healthy laps

I am headed down to Long Island for Easter this morning, so I thought I would give you guys something to drool over. 🙂

As you read in my post on Thursday night, I spent my night cooking up a storm.  I really do love to cook – well, I like to bake. 🙂  It is a stress reliever for me, and something to do at night while I’m watching T.V., since I can rarely sit still.  Plus, I end up with a delicious treat at the end of it!

I baked up 2 batches of tasty granola!  I love to make my own granola because you can control what you put into it.  Galaxy Granola is awesome, as I have talked about before, because they use applesauce in place of oils.  I decided to give this a try to make my homemade granola a little healthier!  I also got ideas, like banana puree instead of oils, from Ashley at Edible Perspective!  She makes delicious looking granola and granola bars.

Making your own granola is so simple.  You can basically use any ingredients that you want and/or have.  I normally have a bunch of different raw nuts, oats and unsweetened dried fruit on hand, so when I decide to make granola, I just pick and choose my ingredients.  Here it goes…

First up was a chocolate granola.  I have been wanting to experiment with adding cacao powder to granola, so I was psyched when this one came out good!

Chocolate Coconut Banana Granola

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup lightly chopped raw almonds
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs
• 1/2 cup unsweeted dried bananas, diced (i like the dried whole bananas, not the chips!)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 2 tbsp melted cacao bliss (yum!) or coconut butter
• 1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp mashed ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp cacao powder

In order to make your granola, just throw all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix.  I normally add the dry ingredients first and then the wet ingredients.  And, I normally just add the amounts that I want of each item, this time I did measure though.

Once mixed, placed your granola on a cookie sheet.  I line mine with parchment paper for easy cleanup.

Bake in the oven at 325°F for about 20-25 minutes.  I stir it half way through to make sure it is not burning.  This chocolate granola took 20 minutes to bake.  You should take it out when it is crisp, but not burnt to a crisp!  The granola will crisp up more as you let it sit out.  And, do that – make sure you let it sit on the baking tray until completely cooled and dry.  Then store in an airtight container.

Next on my list was a fruity granola, but with lots of crunch.  I decided to combine dried ginger, blueberries and apples in this mix.

Apple Blueberry Ginger Granola

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup almonds, chopped
• 1/4 cup macademia nuts, roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp ground flaxmeal
• 2 tbsp brown rice syrup
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 3 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apples
• 1/3 cup dried blueberries
• 1/3 cup chopped dried ginger

Once again, throw everything into the bowl, minus the fruit!  I think that the apple, blueberries and ginger might burn a little or get too tough if you cook them for the entire time.

Mix well, and spread mixture onto a baking sheet (mine was lined with parchment paper).  Bake at 325°F for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 or so to keep cooking evenly.

After about 20 minutes, when the granola is getting crisp, remove from the oven and mix in your dried fruit.

Bake for another 5 minutes, or until just crispy.  Leave spread out on the baking sheet until completely dry and cool, then store in an airtight container.

My granola just about fit in there, with some to spare…

There you have it!  Delicious, healthy granola anytime you want it.  It really is simple to make, and the possibilities are endless!  Next, I’d love to try something with pumpkin butter or apple butter because the applesauce worked perfectly.

Have a great Easter tomorrow!

Filed under: Recipes | Tagged: granola |