Hey. How are you doing? I hope you are well. I took some time these past few weeks to pause and listen to what Black people have to say. I’m trying to educate myself as much as I can, not to only what is going on now, but has been going on for a very long time. I’ve been sitting with these uncomfortable feelings, even though I never ever considered myself to be racist but the very opposite. I am shamed to say I never thought too much about my white privilege and truly, truly stopped and thought about what Black people deal on the daily. I let myself be incredibly ignorant and naive. It is all I’ve been thinking about recently and I’ve read, watched, donated, talked, asked, listened and I am committed to keep doing that, not just this next week but always. It is inexcusable that it took me this long. I am sorry. I am ashamed, but I have to look forward and I promise to do my best from now on.
I didn’t want to jump into the recipe I am sharing today without saying anything. I truly believe that at this time silence speak volumes and I wanted to share this. I hope we are all doing what we can right now to move towards changes that HAVE to happen. OK. I will leave it at that now, I am not the most eloquent person and certainly don’t know about this enough to talk about it here, but there are so many amazing accounts on instagram that I’ve found that I am learning through.
As for this recipe I want to share with you today, It is Easy Homemade Granola from my friend Alex from Bright-Eyed Baker blog. It has become a family favorite since about five months ago when I first started making it. I make it how Alex says but I do make a few little changes, for her exact recipe jump to her page! I like to add some monk fruit brown sugar and I also like to add additional cranberries and mini chocolate chips in. Balance it all out, right? My kids and hubby love it like that and great thing about homemade granola is you can totally play around with what you mix into yours!
Easy Homemade Granola
by Alex from Bright-Eyed Baker
4 cups og Old fashioned Oats
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup coconut
1/3 cup agave syrup (or honey)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup brown monk fruit sugar (or regular brown sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2 egg whites
2tsp Vanilla extract
1 cup dry cranberries
1/2 cup mini chocolate semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl whisk together the egg whites with agave syrup, coconut oil and Vanilla extract. In another bowl combine the oats, nuts, coconut, monk fruit brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper and salt. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and mix well until everything is evenly coated.
Divide the granola between the two sheets and shape into a big O, you want to leave it empty in the middle and pat it well so it clumps more as it bakes evenly like this. Bake it for 30-40 minutes and after you take it out of the oven just leave it for 20 minutes to cool of some before breaking it into clumps. I let it cool completely before I mix in the cranberries and mini chocolate chips.
My husband just eats handfuls on its own, he doesn’t even bother to put it as a topping on something because its so yummy. My kiddos and I definitely like to put it on some yogurt and fresh berries for breakfast or dessert. My favorite is with coconut yogurt and raspberries, it is so so good!
