The other day I was at Donny’s office and noticed he had a couple large piles of magazines in the corner. I figured they were mostly Golf Magazine, which I don’t need to read (I like golfing, but don’t need to read about it). However I was mistaken. It was a bunch of food magazines! I’m talking issues of Bon Appetit & Food & Wine from as far back as 2013.
I had him bring the magazines home earlier this week so that I could look through them. I am already so inspired! That sounds cheesy, but I like reading the recipes and then thinking of new ways to incorporate similar ingredients in different forms. Both magazines also take time to highlight different foods each issue which helps teach me the proper way to cook certain foods or how to perform certain cooking techniques. I went through a couple magazines already and cannot wait to get through more.
Now, have you heard of Naturebox? Have I mentioned Naturebox before? It is a snack subscription box that gets delivered to your door each month. They have quite a few options for people with dietary restrictions including gluten free, soy free, dairy free, or even vegan (by the way, this is not a sponsored post…. I just really like NatureBox). You can customize your box with treats you know you enjoy or you can get surprised with snacks each month. When I first started Naturebox they didn’t have the customize-option, so it was always fun to get it in the mail and see what was inside!
Once I started customizing my boxes I would tend to choose mostly dried fruits and nut mixes. Those were what I snacked on the most, so it made sense to order those. One of my favorite snacks was the Tart & Tangy Fruit Medley, which consisted of dried apple pieces and dried cranberries. I am not currently subscribed to NatureBox because I noticed I wasn’t eating them as fast as I should so I decided to take a break. I might get back on it once I’ve used up the ones I already have.
When I decided to make granola the other day I immediately went to my dried fruit stash (I have a whole basket full of random dried fruits in my cabinet). The one that caught my eye was the Tart & Tangy mix.
Granola often gets labeled a “health food”, but a lot of store-bought granolas are loaded with processed ingredients and a crap-ton of sugar. No bueno. It is really easy to make your own granola and that way you can control what is going in it.
If you don’t have the Tart & Tangy mix from Naturebox then just combine dried cranberries and dried apples together in a 1:1 ratio. Baking the dried apples pieces is interesting. It makes them very crispy and delicious! I was not expecting that to be something that stood out, but it totally did. I like my granola really crunchy, so I bake mine slightly longer than others might, which led the apples to be quite crisp. Perfection.
I used honey to sweeten the granola. You could use agave, maple syrup, or another sweetener in the recipe, but honey is my personal favorite. Donny & I are pretty spoiled. We get honey from our friends Cody & McKenzie’s family farm. They brought us this huge jar of it and its wonderful to have around.
I wanted to use several different grains in the granola to change it up a little bit. I was at Whole Foods the other day and picked up some hemp hearts (I bought this brand here) and also some buckwheat groats from their bulk bin. You could substitute basically any other uncooked grains in this recipe. If you substitute the grains from this recipe just make sure you keep the same ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Otherwise, go crazy! I want to try to make some granola with quinoa and chia in it.
I like to eat granola over Greek yogurt, however recently I have been loving it with milk, fruit, and drizzled with almond butter. Yum! I posted a picture of my breakfast on Instagram when I was in Wisconsin. I had blueberries, banana, granola, and milk together in a bowl and then drizzled Trader Joe’s raw crunchy almond butter over the top. If you haven’t tried it that way then you are missing out!
I mentioned this before, but I prefer my granola pretty crispy. I let the granola bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice. If you don’t want it quite that crispy, then I would recommend 30 minutes and stirring once or twice.
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup Naturebox "Tart & Tangy Medley"
- 1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup buckwheat groats, uncooked
- 1/4 cup hemp seed
- 1/4 cup raw cashews, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine oats, "Tart & Tangy Medley", coconut, buckwheat groats, hemp seed, cashews, cinnamon, and salt.
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees
- While the oven preheats, melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add honey and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until evenly coated.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly distribute the mixture.
- Bake granola for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Let the granola cool completely before putting in a airtight container.
- Naturebox "Tart & Tangy Medley" can be substituted for 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup dried chopped apples. Other dried fruit may be substituted as well.
- To save time, you can melt the coconut oil in the microwave before adding the honey and vanilla.
- For more chewy granola, bake for only 30 minutes. For crunchier granola, bake for 40 minutes.
