My boss is an admitted granola whore.  She knows it and I know it.  A couple weeks ago I made a granola recipe that we both felt could garner the title “crack granola” because we both couldn’t stop eating it.  Then I promptly lost my recipe.

So I keep trying new granola recipes.  This recipe caught my eye because its unlike any other granola I’ve ever made.  It called for flour and egg whites – wtf?!  I did make some adjustments below based on what I had on hand.

Crunchy Coconut Granola

Crispy, Crunchy and Clustery; Maple-Pecan Granola

Dry ingredients:

  • 3 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • 1 tablespoon cornmeal
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup of miniature chocolate chips

Wet ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup (2 oz / 55g) unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup (2.5 oz / 70g ) demerara sugar (raw sugar)
  • 1/4 cup sugar free pancake syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/3 cup (3 oz / 85g) chopped pecans
  • 1 tsp agave

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and line a large, rimmed cookie tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except for the dried cranberries and chocolate chips.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the sugar and maple/agave syrup and continue cooking over a medium-low heat whilst stirring, for 3 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the extracts. Pour this mixture gradually into the dry ingredients whilst stirring until all of it is mixed in and all the dry ingredients are coated. Let it cool a bit, then mix in the egg white, until fully combined.

Pour the mixture onto the lined cookie tray and press it down to form a large, compact sheet of granola mixture which covers the entire tray. Put it into the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and break the granola up into about 16 large pieces. Put it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Break each large piece into 3-4 pieces and stir the granola around with a metal spatula. Put it back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Whilst it bakes, stir together the pecans and syrup in a small bowl.

Remove the granola from the oven and break it up into the size you want. Pour on the pecan mixture. Flip and stir it all together with the metal spatula and put back into the oven for a final 5 – 10 minutes.

Let the granola cool on the tray for about 15 minutes, mix in the cranberries and chocolate chips. then transfer it to a container.

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I loved it because its super crunchy and not overly sweet.  My boss?  She said it was okay.  My other boss thought it was delicious though so it was still a win!  I ended up having a plain Greek yogurt/apple/granola parfait for breakfast.

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Knowing I was going to be taking a 55 minute group class after work, I did a nice, easy 30 minutes of swimming at lunch – then took a long 15 minute showers.  The showers are totally deluxe – they have the rain shower heads – I could have literally taken a 30 minute shower its so relaxing!

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And I had the whole pool to myself – nice!

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I was hungry by the time I got back to work.  Over the weekend I bought some pork stew meat and made this recipe called carne adovada.  I served it with 1/2 a cup of white rice and a cup and a half of broccoli.  It was tender when I made it, but microwaving it to heat it up, the meat got a little tough – the flavor was good though!

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I realized that since it’s a new month, my gym would have a new group exercise calendar.  While there was still a group class, it was the same teacher but the workout was called Fitness Mix.  We used the step, resistance bands, hand weights and body bars.

Holy cow, this one was a lot harder than last weeks.  She had us doing six sets of one legged squats with bicep curls!

squat

I can definitely feel my quad muscles this morning!   Since I knew I wouldn’t be getting home until 6:45, Tony was on dinner duty.  He made one of his favorites – Zataran’s red beans and rice with smoked sausage – he cooks it all in the rice maker!  Dinner was ready when I walked in the door – I added a cup of chopped baby spinach to mine.

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And after dinner when I went to download my pictures, Tony left this as our screen saver:

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How did he know I love snowmen?!  Thanks Tony – I love you! Red heart

So I got the most points for my Skinny Snowman Challenge so far – 85!  I earned an extra 25 points for the weekly challenge of doing a different exercise class.

I suppose I need to start getting ready for work – I didn’t win the damn lottery!  Make it a great day!