Had to start my morning off with oats!! No chia in this bowl but it was pretty much my normal mix with cinnamon + vanilla + almond milk with about 1/3c unsweetened applesauce cooked in the last 2-3min. Topped with Bob’s Red Mill coconut granola and about 1T pnut butter and 1t cinnamon vanilla almond butter that I made Sunday. Applesauce give the oats a hint of sweetness, extra creaminess, and some fluff! YUM. The mug was radiating yellow!
I’m completely all better from whatever little bug I had. I can barely even say I was sick. I pretty much just had a little sore throat, a bad headache, and was really tired. I’m going to say my kombucha + green tea + emergenC + amazing grass helped me to get better faster…but who really knows 
I was more than well enough to workout today. More on my training page.
It was time to get my granola on, when I got home + showered from the gym.
Some of my favorite granola ingredients:
- rolled oats
- almonds
- pepitas [pumpkin seeds]
- walnuts
- sunflower seeds
I planned to make 3 different types of granola. The possibilities are ENDless really. You can completely customize this to your liking. I tried a few new things though that I’m pretty excited about!
What have the dogs been up to lately? Oh you know doing their dog thang…luckily that has NOT included eating poop or jeans. YAY Kenna!
They usually play HARD all morning long and then pass out all afternoon.
inseparable.
FACE!
Granola – Batch 1 [recipes at the end] Instead of using 1/4c of oil in the granola recipes, today I tried using applesauce! I mean, it works in baked goods, why can’t it work for granola?? I used 3T unsweetened applesauce and 1/2T safflower oil [or any light oil].
I bought a new item today that I’m already in love with. Shelled Hemp Seeds! They were on sale at WF for $6.99 [$2 off!]. In just 2T these super seeds pack 11g of protein, 2g of omega-3 fats, and 6g of omega-6 fats.
And you all know my love for brown rice syrup. New to brown rice syrup? Check it out on my ingredients page. Also, I am MORE than happy to let you know Lundberg has NO association with Monsanto. If you don’t know what or who Monsanto is, I urge you to do some research. Are you following the “Month Without Monsanto” blog!? It’s REALLY interesting and quite scary. She recently posted about Lundberg’s products. Check it out!
Trying to stay on track…but it’s so hard…hehehe…almost back to the granola, I swear!
Look what popped UP in the mail today from mom + dad!! Weeee…a St. Patty’s Day gift. Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal! I’ve never used this so I am more than excited. Has anyone cooked with this before?? Thank you parentals
My mess. Revealed. It was actually REALLY easy to clean up from. I used the same bowl for each batch and didn’t need to wash it in between.
Hemp seeds!!
Granola #1 – Apple Cran Nut yields appx 3.5c
- 1c rolled oats
- 1/4c walnuts, chopped
- 1/4c almonds, chopped
- 3T pepitas
- 2T sunflower seeds
- 1/4t salt
- 3/4t cinnamon
- 3T ground flax meal [bob’s red mill makes this!]
- 3T brown rice syrup
- 3T unsweetened applesauce
- 1t vanilla
- 1/2T safflower oil [or other light oil]
Mix-ins once cooled:
- 1/3c dried apples, chopped
- 1/3c dried cranberries, chopped
- Preheat oven to 325*
- Mix all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Add in wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Pour onto a parchment lined pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 10-20min stirring about every 5min. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn. It will still be soft when you take it out of the oven. Look for the oats starting to brown and take it out then.
- Let cool, it will firm up and become crunchy. Stir in chopped fruit and store in an airtight container.
**Notes** I would really change anything with this mix except adding in a little maple syrup for some of the brown rice syrup. The fruit helps sweeten the granola. I really don’t like overly sweet granola nor is it really necessary.
Granola #2 – Make You Go CRUNCH yields appx 3c
- 1c rolled oats
- 2T shelled hemp seeds
- 1T chia seeds
- 2T walnuts, chopped
- 2T cashews, chopped
- 3T almonds, chopped
- 2T pepitas
- 1/4t salt
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 2T ground flax meal [bob’s red mill makes this!]
- 2T brown rice syrup
- 1T maple syrup
- 1T sucanat [or pure cane sugar]
- 3T unsweetened applesauce
- 1t vanilla
- 1/2T safflower oil [or other light oil]
- Preheat oven to 325*
- Mix all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Add in wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Pour onto a parchment lined pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 10-20min stirring about every 5min. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn. It will still be soft when you take it out of the oven. Look for the oats starting to brown and take it out then.
- Let cool, it will firm up and become crunchy. Store in an airtight container.
