Crunchies Recipe (i.e. homemade Clean granola)

I haven't made my "regular" recipes for a few months now...since I did my juice fast.  My clean-eating granola, cookies, brownies, muffins, etc...  I've stayed pretty much raw as far as food prepared in-home.  But this week for some reason I find myself needing something snacky and reaching for sugar again.  Seriously...what IS it with me and sugar?!?  Once an addict...always an addict. 

So tonight I decided it was time to get back to my recipes and make something that will satisfy my snack-need but still be healthy.  I tend to use my blog as my own personal recipe book (which I guess it is!) but when I looked up my Crunchies (i.e. granola) recipe, it wasn't here!  This is the #1 recipe I've recommended to people over the past year + and I'm embarrassed to see it's missing from my blog.  Time to correct that!

I had originally posted it in the Recipes section and then was rotating the recipes out every 2 weeks.  If you take a look in there you can see that hasn't happened in awhile.  So I'm going to update the Recipe section a little and just put the links to the recipes that are posted throughout the blog, and then make sure the recipes I've already posted are all here again and accessible. 

Amy's Crunchies

I originally posted this recipe on 9/10/11 and this is what I wrote:

This granola recipe has become the #1 breakfast and snack food in my house.  We eat it in a bowl with milk, sprinkled over Greek Yogurt or in baggies as a snack.  The kids love it in their lunches at school.  I love it when I need something sweet in the middle of the day. 

I did, however, find this recipe on Tosca Reno's Eat-Clean Diet website, posted by one of her followers.  Boy am I grateful she did post it!  The original name for it was "Chocolate/PB Eat-Clean Granola" (who wouldn't love that!).  We changed the name to "Crunchies" because my kids won't eat things with certain names.  Granola is one of their forbidden words ...they won't touch it if it's granola. (I know - they're weird.  They also won't eat a sandwich if you call it a sandwich.  Call it peanut butter bread and they're all over it.)  So one day I called these Crunchies and they downed the entire tray!

Ingredients 

·   2 cups of Oats

·   4 Tablespoons crushed raw walnuts (or other nut of choice)

·   a few Tablespoons flax seeds

·   1 tsp chia seeds

·   2 Tablespoons all natural nut butter (any kind you like)

·   1 tsp pure vanilla

·   3 Tablespoons raw honey

·   3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

·   1/2 c chopped dark chocolate (70% or higher)

 Instructions

1.      Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

2.      Mix the oats, walnuts, flax seed and chia seeds in a mixing bowl.

3.      In a separate bowl add the nut butter, coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Heat in microwave in 20 second intervals until melted. Stir until nice and creamy.

4.      Slowly add the wet mixture to the oats and fold gently until all oats are covered and a bit moist. Fold in the chopped dark chocolate (or dark chocolate chips).

5.      Place a sheet of parchment paper or tin foil on a cookie sheet. Spread the oatmeal mixture on the parchment paper nice and flat. Bake for 12 minutes and then flip and move the oat mixture around, then cook for another 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes.

Makes approx 3 1/2 cups of granola.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes

*My side notes: my family prefers when I make this with peanut butter and I usually add a little more than the recipe calls for.  My sister's family prefers it with almond butter.  Almond butter will make the granola come out darker.  Both taste great!  I double the recipe but pack it all onto one baking sheet so that it hardens into larger clumps, which make great snacks that are easy to hold. 

Serving suggestion: mix finished granola with other nuts, seeds, dried fruits and pretzels (if you're not going 100% clean) and make a trail mix.

Some Interesting Things

I've come across a few interesting things lately so I thought I'd share them with you.  I'm a big fan of Raw for Thirty Days (how to be healed from diabetes in 30 days...amazing!!).  Alex Ortner and his brother and sister (Nick and Jessica) have done some amazing research on the human body and I've found it fascinating how God has designed us with such incredible thought and detail. 

They sent out some info this week by Jon Gabriel called "The 9 Primitive Fat Triggers In Your Life".  If you had the opportunity to view Hungry For Change that came out earlier this year, Jon Gabriel was featured in that film.  (If not, you can watch the first 20 min at the link I included.  Please do...it's worth it!!)  There is a 3-minute test at this link to find out your top fat triggers (why your body wants to hold on to fat).  Take it here:  http://www.gabrielcode.com/online/what-are-your-fat-triggers-1  There's a short video with it where John shares a little of his story about being 400+ lbs...you've got to see him now!  What a story!  (My #1 fat trigger is Toxicity, #2 is Lifestyle Stresses...feel free to share yours in the comments.)

Something else I discovered this week that I found interesting is the following:

One of the most common things I'm told is "I could never eat like you because it's just too expensive!"  I'd like to challenge you to keep track of how much money you're spending on food for one month.  I'm not talking JUST grocery store...track every trip to McDonald's, Chick Fil A, icecream etc... ANY food you eat, keep track of it in a notebook.  When I first started on my journey to health, I did this and found I was spending approx $300/mo in the grocery but over $400/mo on fast food.  It was crazy ridiculous!!!  At that point I was eating fast food 2-3x a day.  Even if I am spending the same amount on groceries now as before (I don't know, I haven't tracked it), I know for sure I'm saving at least $400 a month because eating as I now do (Clean and plant-based) keeps me away from fast food!  Give it a try and then PLEASE don't tell me anymore how expensive eating healthy it!

Lastly...here's a fun little nutritional quiz I heard today and want to pass on to you.  What food do we eat like a vegetable, call a vegetable but actually is NOT a vegetable?  It's a grain!  Click this link: Chocolate Covered Katie for the answer.  I was surprised...are you?