Grain Free Granola

I have made this granola several times.  I have tweaked it & changed some things up a bit.  Every time it has turned out well.  The main thing is to have the correct amount of dry things to wet things.  :)  If you don't care for almonds, make it with all pecans, if you don't like pecans, make it with all almonds, add some walnuts, cashews, sesame seed, or chia seed to the mix if you like those.  Here's what I did today.

Grain Free Granola
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup roasted & salted sunflower seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
6 drop English Toffee stevia (optional)

Mix all the nuts, seeds, coconut, flax and spices together in a large bowl.  Heat honey and oil on the stove until they become liquid and combine well.  Then add vanilla and stevia.  Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir until well coated.  Spread out on large baking sheet covered in parchment paper.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes until everything is toasty brown.  Let cool completely on baking sheets, chunk up granola and store in a glass jar. Serve alone, or my favorite way with blueberries and coconut milk.

This will make you kitchen smell amazing!
  
You want granola now don't you?  Well, 1 lucky reader is getting a jar of granola and fresh made coconut milk delivered today!  Happy Monday!

Grain Free Apple Pie Granola

I modified my original grain free granola recipe & made this Apple Pie Granola.  It's sweet enough to be satisfying and has all the spice of a traditional apple pie.  It is great dry or with some homemade coconut milk.  Getting all the ingredients out takes awhile, but it makes a big batch. Plus your kitchen will smell amazing!  If you make it, let me know what you think in the comments or by email.  renaeats@gmail.com

Grain Free Apple Pie Granola
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 cup roasted & salted sunflower seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tsp cinnamon (I like Korintje)
1/4 tsp ground allspice

2 Tbsp raw honey
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup coconut oil (I used refined, unrefined will give a more coconutty flavor)
2 tsp vanilla

1 cup dried apples, chopped
**************************************************************************
Preheat oven to 300.
In a large bowl, mix all nuts, seeds and spices. 
In a saucepan combine honey, syrup, applesauce and oil.  Heat until all liquid and combined.
Add in vanilla.
Dump over the nut mixture & coat.
Spread on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once.
Add in dried apples and bake for 10 more minutes.  Mixture should be toasted light brown.
Cool completely.  I like to store mine in a glass jar.

Chocolate Granola with Berries

Chocolate, granola and berries are some of my favorite things, so this recipe looked really good to me!  It was fairly quick to assemble and once in the oven, it doesn't need to be checked on very often.  The result is delicious! 

The winner of my last giveaway is getting this quart jar of granola and some homemade coconut milk.

Blueberry Chai Smoothie

Breakfast today needed to be portable.  Smoothie time!  Here's the link http://paleomg.com/blueberry-chai-granola-smoothies/.  
You can exchange the almond milk for coconut milk.  I do not grind the chia seed before adding since I'm using a Vitamix.  Also, I never add the granola on top.

Dr. Jill's Chia Pudding & Granola

I decided to combine 2 of my favorite recipes today, the result was delicious!!!

 
Here's the recipes:  Dr. Jill's Chia Pudding and Rena's Granola 

Lunchbox Ideas

My GF kiddo and I plan to be gone for a good part of the day.  Here are some things we plan to take along with us.  We have roast beef wrapped in romaine lettuce, a couple have grass fed cheese in them, grapes, clementines, cukes, carrots and peppers, chia pudding, cookies and granola.  All packed in my lunch cooler that looks like a purse! 

Meal Plan- Summer Eats

It's summer!  I do not like to spend lots of time cooking in the summer.  But, I do want to eat healthy.  Also, I need meals that keep me eating paleo & also options that my family will actually eat!  All my main dishes are paleo, but there will be some side dishes that include gluten free grains and dairy.  This is how we make it work in our house.  Here are 20 dinner ideas for healthy, summer eating.  I'm not assigning days, just planning to cycle through these for a few weeks.  I figure 20 meals will get me through at least a month since we do not cook every night due to activities & leftovers.

