Tag: granola

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I’m hippie-granola…and apples are pretty freaking awesome.

I told you I was hippie-granola.

I wear leg warmers… and birkenstocks. Sometimes together… possibly more often than I care to admit.

My traveling attire when I went to Oregon was truly something spectacular… the usual leg warmers… and my yoga mat! Wow. People in the airport were REAL jealous, let me tell you.

Not my fault I was raised on tofu and bananas and other sorts of natural-type foods like peanut butter that separates (that no stir stuff has always creeped me out). Born in Berkeley, what can I say. Admit it, it’s part of my charm.

And look… I made granolaaaa!!! Like, real granola. Not like my type of hippie crunchy granola. I figured it would be easy and more cost effective to make my own, not to mention healthier, as I know exactly what goes in it. Not that we eat really sketchy granola, as a rule: Nature’s Path is pretty non sketch and delicious. But still. I wanted to try my hand at making some anyway… and I’m pretty sure it was a success.

Besides, this granola is full o’ the good stuff… like healthy fats from the pepitas and the flaxseed (can you say omegaaaasss!), whole grains (oats), and blood sugar stabilization from cinnamon. Apples are pretty freaking awesome too, since they provide soluble fiber (mostly in the form of pectin) for happy digestion and lower cholesterol levels, AND antioxidants…not to mention vitamin C! I love me some anti-free radial activity. Soooo, basically apples are awesome. You know what they say, about apples and doctors? Yeah. Pretty much true. Or maybe you should just eat some granola instead, nudge nudge wink wink…!

Apple-Cinnamon Granola

The recipe is slightly modified from Sally’s Baking Addiction, here! It made three jars worth of granola (as some of you are aware, I ADORE jars and store nearly everything in them)… which probably amounts to about 3 cups, ish? The recipe comes together quickly, bakes in half an hour, and is great snacking/breakfast/yogurt topping option. Gotta love granola and it’s ridiculous versatility!

  • 2.5 c rolled oats (not quick oats)
  • 3/4 c ground flaxseed
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • heaping 1/4 c raw pepitas
  • 1 c dried apples*, diced
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 5 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 c maple syrup

*preferably use dried apples that are just that: apples that have been dried! None of those icky sulphites or sugars. Ew. None of that.

Preheat the oven to 300, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a largish bowl, mix together oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, pepitas, and diced apples. In a smaller bowl, whisk together salt, applesauce, and maple. Pour the wet over the dry and stir to combine, making sure that the wet ingredients are evenly distributed. Spread the mix onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring slightly at the 15 minute mark. Let cool for at least a half an hour on the stove top (you wouldn’t want soggy granola, would you?!). Store in jars!!

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Caped cookie crusaders for breakfast?

jars are always superior storage

The breakfast cookie strikes again!

Sneaky breakfast nutrition packaged into one deceptively small package, complete with whole grains/fiber, potassium, and healthy fats. All it needs is a cape to achieve complete superhero status. Can’t you just imagine this little caped cookie crusader swooping in, shoving your boring (and non-nutritive)  breakfast off your plate, and (standing with fists on hips, cape blowing in the wind… wait. do cookies have hips? Whatever, indulge me) trumpeting: “I am the breakfast cookie, here to save your butt from a boring breakfast! Eaaaat meeeee, you know you want to! I’m tasty and portable, and a COOKIE. Hellooooo, who DOESN’T want to say they’ve had a cookie for breakfast?!”.

…

demonstrating amazing feats of super-cookieness

And then you eat it, and feel so ridiculously awesome, like you could go off and save the world. Or wear a cape and look bomb. You know, just some minor benefits of eating a proper breakfast (or a legit breakfast cookie, since as I’ve demonstrated, that clearly equates to the same thing). Besides, these cookies are one of the easiest to make: just toss all the ingredients together, stir and chuck onto the cookie sheet in roughly cookie-shaped balls. Bake. Let cool (yeah right). Eat. Done! Go don your cape.

dense cookie complexity up close and personal-like

Banana-Granola Breakfast Cookies

I adapted these ever so slightly from Fannetastic Foods, here! I’ve made them before, but I really wanted granola in this batch somewhere. They’re lightly sweet and nicely hearty, perfect for a capped crusader breakfast. Mine were 2-3″ across fully baked, and I ended up with 14 total.

  • 1 c rolled oats
  • 2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 1 tsp whole chia seeds
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 ridiculously ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/4 c plain lowfat yogurt (or whatever you have on hand)
  • 1/4 c pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 c granola of choice*

*I used 1/4 c Nature’s Path pumpkin flax granola, and 1/4 c Nature’s Path Ancient Grains + Almond granola (a winning combo, I must say)

mmm, coookies

Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease a cookie sheet (or two, whatever floats your boat). In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, coconut, flaxseed, chia, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, mash up the bananas, and then add yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add wet into dry, and fold in granola as you stir them together. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake for 13-14 minutes—mine were done at 13. I pulled them off the cookie sheet right away, as I didn’t want them to dry out. Let cool on  a cooling rack. I store cookies with banana in the fridge—I think it improves the consistency and I like them cold, but that’s up to you :)

Eat. Enjoy wearing your cape to work.

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