Get Shining Homemade Granola

Hello!

Good morning.

I’m happy to hear that most of you don’t tan. We need to love ourselves, whether we’re purple, pink, black, white, bronze, tan, whatever.

Remember how I wrote about getting back on track? Well, in efforts to give myself healthy snacks to grab or a little sweet treat, I made granola! I’ve never made my own homemade granola before so I was actually sort of scared. I’m so used to following a recipe for these types of things so I still have the training wheels on in the baking area. For cooking, I’m good to go. I know what flavors taste great with each other and what ratios seem to work best but for baking, I’m a little less confident and I still have to look back on others recipes.

However, I was determined to take off the training wheels and make my own granola. Something that was jam packed with antioxidants and healthy fats not to mention all the healthy carbs & protein! I find this is the perfect snack.. a quick pick me up in the middle of the day. I love grab-it-and-go foods because when I’m in a rush I don’t like to think about my snacks.

This granola will have you shining in no time!

Get Shining Homemade Granola

• 2 and 1/4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup whole flaxseeds (not ground)
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut (I would’ve used unsweetened but I didn’t have any)
• 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp brown rice syrup
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup smooth all-natural peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 tsp salt

 

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Meanwhile in a medium sized bowl, mix together the oats, flaxseeds, chia seeds, coconut, chopped almonds, and raisins. Stir everything together and all in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Give it another quick stir.
2. In a small bowl mix together the peanut butter, brown rice syrup, and maple syrup. Microwave for 40 seconds watching it to make sure that it doesn’t burn. Once microwaved, take out and stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and give it a good stir. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the granola mixture evenly onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375* and then take it out of the oven and flip. Bake for another 3-5 minutes watching closely because it can burn very easily!
4. Take out of the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. Serve!

Mix everything together and spread out evenly onto a baking sheet..

After baking in the oven..

Yuum! This tasted almost like an oatmeal raisin cookie! I am drooling just thinking about topping oatmeal raisin cookie VOO with this.. omg..

Look at all those chia seeds! I love that you can see all the seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. There’s nothing I hate more than a granola with no substance. I love chunks of nuts and dried fruit in my granola!

For me the most fun in making granola is just using whatever you have in your cupboards.

You can throw all types on mix-ins into this and I’m sure it’d turn out wonderful!

• sunflower seeds
• pecans
• dried cranberries
• dried blueberries
• hemp seeds
• walnuts
• etc!

To make a successful granola, I figured out that you just need a wet base (usually peanut butter + a syrup) and some dry mix-ins (oats, dried fruit, nuts). See! SUuuuUuPer simple.

You could even gift this up..

Pretty no?

I’d love to receive some of this healthy granola as a gift.

I ended up putting this jar that I got at AC Moore’s on my kitchen counter with my chia seeds!

I just LOVE chia seeds. I think they are my favorite seed. Or favorite food period. I love mixing them in oats and lots of other things like smoothies and soups to thicken them up. mmmm.

I even enjoyed some of this granola in a parfait one morning..

Cinnamon Spiced Greek Yogurt with Sliced Banana and Granola

• 1 container Chobani plain greek yogurt mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
• Get Shining Homemade Granola
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 tbsp sunflower seed butter

This tasted like ice cream! Wish I had a drizzle of maple syrup over top though (I was all out!).

I can’t imagine topping oats with this granola or even regular cereal.

Oh the things you can do with granola..

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday. Just remember, it’s almost the weekend!! Anyone excited for the royal wedding tomorrow? As it seems to be approaching I am getting more and more excited!

I’m off to eat some yummy VOO.. mmmmm..

These are a mix of chocolate wheatgrass oats + cherry banana soft serve!

I figured out that if you chop a banana before you freeze it and then add one piece at a time to your food processor the whole thing doesn’t go bazurk and you get a much easier banana soft serve process.

These are soooo good. I love these oats. Probably in my top five! I’ll have to do a top 5 oats one day. lol.

I love to just pour all the banana soft serve on top of the oats and eat it all messy. So much more fun that way and it makes the oats really icy and cold. Also very filling, after I eat just a few bites I’m full, I kid you not! But I still manage to eat it all.

Have a good day!