Crunchy Goodness

I love granola.

I have a problem.  When I make granola, only about 2/3 of the batch makes it to the container, because I get the munchies!!

This cold and rainy day called for granola.  I always have these two granolas made and ready to be snacked on.

Luv’s Honey Granola

• 4 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup of honey

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 

Mix the vanilla and honey together and pour over oat mixture.  Mix well.

Spread on cookie sheet and bake at the lowest setting for 20 minutes.  Stir, and cook for 20 minutes longer.

You can add raisins and craisins if your heart so desires.  (Try not to eat the whole batch at once!)

Another love affair I have is chocolate.  :)  This may be my favorite granola to eat by the spoon handful.  I found the recipe from Emily at The Daily Garnish, and slightly altered it.  Granola + cocoa = foodgasms!

Cocoa (or Carob) Granola (altered from The Daily Garnish)

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder (or 1.5 Tbsp carob)
• 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp ground flax
• 1 Tbsp succant
• 1 Tbsp sorghum
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup applesauce

Mix all dry ingredients (minus succant).

Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl (plus succant).

Combine and mix well

Bake on 325 for 20 minutes.

(It’s okay to eat the whole pan at once… right???)

My favorite way to eat my granola is on a big bowl of oats!

Last night, I iced my knee, and today it is feeling great.  To test it out, I did an Insanity video, and I never had a pain!!  I’m going to foam roll this week and stretch very good so I can try running again on Friday.  If it hurts again, I may have to suck it up and go to the doctor.  :(  Boo hiss.

I’m off to have a date with some granola and Luvy!

College girls

This morning, Luvy and I slept in.  Actually, Luvy slept in.. my mind was RACING!  Do you ever have those nights when you can’t sleep because you have too much going on in your head?  Last night was one of those nights for me.  My semester is coming to a close quickly at school, and I feel the pressure!

Traveling this weekend was well worth the time away from home..even if I do have to crack down for the next few weeks.

After eating breakfast at our hotel and having my Sunflower Seed Butter on my rye flakes, we headed over to Georgetown College!

These girls are just too fun!  We took them to Mancino’s for lunch.  Their pick!  

Their plates looked good.  However, the pizzas at the other table were looking to DIE for!  I have been craving pizza since the start of the LEAP program.

I promise there was noodles underneath all that sauce!

I took my lunch box in… THANKS KAREN!!!!  My boss, Karen, bought me this lunchbox so that we could all take our lunches to the new office.  It came in quite handy this weekend.

After we left Georgetown, we headed back to Louisville.  We needed to run to Passafiume’s Produce.  It is where we get pretty much all of our produce.  They are much, much cheaper than the grocery because they sell to all the restaurants around town.  For example, beets are only 90 cents a pound there!  Before the LEAP program, I used to juice carrots.  I could buy huge organic carrots for 90 cents a pound.  They give you great prices!

We got 4 beets, 2 zucchinis, 3 yellow squash, 1.5 pounds of mushrooms, and 2 huge heads of broccoli all for $9.67!  I forgot to get plums…

Our next stop was Rainbow Blossom, a local health food store.  They have a lot of skin care items there, so I was on the prowl for items without coconut in them.  I have a list of over 50 names that coconut goes by in products.  You would be amazed…

After searching for what seemed like an eternity because I was STARVING, we finally made out with a face wash, face lotion, soap, and body lotion.

When we got home, our sink decided to blow up and start spraying water everywhere.  Plus, I realized the face wash and lotion did indeed have COCONUT IN THEM!!!  Back to the drawing board…

Our dinner plans of salmon quickly changed to a quick kamut “fried rice” and other random eats.

Luvy spent 4 hours on our sink, but he fixed it.  Except, the hot is now cold and the cold is hot….  LOL!

I am pooped, and tomorrow we have our Operation Christmas Child party to put together our 60 boxes.

Question for ya:  Is there anything you all want to hear about or what me to post about?

See you tomorrow loves!