Stupid Easy Chicken, shredded and served as a taco salad with French Dressing
Topping ideas:  tomatoes, olives, avocado, peppers, cucumbers, cilantro, salsa, limes, cheese, tortilla chips, ranch, sweet corn

Pineapple Beef Kabobs from Against All Grain Meals Made Simple, pg 162 with salad and roasted cauliflower

Paleo Chicken Spaghetti  Serve with Buttermilk biscuits with garlic and herbs added and fresh fruit

Barbecue Tri-Tip with Grilled Watermelon Salad and roasted carrots

Grilled Chicken with BBQ sauce, roasted potatoes, green beans

Persian Spiced Beef with Butternut Squash  Serve with sugar snap peas and fresh fruit

Grain Free Salmon Cakes  Serve with cole slaw and green beans

Spaghetti meat sauce over a choice of GF noodles or steamed broccoli

Garden Fish Packets  (omit cheese for paleo), rice, lettuce or fruit salad

Slow Cooker Paleo Turkey Meatballs, serve with salad and Crockpot Baked Sweet Potatoes 
This is a great meal when we will be gone all day.  Come home & it's all cooked.  The downside is washing 2 Crock-pots!

Grilled Hamburgers- Topping ideas: Avocado, dill pickles, tomatoes, BBQ Sauce, Fried Red Potatoes & Onions, green beans

Dijon Almond Crusted Fish Serve with roasted carrots & sugar snap peas

Chicken stir fry, cauli-rice or rice pilaf

Grilled Steak with my favorite steak marinade, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, fruit

Ginger Chicken with Simple Mango/Avocado Salsa  serve with cole slaw

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes, Buns, Peas

Ina's Grilled Lemon Chicken, fresh fruit

Grilled Lemon Pepper Salmon, Serve with roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli

Mongolian Beef over Cauliflower Rice, fruit

Greek Chicken, baked potatoes, kale chips



Summer lunch at our house is leftovers warmed up, salads, sandwiches, stir-frys, etc. 


Breakfast:
Butternut squash frittata
GF Cinnamon French Toast
Sweet potato hash with kale & eggs
Almond butter on toasted Date & Walnut Bread with berries
Spaghetti Squash Frittata
Paleo Pancakes
Scrambled Eggs & Bacon
Cooked spinach with hard boiled eggs
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Eggs
Grain Free Granola with coconut milk & berries

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter "Granola" Bars

Need a good grab and go snack?  Make these!  They are so good.  I made one batch with peanut butter & one batch with almond butter.  They are delicious and filling.  I cut and wrapped mine in waxed paper for a quick snack while I'm up feeding the baby at night.  Store in the freezer.

 

Breakfast x 2!

Today we had a 6:00 and a 7:00 breakfast crew.  Now I have lots of dishes to clean up, so I'm very thankful for my dishwasher.  The 6:00 crew had blueberry/blackberry chai smoothies.

 
I used half coconut, half almond milk, half blackberries, half blueberries this morning.  I do not put the granola on top.


The 7:00 crew had something that resembles these banana pancakes.  I thought the batter seemed really thin, so I added a heaping Tbsp more of coconut flour.  The kiddos ate them up and didn't complain.  One even said "These are really good."  As I go to do this post, I realize I unintentionally omitted the almond flour.  Anyway, here are my somewhat of a flop, yet totally edible pancakes.  I used mini EnjoyLife brand chocolate chips which are not paleo.  If I were eating them I would leave them out or use dark chocolate. 

 
Happy Monday!!!

Peaches & Coconut Milk

While I was driving the "mom taxi" tonight, my hubby made the others a fresh peach milkshake.  I took a couple sips of one of our kiddo's and it was yummy!  Unfortunately, I do not feel well when I overindulge in such things as ice cream and sugar.  So, this is what I made for myself.  It was easy, yummy, satisfying and paleo!  This would also make a great breakfast topped with grain-free granola.

1 ripe peach, cubed
coconut milk (probably 1/2 -3/4 cup)
5 drops vanilla creme stevia

It's a Great Day to Bake Cookies

When it's snowing and sub zero temperatures it's a great day to bake some cookies!  I fully enjoyed my oven's warmth as I made 3 batches.  Two were wonderful and 1 was not. 

Let's start with the ones pictured on the right that we didn't like, so we can end on a good note.  This was supposed to be a simple 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, 1 egg & 1.5 cups of chocolate chips.  I think it was a misprint and should have been 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.  Anyway, they turned out hard and there was no possible way to stir that many chips in.  Oh well, that's part of trying something new!

Next are the Double Chocolate Mocha cookies at the bottom. I used this recipe with a few alterations to the ingredients.  The bake time was perfect at 8 minutes & made exactly 24 small cookies.  Here's the ingredients I used:
2 1/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/4 cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp organic coffee beans, ground fine
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1 stick butter, salted
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used Lily's brand)

The bars on the left of the plate are a Paleo Chewy Granola Bar.  They are so yummy and make a great after school snack or even a grab and go breakfast.

Let me know if there is ever a recipe you'd like for me to test or alter for dietary needs.