Chocolate Cranberry Granola

 

The kids are back in school!  The kids are back in schoo-oo-oo-oool!  (to the tune of “The boys are back in town”)  It is SUCH a good thing that you’re doing that in your head (or maybe outloud too?!?!) instead of being here with me.  It’s outloud for me–and I’m getting some strange looks! 😉

Now that the kids are back in school, we need to get back into regular routines and scheduling.  That means no more lazy mornings with kids in pajamas and breakfast whenever we get to it.  Of course, a quick easy breakfast option is always cereal, but who wants plain ol’ cereal if you can have something else crunchy, sweet, and chocolatey and that packs a bit of a health punch?  We do, we do!

Lucky for me (and this granola), dried cranberries have been on sale in the bulk section, so we stocked up!  This makes such a nice combo with the deep flavor of the chocolate and the tartness of the cranberries.  And for some reason, I feel really good when I can incorporate something so good for you, like flax seeds.  In my mind, they totally negate the chocolate chips.  They do, don’t they?

Even though the kids have only been back in school for a few days, we’re already on the crumbs of the granola.  Some people would say that it’s because there’s so many little mouths eating it, but I’ve been on this ride too long!  We make double and triple batches of everything—and you know when something is good—it disappears!  I literally had to fight my little photo-bomber off of the granola so that I could take some pictures.  As soon as I was done, he dove into that bowl like nobody’s business!  Makes a mamma feel good 🙂

Cranberry Chocolate Granola

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
½ cup flax seeds
½ cup cocoa powder
⅓ cup melted coconut oil
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 TBSP maple syrup
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
¼ cup dried cranberries

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, coconut, and flax seeds.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, coconut oil, vanilla, maple syrup, and brown sugar until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture over the oat mixture in the large bowl and stir until all the oats are coated.
4. Distribute evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, then stir and bake another 15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven again and allow granola to cool completely in the pan without stirring. It will harden/crunch up as it cools.
7. Once cooled completely, add in mini chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Store in an airtight container.

We love having batches of granola and other quick breakfast treats around, especially now that we’re back in school!  What’s your favorite breakfast for a speedy morning?

Grain-Free Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

As we know I love granola…as a cereal, on yogurt, right out of the container. You name it, I love it! Lately, I’ve had some upset stomach issues, and in an effort to rule things out, I stopped eating oats for a bit. Well—no oats?!?!?! What’s a granola-loving girl to do? Improvise of course!

I found this recipe from Against All Grain for a completely grain free granola, so I thought that I’d give it a shot—couldn’t be all bad, right? I made a few adjustments (like maple syrup for one) to make it a bit more true to my tastes, and I must say…it is pretty good!

I did try the granola as a cereal, and I will admit that I wasn’t overly excited—because the granola is mainly nuts and I was too impatient to fully cook it, it didn’t soak up the almond milk like a more traditional granola does—not as satisfying. That hasn’t stopped me though! My favorite way to eat it has been to throw in some dried blueberries and then snack on it throughout the day. There’s something about the granola with it being just slightly moist with a bit of a chew to it (I know that sounds weird, but it is so satisfying!), and throwing in the dried blueberries adds a bit of extra sweetness—mmm…mmm…truly scrumptious! I’ve seriously been carrying around a little Tupperware and a spoon each day, to and from meetings, sneaking bites as I can (nobody was looking…right?!?!?!).

 

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

• 3 cups mixed raw nuts (I used a mix of pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews)
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon golden flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup maple syrup, melted
• 1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt (plus 1 teaspoon for soaking water)
• 1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
• Optional: 1 cup of dried fruit of your choice (raisins, blueberries, cranberries, etc)

Instructions:

1. Soak all of the nuts in enough water to cover them and mix in 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover, and soak overnight, changing out the water one time. Soak the sunflower seeds in a separate bowl, following the same procedure as above. Note that if you use cashews, they will take on a brownish/purplish color—since everything gets processed, you won’t notice later.
2. Drain the nuts and seeds and place on a paper towel to absorb the remaining water. Keep half of the sunflower seeds separate.
3. Place all of the nuts and half of the sunflower seeds in the bowl of a food processor. Grind them until they resemble the size of oats.
4. Add in the coconut oil, cinnamon, maple syrup, vanilla, sea salt. Pulse until combined.
5. Next, add last half of the sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds, and pulse once or twice, until they are roughly chopped and mixed into the nut mixture.
6. Remove the blade, then mix in the shredded coconut with a spoon. Turn the mixture out onto 3 parchment covered dehydrator trays. Spread it evenly into a thin layer.
7. Bake in your oven on the lowest setting for 3-4 four hours, or until free of moisture (I wanted mine slightly chewy, so I took it out a little early).
8. Let cool completely before adding any mix-ins (it will crisp as it cools) and then store in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks. 

 

I just ran out of this granola today, and I’m totally bummed! Aaron’s going to have to make a run to the store so I can work on a batch to take with me the rest of the week! 😉

What’s your favorite carry-around snack?

