Unprocessed: Granola

I have to admit, I've never been a huge fan of granola.  I know that might seem odd because it can be truly delicious, but my typical experience has been one of two things: 

1. I loved it and could eat my weight in it, but the fat content was so high I would've been mourning the expansion of my waistline at the same time.
2. It was dry and gross...no thank you!

So a few weeks ago when Adam started perusing cereal boxes at Trader Joe's I had to take a 2nd look.  Their granola was not only high in fat (as most are) it was also pretty expensive for a bunch of ingredients I have on hand a good portion of the time.  I was sold, it was time for an experiment.  I gathered my supplies (shown above) and got to work.  I will confess, I'm not always super great at measuring, but I did my best to come up with a recipe that is quite delicious.  I did a little research first and found a similar one at 100 Days of Real Food as Lisa does a great job of feeding her family of 4 unprocessed food.  I took her version and changed it to fit my personal style.

One of the great things about this recipe is the simplicity of it.  You grab a handful of ingredients, throw them together, and end up with something that is delicious!  I'm a big fan of throwing different things together, but I'm sure my husband and daughter would attest to the fact that they are not always delicious.  You can't win all the time right? 

This is my 2nd batch of granola, so I'm gonna say it's a hit.  I have used it each morning as a crunchy addition to my greek yogurt with honey.  It takes an already delicious breakfast to the next level of wonderfulness when you mix creamy, slightly sweet yogurt with the crunch of this goodness.  YUM!  Now, I have to be honest I'm not sure exactly where this falls in the realm of  clean eating because I don't do a good job of following rules.  What I do know is the ingredients in this recipe are all natural and organic.  That's good enough for me. 

Here's the skinny on this treat.  Mix together your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add honey mixture and stir until well coated.  Spread on a piece of parchment paper.  Mine makes about a 3/4" layer on a large baking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour at 250 degrees.  I let mine bake a little bit longer this time and the edges got a little too brown.  To be honest I like burnt stuff, so I liked it, but I think I've eaten the majority of the slightly dark parts.  When you finish let it cool completely, it will harden as it cools.  Then crumble and store in a ziploc bag in the pantry.  It most likely won't last more than a week if it makes it that far.  So far that's been my experience!  

Ingredients:4 cups rolled oats

• 1.5 cups unsweetened coconut (I promise even if you don't like coconut if you buy this kind you will change your mind)
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup millet (small grain used in bird seed, quite delicious and can be used in place of rice in other recipes)
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (it's fall after all)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.  Warm butter & honey in a sauce pan until butter is melted, stir to combine.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and almond extract.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix until well coated.  Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread granola on parchment paper to form an even layer.  Bake at 250 for 1 hour.

What ingredients would you add/change to make this granola something your family will gobble up?

Time flies!

So much has happened over the past few months, and clearly my intentions of blogging have gone awry. Here is a quick update on what we’ve been doing. Alexa started 5K last week, and is loving every minute of it. She is extremely proud that she knows where her classroom is and can walk in all by herself. I love her sweet independent spirit; most of the time. Adam has been helping my sister & her fam with their business for about 4 months now. If you’re not familiar with our products I would highly recommend checking them out here. He has done a great job being a work-at-home dad and waits patiently in the car line each day to bring Alexa home. I continue working for Community Health as part of their residency program and I really love it. I am so thankful God has blessed me with this job and can’t wait to see what the future hold. We are also watching Resonate Church bloom and blossom during these beginning stages, and can clearly see God’s hand upon the work we are doing there. We will officially launch services in just a few weeks! I can’t believe this time last year we were just making the decision to move, man how time flies!

Another journey we began a few months ago was the quest to live a healthier, happier lifestyle. It seems my entire adult life I have been on a diet of some sort, and at times I have thought it would always be that way. Then it hit me, I didn’t want Alexa to be standing in the middle (ok fine at the end) of her 20’s feeling the same way. I began using Weight Watchers in May and have lost 16 pounds so far, I have to admit it is nice to see lower numbers on the scale, but I don’t always feel lighter. I definitely have a few pounds left to lose, but we are working each day as a family to eat better and slowly but surely we will get there.

homemade fruit pancakes from freshly milled wheat

cinnamon raisin bread

One of the biggest changes we’ve made is cutting out the processed food in our diets. Now, let me say I love a hotdog as much as the next girl (probably more) and I highly doubt I will ever go without them, but in general less processed is crossing our table. We are working on doing more clean eating, you know not eating food with ingredients that you can’t pronounce or spell! This has made a huge difference. Along those same lines we have started milling our own grains, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it! What a great feeling to know that I am providing my family with healthy, nutritious whole grain breads, muffins, cookies, and so much more!

I know some of you might be shaking your head and thinking ‘I don’t have time for that’, and to be honest I thought the same thing. When Jodi started milling their wheat I thought it was a great idea, but she’s also a stay work-at-home mom who must have more time than I do. Then I began hearing about the health benefits and knew it was something we needed to do. We bought a grain mill, found a local supplier, and haven’t looked back. Typically speaking I bake once a week for the whole week, it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to a few hours depending on what I’m making that week, and what else I have going on. It is a commitment I have made to our family to keep us on our journey to whole foods living.

Over the next weeks and months I plan to continue updating you all on our progress.  We would love to have you check-in and leave any comments or feedback you might have.  If you care to join us that would be great too...the more the merrier right?!  I will share recipes and pictures of the things we make, and let you know if they were deemed worthy of appearing on our table again.  I hope to see you around again soon!