So yesterday I went grocery shopping and bought a bunch of fresh veggies and fruit. I promptly cut everything up and put into clear plastic containers. That way I see it and eat it. Try that trick in your fridge, honestly it makes it so much easier to make healthy decisions when it comes to eating. Especially when its already prepped for you, I also do this with garlic and onion. I have whole peeled cloves of garlic in a jar in my fridge and at least 1 chopped onion, saves on time.
Today I am making yogurt and granola, that way I can start my day out with fresh yogurt and granola on top of fruit. I make my yogurt in a crockpot that way I don't have to buy another peice of cooking equipment that I would only use once in a blue moon. This just gives me another reason to love my slow-cooker. I'm just gonna link you to the blog I got the recipe from because to explain the whole methodology would just be a bit repetitive and I want people to check out the blog because she has TONS of slow-cooker recipes. A Year of Slow-cooking
I used to think that making granola was hard, so like a lot of people I bought it from the store. Preferably Trader Joe's because lets face it, I love that store. Little known fact: Trader Joe's is owned by the same people that own Aldi..interesting huh? But anyways back to the granola, its actually pretty easy to make, but its really easy to ruin as well. I know this cuz I burnt my first 2 batches. The thing to understand with granola is that it gets crunchy outside of the over, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT overcook it, otherwise all you will end up with is burnt oats. The thing that I love about granola is not only is it easy to make your own, but it's very versitile, and you all know how much I love versitle foods. Let's say you don't like almonds but like pecans, well you can just sub those right in, same goes for the dried cranberries, you can sub any dried fruit in place of the cranberries. You can find granola recipes all over the internet, but I stick with this one, its quick, simple, and easy. Here ya'll go
Easy Granola Recipe
2 cups rolled oats
2 teas. cinnamon
1 tea. salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teas. vanilla extract
1/2 cup almonds
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Place the rolled oats in a bowl and add the cinnamon and salt to the oats. In a small bowl mix the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla together, pour wet mixture over oats and mix well. Preheat the oven to 325 and pour oats mixture onto a cookie sheet and spread out evenly. Put cookie sheet into the oven and leave for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes are up take granola out and add in almonds, put cookie sheet back into the oven for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, flip granola and add hazelnuts, put back into the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the granola yet again and leave to cool for 10 minutes, then add the dried cranberries. Put granola into an airtight container, granola will be good for up to a week, if it is still around after that long. Enjoy!
On a side note, I figured out how to get my cookie sheets spotless without the pain in the butt of soaking and scrubbing and soaking and scrubbing them some more. Next time you clean the the oven throw the pans in there dirty side down. The oven will self clean itself and your pans, take them out after the cycle and wipe down. Ta-Da, clean pans, no muss, no fuss. Gotta love cleaning done easy!
