Granola

One of my missions for 2015 is to have no processed food in my daily diet (and that of my family's too!). I say "daily diet" because I recognize that from time to time I will in fact eat processed foods. Like when I go to someone's house or I am at a restaurant or I just want to indulge (although, I am hoping to eliminate that urge too).

Another one of my missions for 2015 is to have better follow through. I always come up with great ideas, but I never actually DO them.

So, to work on both of those missions, I decided that it might be a good idea if every so often (like maybe every other week), I do a sampling of a couple of recipes and share them (and the results) on the blog.

I decided to start with granola. I've really been craving it lately and the kids seem to like to eat it. And, I feel like my weakest area is having non processed foods ready for snacks.

I first made a "Granola" board on Pinterest and collected a couple of recipes.

1. Crunchy Quinoa Granola from Two Peas and Their Pod
         
I chose to make this recipe because of the quinoa, the oats (I used gluten free), the seeds and nuts. It was relatively easy to make, but my batch, for whatever reason, needed an extra 30 minutes of baking. It became crunchy after it cooled. I wasn't thrilled with the results at first. I wanted a sweeter granola, but it has since grown on me. I eat it warmed up with unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk with a drizzle of honey for breakfast or tossed on top of my plain Greek yogurt. I will definitely be making this again!

2. Homemade Coconut Oil Honey Almond Granola from Lovely Little Kitchen

This one sounded simple. I thought the kids would enjoy this one more than the other one since it doesn't have all the extra "stuff" like the nuts and seeds. Sometimes they turn their noses up at "stuff" like that (although, I have witnessed them snacking on the other granola!). It was very simple to make and turned out very crunchy and sweet! The kids love to eat this one for breakfast! I loved the fact that it has coconut oil in it...helping them get some healthy fats in their day! This one is a tad too sweet for me. I may make this one again if I find I like it better than some others. I would like to give the girls less sweetness.

3. Homemade KIND Bars from With Love and Cupcakes

These bar far are my FAVORITE of the three! I'm not sure I have ever eaten a KIND bar before, but if they taste anything like this homemade variety, they are VERY tasty! They were a bit time consuming to make, but sooooooo worth the effort. With just one taste, I knew I was going to have to make more...I ended up tripling the recipe. All four of us eat at least one bar a day. I'm not a HUGE fan of using the brown rice syrup, but it is on clean eating lists, so I am okay with it for now. The biggest benefit is that the girls are eating nuts (yeah!) and zero processed crap since they are totally made from scratch! I highly recommend you make these as I will be making them again and again.

So there you have it! 3 Granola recipes for you to try that have been tried and tested at my house. It is a bit time consuming (I probably spent a couple of hours making all three of these recipes), but knowing that when my kids eat breakfast or reach for a snack that they are grabbing something with zero processed junk, makes the time I put into these things worth it. Plus, today is Tuesday; I made these recipes on Sunday, and we still have plenty left for tomorrow (KIND bars. The granola will last probably through the weekend if not longer. And, it can be stored in those jars up to a month and still be fresh!)

Give these three recipes a try and let me know what you think!

Peace out Peeps! Thanks for visiting my blog!