Halloween DINNERS!

Sorry I haven't been very good about posting anything lately. October is my favorite month of the year, so I make a special Halloween themed dinner every night for the entire month for my 5 kiddos. THEY LOVE IT!

I've been using lots of fun THRIVE Ingredients in my meals & they've never been easier! (Tonight I'm making SPOOKY STEW with THRIVE Corn, THRIVE Onions, & THRIVE Celery!)

So, you probably won't see any new posts from me until Novemberish but feel free to check out some of my SPOOKY dinners on my family blog.

Dani's Homemade Granola

Dani's Homemade Granola:

2 cups THRIVE Quick Oats

1 cup Coconut

3/4 cup Sliced Almonds

3/4 cup Chopped Macadamia Nuts

3/4 cup Cashews

1/3 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter (1/4 cup THRIVE Butter Powder + 1/8 cup Water)

3 HEAPING Tablespoons Honey

1 cup THRIVE Freeze Dried Fruit of your choice: (strawberries, raspberries, mangoes,blueberries, pears, apricots, peaches, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc.)

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Mix your Oats, Coconut, Almonds, Macadamia Nuts, Cashews, Brown Sugar, & Cinnamon in a large bowl.

Melt your butter & honey in a small saucepan.

Pour your butter mixture over your dry ingredients & mix until everything is moistened well.

Spread your mixture out on a baking sheet & place on the center rack of your oven. Bake for 7 minutes. Stir your mixture & put back in the oven. Do this for

21 minutes (3 rotations of 7 minutes)

Move your pan to the TOP RACK of your oven. Bake for 3 minutes. Stir mixture & put back in the oven & repeat. You will do this for an additional 25-30 minutes. . .

stirring every 3 minutes!

Once the granola has been baking between 20-25 minutes on the top rack, I start checking the coconut. It sounds silly, but watching the coconut carefully is how I know when my granola is done. If granola isn't done enough it's too chewy & if it's overcooked it becomes burnt.

Your coconut is the key.

You want your coconut to be the perfect shade of golden brown, & you want it to

stand straight up

when you hold it between your fingers. If it leans or falls even slightly, it's not done yet. But if it's strong & stands perfectly straight up in the air, you're ready to go.

My Daddy wanted to demonstrate my coconut trick for ya. (I love my dad!)

Taste the coconut if you have to. It will taste absolutely FABULOUS & will have a perfect little crunch to it.

Once your coconut is done, remove the pan from the oven & cool on your counter. Once the entire mixture is cool to the touch, you can add your freeze dried fruit. This batch I did strawberries, raspberries, & pears. Pineapple, mangos, & strawberries is another favorite mixture in our house.

My dad absolutely LOVES my granola. He told me that's what he wants for Christmas this year. . .

a HUGE BOX full of granola.

He loves his in strawberry yogurt.

This visit was my grandmother's first time trying my granola. She's allergic to fruit so we left the fruit out of hers & added Freeze Dried Yogurt instead. She loved it.

I hope you enjoy this granola as much as everyone in our house does. It does require you to stand in your kitchen for a good 40 minutes, but it's 40 minutes well worth the wait. The granola stays good in an airtight container for about a month. Enjoy!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website: dani.shelfreliance.com