other 10 months, it sucks from October 31st to January 2nd.  What normal person can really resist all of the deliciousness that comes around the end of the year? The smells, the flavors, the perfectly decorated cookies are far too much for me to ignore, so I taste and nibble while trying to ignore the voices in my head that tell me not to.  But I haven't ignored them completely, in fact I created something just for them: wholesome maple spice peanut butter granola.  It's filling, it's satisfying, it's good for you.  Throw it on top of some greek yogurt or eat it with milk.  Pile some on your ice cream and drizzle with caramel.  See how you are imagining other ways to eat this right now?  It's a powerful little recipe.  Plus making granola yourself is A: cheaper and B: better for you because you get to control what's in it. Clearly there is no way you can go wrong with this simple, easy, and quick to make granola, so what are you waiting for? Get to the kitchen and whip some now to pack for your kids' lunches and for your breakfast or mid day snack, your tastebuds and stomach will thank me....and this sweet little blog!

Maple Spice Peanut Butter Granola
(From: little bitty bakes)

INGREDIENTS:

        1 3/4 cups rolled oats
        1 1/2 tablespoons chia seeds (optional but so much better for you with it)
        1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
        1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
        1/3 cup smooth (or crunchy) peanut butter, melted
        1/3 cup light maple syrup (the real thing! (cant't harp on that enough sorry))

        1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, chia seeds, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, give a quick stir.  Stir in the melted peanut butter and maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well.  Dump onto a cookie sheet and smooth out into a fairly even layer and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and light brown.  Make sure you keep your eye on it, it will brown pretty quickly before you know it.  Cool the granola completely before storing in an airtight container. A quart Mason jar, or reused (cleaned) spaghetti sauce jar does the trick just nicely. 

Now forget about those chocolate covered oreo's that you just ate hoping no one was looking and eat something that you don't have to feel guilty about. You're welcome.

Life's better homemade,

LL