Easy Stovetop Granola

Easy Stovetop Granola                  Makes 2 gallons

Ingredients

1/2 cup  Organic Coconut Oil

16 cups Organic rolled Oats

2 2/3 cups Butter

2 cups Raw Honey

2 2/3 cups packed Organic Brown Sugar

4 cups chopped Almonds

2 2/3 cups dried Organic Cranberries (we prefer the apple juice sweetened cranberries)

4 cups shredded Organic Coconut flakes (unsweetened)

Directions 

1. Heat the Coconut oil in a very large pot.  Add oats, then cook and stir until starting to lightly brown.
2. While oats are cooking, in a saucepan, melt the butter, honey and brown sugar, stirring constantly, until bubbly. 
3. Add the butter mixture to the lightly browned oats in large pot.  Stir thoroughly and cook for at least 5 minutes, a little longer if you like your granola a little crunchy.  With burner turned off, add coconut flakes, chopped almonds, and cranberries to the oat mixture.  Stir well.
4. Pour mixture out onto 4 large cookie sheets to cool.
5. When cool, store in an airtight container.

 This recipe may be scaled down.  We like it so well that I make it in a large batch such as this.  It will only last around a week for us. (Really!) :o)

Other nuts and fruit may be used as well.  I often use chopped dates (rolled in oat flour and bought this way) flax seeds, pecans, raisins, pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds. (Whatever sounds good to you.)

I am not a cereal eater for breakfast and usually will only eat granola as a snack, maybe in the evening, but even I can't resist this one for breakfast sometimes.

I also have to give credit to where credit is due! I followed this recipe from Allrecipes, tweaked it a little, and then showed my recipe to Laura.  Laura made it and tweaked it by adding more honey, and wow!!! What a difference it made!!! So thanks, Laura!

Fresh Salsa

Salsa is one of our favorite snacks.  We not only like to eat it with tortilla chips, but also on rice, Bulgar wheat, or on nachos, enchiladas, etc.  This recipe is adapted from Liana Frisbie's mom's recipe.

Not only are tomatoes a good source of Vitamin C and A, but tudies show that eating tomatoes lower the risk of cancer.  The secret may lie in lycopene, the chemical that gives tomatoes it's red color.  Processed tomatoes (i.e. canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup, etc) contain even more lycopene because cooking breaks down cell walls, releasing and concentrating carotenoids.  Eating tomatoes with a small amount of fat enables lycopene to be better absorbed by the body. (I often make guacamole and serve with the salsa, this would fulfill that requirement. Cilantro is a blood purifier, and has the ability to bind and excrete toxic heavy metals with efficiency and without unwanted side effects.  

Deep Dish Pizza

Homemade pizza just can't be beat for taste, and is very healthy for you, especially if you grind your own grains just before using.  Instead of ordering out for pizza and eating refined white flour, spend a little extra time on family night and create a family tradition in your home.

Strawberry Shortcake Supreme

Strawberry shortcake isn't just a sweet tooth remedy.  Once prized in ancient Rome for their medicinal uses, strawberries are recognized as having more vitamin C than some citrus fruits. They are also high in fiber, folate, potassium and antioxidants, making them a natural means of reducing the chances of heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers.

Fresh raw cream is a living food offering vitamins and minerals to be utilized by the body, and contains beneficial bacteria and enzymes which are otherwise destroyed during pasteurization.  It is precisely these components of living foods that make them so valuable to our overall health.   These enzymes enable better digestion of macronutrients and better absorption of micronutrients while the beneficial bacteria promote intestinal health and a well-functioning immune system.  Raw cream is also recognized as one of the good for you fats that help you lose weight when following certain guidelines, by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig in their book, "Eat Fat, Lose Fat".

 To lose weight and/or maintain weight, I only have a dessert such as this once a week.  I still eat pancakes, etc. with homemade freezer jam, or real maple syrup, but only have a dessert once a week in order to lose or maintain weight.

Amazing Hummus Dip

The first time I had Hummus was at my sister-in-law Kathy's house.  She's a fabulous cook, and it didn't take long to devour that delectable snack. Unfortunately I don't have her recipe, but we really enjoy this one.

Several recent studies suggest this pale legume deserves the limelight.  Packed with fiber, protein, folate and hard-working phytonutrients, chickpeas (garbanzo) beans have a lot to brag about. Australian researchers  found that chickpeas helped with glycemic control and insulin resistance — which may be valuable in the prevention and managment of diabetes.  Other studies suggest chickpeas can tame your appetite (boost satiety) and could even help trim your waistline.

Blackened Tuna Steaks With Mango Salsa

Tuna fish are truly a nutrient-dense food. An excellent source of high quality protein, tuna are rich in a variety of important nutrients including the minerals selenium, magnesium, and potassium; the B vitamins niacin, B1 and B6; and perhaps most important, the beneficial omega-3 essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are so named because they are essential for our health but cannot be made by the body; they must therefore be obtained from foods. Cold-water fish like tuna are a rich source of the omega-3 essential fats, a form of essential fatty acids in which the standard American diet is sorely deficient. (The other form of essential fatty acids, the omega-6s, are plentiful in a variety of commonly consumed oils such as corn and safflower oil. In fact, the omega-6s are so plentiful in the typical American diet that too much omega-6 is consumed in proportion to omega-3s--an imbalance that promotes inflammation, thus contributing to virtually every chronic disease in which inflammation is a key component.)  This recipe is fairly spicy, go easy on the seasoning if you're not a fan of hot spices. However, Cayenne is extremely healthy for the heart and is great for weight loss because it speeds up your metabolism.

No Mush Allowed Gourmet Oatmeal

I could never stand eating oatmeal until my sister-in-law Kathy showed me that it didn't have to be mushy. I will be forever thankful to her because oatmeal is packed with good nutrition and sound weight loss principles.

Oatmeal has long been considered a health food and recently, a dieting food as well. It is a dieter’s dream meal: it is rich in nutrients and carbohydrates that by itself it can already be considered a complete meal.

Whole grain oats contain seven B vitamins, vitamin E, and nine minerals, including iron and calcium. B vitamins are necessary for weight loss because it helps your body not retain water, flushing it easily through the system and not allowing it to build up in the body. The quality and quantity of the protein in oats is far superior to that of wheat and many other grains.  As with all grains, when soaked before cooking, it becomes even more power packed with good nutrition.