Granola

At the church Christmas breakfast in December one of the gals had made some fabulous granola that I couldn't get enough of, and I begged her for the recipe.  A couple of the ingredients could use a healthy makeover, so I changed it up a bit, added a couple of extras and now it's just perfect.  Also, this recipe is HUGE, so I only make a half batch.  Half a batch is all you can fit onto one jelly roll pan, so you'd need two to make a whole batch.  The recipe below is the whole batch, so I cut it half to make mine.

GRANOLA

9 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup whole wheat flour  (I used a gluten free one from a previous post)

1 tsp salt

1/2-3/4 cup ground flax

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup honey

1 cup melted butter or coconut oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325.  In a VERY big bowl mix the oats, flour, salt, flax, and coconut.  In a microwaveable glass bowl, melt the butter in the microwave on high for 30 seconds or until almost melted.  Add the honey to the butter and cook for another 30 seconds until well heated (put a napkin on top to stop splatters).  Mix the butter and honey well and add vanilla.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to coat.  Turn onto an ungreased jelly roll pan, spread out evenly, and bake for 20 minutes take out and stir, then bake another 20 minutes.  Cool completely then store in an airtight container.

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I get my shredded coconut from the health food store so it's natural and unsweetened, thus eliminating that sugar.  I only make half a batch of this because it's a huge amount and I don't have a container big enough to store it.  Also, you can only fit half a batch on a jelly roll pan, or you would have to use two pans and do two bakings.  That's okay if you have a double oven and can do it all at once, but I don't, so I only do half a batch.

I eat this like it's going out of style!  It's so good, I crave it all day.  I use it like cereal with coconut or almond milk.  I also eat lots of it with vanilla yogurt.  Last night I ate it with apples dipped in peanut butter then dipped in the granola.  That was a little bit awesome.  So try it out on lots of stuff and see what you think.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins

Well, I've been at it again: making recipes from Pinterest.  This one caught my eye because it has no flour or sugar. I tried to find the original author's website, but it keeps sending me to nowhere land.  Sorry, I'd love to give the cook the credit if I could just find her.  At any rate, I've adapted the recipe so it's kind of mine now, or at least my version.

These were so awesome I could eat them all day long (and I did)!  They're totally healthy so I have no guilt.  The first time I made these the only adaptation I made was to add a dash of salt.  They were okay, but the flavor was so mild as to be bordering on bland (I still ate the whole batch myself).  So I thought of how I could improve it and still keep it healthy.  Here's what I've come up with:

HEALTHY BREAKFAST MUFFINS
3 mashed bananas (very ripe)
1 cup vanilla almond milk (or coconut milk)
2 eggs
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
2 pkts Truvia (stevia)
1 scant tsp salt
3 cups oats (I used quick oats)
 OPTIONAL:
1/2 cup ground flax
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup dried cranberries or blueberries or mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and put cupcake liners into 2 muffin tins (this recipe makes 17-18).  In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas, then mix in the milk, eggs, baking powder, vanilla, honey, Truvia, and salt, stirring after each addition.  Add oats and mix thoroughly.  If you are using any of the optional ingredients, add them with the oats.  Fill the cupcake liners almost full (these don't expand very much - I used an ice cream scoop).  Bake for about 19 minutes or until done.  Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn out and let cool upright completely before storing in an airtight container.

 You can see from the picture that I've already eaten one.  By the time I wrote this post, I'd eaten a few more.  You will probably eat all of these in one day just like I did last time.

Now, obviously if you use the dried berries or chocolate chips, you're adding sugar into the recipe, so be aware that that will diminish the perfect healthiness of the muffins.  I don't care at all, I add cranberries anyway, because it's delicious.  If, however, you don't add dried berries or chocolate chips (or use sugar-free ones), this then will be the perfect snack (or feast, in my case) for anyone with diabetes or Celiac, since it will be sugar-free and gluten-free. That's great in my family since my dad has Celiac and my mom is diabetic. 2 for 2!  You can also add some brewers yeast and these will then be good lactation muffins for nursing mommies like myself.

So try these out and send me your thoughts and suggestions.  Perhaps you have a good idea about more optional ingredients.