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

Cinnamon Sugar Graham Crackers

I have to admit. . . graham crackers bought at the store really aren't that bad for you. They don't contain a ginormous amount of processed foods, but I still thought it would be fun to make some of my own. Can I say FABULOUS? I'll continue making them because they taste almost like a cookie when you make them yourself. I loved it.

I used the recipe straight out of the THRIVE Cookbook. Normally I like to change things up & do it my way, but really this was the perfect recipe & why mess with perfection right?

Cinnamon Sugar Graham Crackers:

2 cups THRIVE Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup THRIVE White Flour

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

1/2 cup Butter, softened (or do 1/2 THRIVE Butter Powder + 1/4 cup Water)

1/2 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar, packed

1/3 cup Honey

1/2 cup THRIVE Powdered Milk, rehydrated (1 1/2 Tablespoons powder + 1/2 cup Water)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

2 Tablespoons THRIVE White Sugar

Sift together the whole wheat flour, white flour, baking powder, & baking soda. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, & honey until light & fluffy.

Stir in the sifted ingredients alternating between the milk & vanilla..

Cover dough & chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide the chilled dough into quarters. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out one quarter at a time into a large rectangle. (just like rolling out sugar cookie dough) The recipe says to roll it 1/8 inch thick, but I though the thicker grahams (1/4 in thick) turned out yummier. So it's up to you. Divide into smaller rectangles with a butter knife.

Place rectangles on ungreased baking sheets. Mark a line down the center of each one without cutting through the dough, & prick the tops with a fork. Combine cinnamon & white sugar & sprinkle over dough before baking.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

These are SO GOOD. I don't know why I expected them to be not as good as the store bought kind, but they're seriously like eating a cookie. FABULOUS. They're even better with ice cold milk. Mmmmm. The kids LOVED them too. In fact, my little two year old kept sneaking into the kitchen to eat more when I wasn't looking. He almost ate the entire batch the little stinker.

If you'd like to purchase any of the ingredients used in this recipe, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com

Banana Nut Crumble Muffins

These are

THE BEST MUFFINS YOU WILL EVER EAT!

I made these the other day & we ate them ALL at one sitting. They were SO good, I had my sweet husband BEGGING for another batch.

Basically, I just started throwing things together & combining some old recipes I had & this was the end product. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Banana Nut Crumble Muffins:

1 1/2 cups THRIVE White Flour

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda

1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Iodized Salt

3 cups THRIVE Freeze Dried Bananas (or 3 brown bananas)

1/2 cup THRIVE White Sugar

1/4 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon THRIVE Egg Powder (+ 2 Tablespoons Water in wet ingredients)

1/3 cup THRIVE Butter Powder (+ 1/4 cup Water in wet ingredients)

1/2 cups Chopped Walnuts (optional)

1/3 cup THRIVE Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons THRIVE White Flour

1 Tablespoon THRIVE Butter Powder (mixed with 1/2 Tablespoon Water)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups (or use liners). Let your Freeze Dried bananas soak in 4 cups of water for 10 minutes until they are soft & ready to be squished. Then drain out the extra water.

While your bananas are soaking, mix your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt.

Add your powdered egg & powdered butter to the dry ingredients. I know it sounds SO strange, but you have to trust me. It works out & bakes just fine. It's hard to get used to, but it makes your food DELICIOUS.

In another bowl beat the bananas, vanilla, sugars, & 1/4 + 2 Tablespoons water (to make up for your powdered egg & powdered butter. . . again, trust me on this.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & mix thoroughly. Add your nuts & stir until evenly distributed. Scoop into the muffin cups until 2/3 full (or even a little more).

In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, & prepared butter powder until you have a nice little crumble. (I had to make two batches of this because I ate most of the first one.)

Sprinkle the cupcakes GENEROUSLY with the crumble. Put a TON on them. It's SO good.

Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes until baked all the way through. We ate them HOT out of the oven & all 12 were gone in minutes.

I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the ingredients listed in this recipe, comment below or visit my website:

dani.shelfreliance.com