Grab a handful of this naturally sweetened Gluten Free Sunrise Honey Granola for breakfast or an anytime snack. It’s sweetened with honey and coconut sugar and tossed with tangy dried fruits like mango and cranberries. Adapt the recipe to your liking!
Oh boy, oh boy. I do NOT like house hunting. Definitely not a hobby of mine. I know people that absolutely love looking for new homes and spend hours on the internet scrolling through pictures.
Me??? I want to cry.
Not because I’m moving from Hawaii to Phoenix. I’m over that. We’re excited for the next chapter of our lives. I’m just so indecisive with big decisions like this. I can’t pinpoint exactly what I want (not that you ever get exactly what you want) in a home.
I have four days…FOUR DAYS…to decide which home we want to purchase and live in for at least the next decade of our lives.
I’m considering all kinds of factors:
- Does it have a pool or access to a pool? Phoenix summers are scorching hot and you have to be able to cool down.
- Kitchen space and walk in pantry. I have NEVER had a walk in pantry and now it’s a priority. I’m sick of living out of cupboards with all the cooking/baking that I do.
- Study. Ben has to have a place to do his work. Although most of his days are spent traveling to various medical facilities, he has to have a home base to do paperwork, schedule appointments, make conference calls, etc. However, I don’t want to waste a “bedroom” on a study, so we really want a home that has a designated study space.
- Highly rated schools. We need a house where our children will attend a decent elementary, middle, and possibly high school. Academics are a big deal in our home. I was expected to do well in school and attend college, and I expect the same for our kiddos. A good early education is more likely to facilitate that goal.
- Separate loft area or living space for the kids. I’m over playrooms. My girls hardly ever use them. But, as they get older, they need at least an entertainment living space for when friends come over. If they want to watch a movie or play games or goof around, I’d rather it not be two feet away from me. I can only handle so much high pitch girly screams.
- Aesthetics. Obviously I want to like how my house looks. I love a fresh, bright, clean home with lots of white accents in the cabinetry, shutters, baseboards, counter tops, etc. I’m finding most homes have either the dark wood or honey colored cabinets and it’s driving me nuts. I can always renovate later I guess.
And there’s a whole list of other things, but I’m starting to get stressed out sitting here typing them out. I need to move on! Literally MOVE on.
Poor Ben has to deal with my house hunting moodiness all the way from Arizona. He’s been FaceTiming me from a handful of homes and trying to describe the vibe of the neighborhoods and the feel of the homes. His favorite thing to say is, “You just have to come see it for yourself. You’ll get what I mean…” I guess.
Part of me wants Ben to just pick a house and buy it. That way if it is a terrible decision down the road, I can 100% blame it on him. I like that idea.
So with all this virtual house hunting going on, I’ve been staying up wayyyyyyy past my bedtime clicking through the MLS website and taking notes; notes that I can hardly even read because my handwriting is completely illegible.
Bottom line is: I’m tired. Like right now, it’s 12:30 at night and I’m still typing away trying to post a recipe because I spend the last 3 hours house hunting. I’m pretty sure I stared at the same 30 houses that I looked at the night before. It’s all becoming one big blur.
One thing that gets me going these past mornings, after some very late nights, is a sprinkling of this Gluten Free Sunrise Honey Granola over my bowl of cereal. It’s packed with whole grains and has a punch of natural sweetness. It actually makes me want to get up in the mornings. Yay!
I made a large batch of this granola to hand out at a cooking class that I instructed at last week. I had about 20 ladies come to my home to learn about healthy cooking and baking tips. We made vegetarian pasta sauce and homemade croutons. I also had a spinach berry salad to munch on and banana bread and oatmeal cookies to sample. It was a delicious night indeed.
I packaged this granola into little bags with a handout about healthy eating, and all the ladies raved about the flavor. One of my friends said she had to make a batch before her husband returned from a business trip because this stuff was “right up his alley.”
This granola is perfectly sweetened with a mixture of organic honey and nutty coconut sugar. Plus it has pieces of dried mango and cranberries for a little tartness.
As far as texture, this granola has it all. It’s chewy from the dried fruit, crispy from the cereal, and crunchy from the hardened oats and mixture of nuts. It’s a real party up in this granola hood!
Braelyn and Emry couldn’t keep their hands off this granola. They loved it sticky and warm from the oven, but also enjoyed it once it hardened. They eat it almost every morning mixed with some unsweetened cereal, and munch on it in the afternoon for a snack.
Make sure to use a large jellyroll pan when making this granola so the mixture gets heated evenly through. Otherwise, you will end up with soft and soggy granola. This makes a large batch, seeing as how a serving would only be about a 1/2 cup. Trust me, you will need to use some will power to eat only a half cup at a time. It’s pretty dang addictive.
Once the granola comes out of the oven, spread it out and let it completely cool. It will harden into a crispy, crunchy, yet still slightly sticky, delicious batch of granola. Actually, it may just be that we live in Hawaii with no air conditioning and so it stays a bit sticky. There is just so much moisture in the air. If I put it in the fridge or pour cold milk over it, it completely hardens to the consistency of packaged granola. Either way, it’s delicious.
So if you need a little morning pick me up like this mama right here, get baking and serve yourself up some heaven in a bowl. You’ll finally be excited for morning when you have this yumminess to wake up to.
What are your go to granola mix-ins?
- 3 cups gluten free old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
- 2 cups regular Cheerios
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup coconut flakes
- ¾ cup pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped macadamia nuts, or chopped pecans
- ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ¾ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup desired dried fruit mix-in (mangoes, raisins, Craisins, blueberries, etc.)
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees and line a large jellyroll pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together oats, Cheerios, almonds, coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds (or other nut alternative), coconut or brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and ginger. Toss until well combined.
- In a smaller size mixing bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil, honey, and vanilla until smooth. Pour over oats mixture while stirring to avoid clumping. Continue stirring until all mixture has been evenly coated.
- Spread mixture onto jellyroll pan and bake at 275 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and toss in dried fruit. Stir and allow to completely cool on parchment paper. Once hardened, break into pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