**Notes** In this I added a lot of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. I also took out 1T of the brown rice syrup and subbed with 1T maple syrup for a little more flavor + sweetness. I also added 1T sucanat for a little sweetness, but it really was not necessary. The applesauce helps to sweeten.
Granola #3 – Banana Coconut yields appx 3
- 1c rolled oats
- 2T shelled hemp seeds
- 1T chia seeds
- 1/2c almonds, chopped
- 2T pepitas
- 1/4t salt
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 1T brown rice syrup
- 1T maple syrup
- 1T coconut oil, melted
- 3T unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3T ripe banana, pureed
- 1t vanilla
- Preheat oven to 325*
- Puree banana with a hand blender, food processor, blender, or mash REALLY well with a fork.
- Mix all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Add in wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
- Pour onto a parchment lined pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 10-20min stirring about every 5min. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn. It will still be soft when you take it out of the oven. Look for the oats starting to brown and take it out then.
- Let cool, it will firm up and become crunchy. Store in an airtight container.
**Notes** The banana puree worked SO well in this. Next time I will change it to 2T banana puree and 1T applesauce as the banana masked the coconut flavor a bit. I would probably also use coconut butter instead of coconut oil. This mix smells AHmazing!!
You could easily transform this into a peanut butter/banana granola by taking out the coconut products and adding in peanuts instead of almonds. Maybe mix in 1T of pnut butter too!
Do you know how hard it was to not eat spoonfuls of this!??? I probably had about 1/3c total. So so so so goooood!!! And really easy to make. These 3 batches were whipped up in no time! Be creative!! This is a great recipe that your kids can help you make and mix in whatever they want! You can also always dumb the recipe down to something like this:
Simple Granola
I added fruit into 1 batch but not the others. I wanted to keep them open to add things on a whim! Feel like adding some dark chocolate chunks for dessert? More coconut? TONS of ideas!! I definitely want to come up with more variations. Since the banana + applesauce work SO well next on the list is: PUMPKIN!!! Then some type of cocoa granola. YUM.
Granola questions? Ask awaaaaay…SO many of you requested this be part of homemade week, I hope you enjoy! Also, if you make anything from my recipes this week, send me photos!! edibleperspective AT gmail DOT com
After making all of that, I cleaned up the kitchen and got started on dinner. More on dinner tomorrow…but I thought the 101 Cookbooks recipe for Lentil Burgers would be perfect for kicking off homemade week.
Oh I was right!
I am not apologizing for this insanely long post. Read it + soak it up hehehe
More tomorrow…not sure what I’m making! I hope to get the nutrition info for the granola up at some point too.
~Ashley
Don’t forget about the giveaway!!
PDF 
[...] crunch.3.ways. « the edible perspective [...]
I love making my own granola! I love all the different variations you made
Have a great day!
[Reply]
I’m pumped for you! Those granolas look awesome! As soon as I can eat sugars again I’m going to be all over it.
Glad you’re feeling better!
[Reply]
LOVING all of your homemade treats lately. You are quite the domestic goddess these days girl.
[Reply]
Once you try those oats I bet you won’t want to go back to rolled oats! They take longer to cook but the texture is amazing.
[Reply]
i like the idea of applesauce or banana instead of oil. I’ve seen fruit juice used instead of oil too.
[Reply]
I don’t remember the last time I bought granola. I always make my own and love to use applesauce! Your combinations all look really yummy.
[Reply]
Oh my those granolas sound delish. I should try one!!! I always like homemade stuff so much more than any store bought goods. I like that you used apple sauce in the recipe. Great idea!!!!
Adding it to your oats sounds yum yum yum too!
[Reply]
Great looking granolas!!!!
& that Month Without Monsanto blog is interesting
[Reply]
Hi Kenna! Hi Dakota! I like your faces! Good job on no poop/jean eating Kenna!
Your granola batches look deeeeeelicious. I’m making some this weekend!
Why have I not heard about the Month Without Monsanto blog? Is that even possible??
Steel cut oats are amazing. Not that I’ve ever had great success making them at home but there was a brunch place in Salt Lake that rocked ‘em.
[Reply]
I love steel cut oats! The best method I have found for cooking them is using a slowcooker or a rice cooker, but the stove top method is also good if you have lots of time. I find they have a much nuttier flavor then regular oats.
[Reply]
These are the most creative granola recipes I’ve ever seen-way to go! I mean, applesauce and pureed banana? Brilliant. I’m loving homemade week!