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Cinnamon Maple Granola

Every day, the kids bring home a folder with work from the day and any notes from the teacher.  On Friday, both Madison and Zachary brought home behavior notes for not listening and talking too much during their music class.  I sat down with them to have a conversation about what happened, why it wasn’t appropriate, and what they’re going to do differently next time.  Then we have to decide what sort of consequence should happen.    Being that it was Friday night and a good night for TV, we all agreed that no TV would be it.

Aaron and I were ready. The kids have this new karate show that they love, so we were all set to turn it on for the other three while Madison and Zachary weren’t able to watch it.  Mads, Jax, and Zachary were in the midst of their pirates trying to breach the knight’s castle.  Zoe and Connor were at the kitchen table creating pop-up books and caterpillars.  We turned on the TV, holler that the TV is on, and…nothing.  Not a single one of them made a move for the living room.  Not one.  We left the TV on for about 15 minutes and then gave up.  How weird is that?!?!?!  Feeling like we were giving up on wanting the kids to watch TV.  On the flip-side, they were all playing so great, and we were all having fun!

Because the kids were playing and creating so nicely, I took advantage of the time to whip up a bit of granola.  I love granola!  Granola in my yogurt, granola in trail mix, granola with almond milk.  It’s great—and throw in some maple syrup—mmm, mmm!  This granola doesn’t fail.  It smelled so great cooking and tasted even better for my breakfast on Saturday.

Cinnamon Maple Granola

3 cups oats
¾ cup sliced almonds
½ cup coconut
3 TBSP brown sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
5 TBSP coconut oil, melted
¾ cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325.  Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In another bowl, combine the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and the vanilla.
4. Pour the maple syrup mixture over the oats mixture and toss to coat.
5. Once the oats are all coated, spread the mixture out on the parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the granola is slightly browned, turning every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool.  Once the granola is completely cooled, break up any large pieces and store in an airtight container.

Patterson’s Bars

Happy mid-week ya’ll!  I am super excited that today is Wednesday because it means I have one more sleep until I get back home to Aaron and the kids!!!  I’ve been gone since Sunday night on a recruiting trip for work in Michigan and now in Chicago—thank goodness for texting, picture messages, and FaceTime.  Lucky for this mommy, we’ve been so busy on our trip that there hasn’t been much time to sit and miss the family—I literally fall into bed each night, and I’m OUT.

Because I knew I’d be travelling this week (and because a friend asked me to come up with a yummy granola bar that she could make gluten free), and sometimes it can be a bit challenging to find some healthy, vegan, easy to grab foods along the way, I made up a batch of granola bars to bring along.  I don’t prefer crunchy granola bars, so I wanted to make something that was sweet, chewy, and packed a little health kick.

Since Mads “says” she doesn’t like things with peanut butter in them, I added some natural almond butter (gotta appease my taste testers ya know), which is great because you’re not adding a bunch of extra processed sugar this way.  Originally, I wanted to add some dried cranberries to the recipe, but we know Jax’s opinion on dried fruit, a.k.a. dead bugs.  I actually tried to trick him a little by convincing him to eat a craisin without showing it to him, but he’s a smartone, he is.  He wouldn’t fall for it—not even a little.  So I compromised and added some chopped apricots—and let me tell you—smelling them bake was dee-vinely scrumptious!  My mouth watered at that smell alone!  For added health factor, we threw in some chia seeds, and they just disappeared into the mix.  So, please add them, try them, start using them if you don’t already.  In fact, I may add more the next time I make these bars!

When buying your ingredients for this recipe, I sent Aaron out to the store, asking for some dates.  He did his best and brought back a bag of dried chopped dates.  These worked great, especially since they were a bit cheaper than the dates you find in the produce section.  If you opt for fresh dates, I would skip the rehydration process of soaking them in water.  When it came to “stirring” all of the ingredients together, I ended up going all handsy—squishing and squeezing.  If you note the spatula in the picture, that may have had something to do with it (see the cute little snowmen!).  Since I have issues with getting stuff on my hands, this really turned into a way to push myself—gotta love working on your issues while you create things!

I’ve been enjoying these bars, and most of the kids have been too—or so Aaron tells me!  Now, I’m off to listen to some sweet Chicago jazz tunes for the evening!

Sweet Granola Bars

1 cup dried chopped dates
1/3 cup dark maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon almond butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups rolled oats, divided
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides. Spray with nonstick spray.

2. In a heat-safe bowl, cover the dates with hot water. Soak for 10 minutes. Drain and place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the syrup, brown sugar, almond butter, cinnamon, and vanilla. Process to form a thick paste, about 20 seconds (stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula). Add 2 cups of the oats and pulse 8 to 10 times, until the oats are coarsely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir/combing in the remaining 1/2 cup oats, apricots, nuts, chia and sunflower seeds.

3. Using slightly dampened hands, press the mixture firmly and evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

4. Cool the dish for 15 minutes at room temperature, then transfer to the freezer and chill until completely cooled (about 30 minutes). Cut into 10 or 12 bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.