Making healthier choices is proving to be good for me! I’ve even ventured back into the kitchen this past week. I have found that if I prepare all my protein for the week then it’s so much easier to make a healthy choice later on.

This week, I decided that I wanted to make my own granola. There is a granola that I like A LOT but it’s kind of hard to find around here. I like the OLA brand. My absolute favorite is the Vanilla Almond granola. It is gluten-free, low-glycemic, non-GMO, made with whole grains with no added oils and vegan. It is also only 100 calories per 1/3 cup serving. My favorite part of that is ALL OF IT! I have also had the change to try the Chocolate Banana Chip granola as well. It’s really good stuff!

In light of all those wonderful things, the granola itself is VERY hard to come by in my area. I found a few bags at one of my favorite stores, TJ-MAXX, but there hasn’t been anymore in awhile.

With that, I decided to make my own granola for now, til I can find some OLA again. Here’s the recipe for my Vanilla Orange Blossom Granola.

Vanilla Orange Blossom Granola

Ingredients:

• 6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked/shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup freshly ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted to liquid form-30 seconds in the microwave should do it)
• 1 cup orange blossom honey (heated for about 30 seconds in the microwave)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Mix together the rolled oats, almonds, almond flour,  and coconut  in a very large bowl.

3. In another bowl, stir together liquid coconut oil, warm honey , vanilla extract and almond extract.

4. Pour over the coconut/honey mixture over the oats and mix evenly  through.

5. Cover  two baking sheets with parchment paper. This makes a lot of granola so you’ll need two baking sheets or you will be baking it FOREVER. Spread the granola mixture evenly over the baking sheets.

6. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven and gently stir the mixture. Return to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Gently stir the granola and bake an additional 5-10 minutes watching carefully that it doesn’t burn.

7. Remove from oven. Carefully remove parchment paper and granola from baking sheet . The granola will crisp as it cools.

At my house, because I’m a clutz, it took four hands to move the parchment and granola from the baking sheet to the counter. If it hadn’t been for The Mister’s help the dog probably would have feasted on granola that night.

I actually used my homemade granola the next day for some healthy snacks that I took to church and still have so much of it that I gave some to co-workers as well.

After tallying up the nutritional value, it comes to 107 calories for ¼ cup and I am okay with that because I know what went into my granola.

This is my favorite way to eat my granola!

P.S. Store it in an airtight container and it will last awhile

Here’s an update on my weight loss. I have lost  4 pounds since the last update I gave you. That’s a total of 20 pounds since December.

Remember that I told you our church has started a health series. It is called Losing to Live and our entire staff has taken a 12 week health challenge as well. This past Saturday, I joined a Bod 4 God small group and was so encouraged! It’s exciting to be able to do this with my church family and not have to go this road alone. Please continue to pray for me when you and or if you think about me and my blog!

~Mrs Galvan~