[Reply]
i love these granola recipes! i really enjoy my mom’s homemade granola, but it would be great to switch it up with one of these bad johnnies
[Reply]
I’m really excited to try a couple of these, I’m not sure if I just missed it in the post, but if I don’t have brown rice syrup, could I just substitute more maple syrup instead? Thanks!
Also, have you ever tried Nature’s Path Hemp plus granola? So good
[Reply]
The granola looks great! My mom keeps asking me to make some, I need to get on top of that!!
I love steel cut oatmeal. It takes about 45-50 minutes to make. You could soak the oats overnight and in the morning they should take around 20-30 minutes. I always make a big batch, so I can just reheat in the morning for a quick meal! It has a slight crunch and nutty flavor. It is delicious! I should make some of that too, I miss it for a change.
[Reply]
All the granola looks amazing!! I usually only use one recipe for granola. I’ll have to try out these ones! Thanks for posting them
Beautiful pictures too… just amazing.
[Reply]
Haha, no need to apologize(although I made need to for my long comment XD). Jeez I feel like I have something to say about everything you posted lol. Steel cut oats are AWESOME. Hemp seeds are great(although much more expensive up here) A Month Without Monsanto is great, I’ve been watching it. Amazing how little she can eat
Oh, and my hubby looooves your boxer dog. He gets this pouty look on his face every time he sees a picture because he wants one so badly. Oh, and I made a granola recipe with pumpkin once. I think it only had a couple tbsp of oil and then nearly 1/2 cup of pumpkin. It was so nice and crunchy 
I’ve been making so many veggie burgers lately I’m interested to see how your lentil burgers turned out 
[Reply]
Homemade Granola looks delicious! I love seeing all the ingredients you put in them!
[Reply]
Great site!!! Well, I am a BIG Terry Walters, CLEAN FOOD fan…she’s a rock star graduate from my school (IIN). Like you show us here, many of the foods that we buy in a package or container are easily (somewhat) and economically made from scratch. And, being a control freak, I like to control exactly what goes into those foods, because, frankly, I don’t much trust the food industry – even the organic food industry! One of the healthy habits we’ve adopted is making our own stuff – tomato sauce, salad dressings, stocks, salsas, sprouts (that happened by accident when soaking grains and beans;)) in order to limit packaged/processed foods. Yes, it takes some planning and effort, but it makes a huge difference to health, planet and pocketbook…Thanks for the recipes! I’m going to try the almond butter (do you use raw almonds or roasted?)
[Reply]
Banana coconut?! That sounds delicious!
[Reply]
Gah! Steel cut oats are the BEST for breakfast
Try it with diced strawberry, lemon zest, vanilla, and agave. Heavennnnn 
[Reply]
Don’t laugh at me (ok, please do), but I seriously was trying to figure out what you spelled out with the piles of granola ingredients. Then I realized you weren’t spelling anything. Nope, no hidden message in that recipe, Abby. Oh, gee!
It looks yummy though! Message or not
[Reply]
omg i neeeeed that granola to make me go crunch
[Reply]
Three granola recipes in one post? Amazing! I actually thought making granola would be more intimidating, but it looks quite do-able. Love your flavor combinations too!
[Reply]
[...] crunch.3.ways. [...]
I made some of your granola just the other day and it’s dee-licious! I made one similar to the Apple Cran Nut and a Banana Coconut, making just a couple of substitutions to use ingredients I had on hand. I also used this as an excuse to finally use the food dehydrator that I received for Christmas and it worked perfectly! The Apple Cran Nut took about 4 hours, and the Banana Coconut was done in about 5. It was so easy! Thanks for the recipes.
[Reply]
[...] oven? I have some recipes of my own, but the other day I baked up some granola using a recipe from The Edible Perspective. I gifted that granola to Guera and she became instantly hooked so Saturday we made some of our own! [...]
Do you buy pepitas plain, or salted? I bought some plain ones recently for a recipe and haven’t been sure if they needed to be “prepared” to use uncooked (I’ve been wondering about just tossing it onto salads and whatever, though I really want to try making granola soon as well!).
[Reply]
I made granola the other night and it came out great! But today it has lost its crunch. Do you think my container just wasn’t airtight enough?
[Reply]
[...] For the plain old “sweet” portion of the gift I made some of Ashley’s Banana Coconut Granola [...]
[...] like a drug and withdrawal is not fun. I also made a fresh batch of granola following method #3 a la Ashley. I have only had a granola with a distinctive flavor once and that was when I used a good does of [...]
[...] got my inspiration for this recipe here from Ashley at The Edible Perspective. If you have not checked out her blog, you [...]