Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola

Granola granola granola all around! 

Figuratively dying over this granola, not literally since that's grammatically incorrect. 

I had a bowl of my peanut butter granola this morning with a cup of my peanut butter and chocolate coffee and yeah,  you could say it was kind of like heaven.

This recipe is originally from Minimalist Baker (seriously good recipes for college students that don't want recipes with tons of ingredients!) found here: http://minimalistbaker.com/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-granola/#_a5y_p=2176330

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups + 2 Tbsp rolled oats 
• 2 Tbsp organic cane sugar (or sub granulated) (I skipped to be sugar conscious)
• 1/4 cup olive, grape seed or melted coconut oil (I used coconut oil)
• 1/4 cup creamy natural salted peanut butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, agave nectar (or sub honey if not vegan)
• 1/3 cup dairy-free dark or bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 340 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper 

2. Mix oats and sugar, if using, and set aside

3. In a sauce pan, heat oil, peanut butter, and maple syrup (honey, agave) until melted, pourable, and mixed

4. Pour over oats and spread on baking sheet

5. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until evenly golden brown. Toss ever 15 minutes or so to make sure it bakes evenly. Keep an eye on it when it starts getting close to 15 minutes to be sure not to burn!

6. Allow to cool and add chocolate chips! Store in airtight container at room temp for up to 2 weeks. 

*Minimalist Baker suggests adding banana to it and that just sounds heavenly*

Chocolate Almond Granola

Granola is honestly the best thing in my life at the moment. It's perfection. I eat it for a quick breakfast as cereal or at lunch or for a snack or for dessert. Okay every meal I could eat granola. 

This recipe is originally from The Kitchy Kitchen, found here: http://www.thekitchykitchen.com/?recipes=/parfait-go-mom-monday/

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups gluten free oats

1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder 

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups slivered almonds (optional) (I roughly chopped some almonds lazily)

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Combine the coconut oil, agave, and vanilla extract together.

2. Mix in the oats, cinnamon, chipotle, cocoa powder, sea salt, and almonds.

3. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. Stir every ten minutes, but check regularly to not burn almonds. 

4. Allow to cool and then store in air tight container at room temperature. 

Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Bars

These bars were so good, that it was hard to remember not to eat them all before I took the final picture! I am a fan of chocolate, oatmeal, and peanut butter. All of which were in these bars and oh gosh were they good! 

The original recipe comes from Money Saving Mom, found here: http://moneysavingmom.com/2013/06/best-ever-chocolate-oatmeal-no-bake-bars-clean-eating.html

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey (agave for vegan)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil 
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, raisins, or dried cranberries
• 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions: 

1. Mix the peanut butter, agave, and coconut oil in a sauce pan over low heat until melted. 

2. Once melted remove from heat and add in oats, coconut, chopped nuts (or etc.), chocolate chips, and vanilla. Mix until chocolate chips are melted.

3. Pour into 9x13 pan and put in fridge until firmed up.

4. Remove from fridge and cut into bars. Store in fridge or freezer. 

Vanilla Chai Smoothie

I've been drinking smoothies an awful lot lately! They are just so easy! I freeze my bananas after breakfast and then they are ready for smoothie making by lunch time! 

I love chai spices, especially around fall! So this recipe has been A+ perfect lately!

This recipe is from Blissful Basil, found here: http://blissfulbasil.com/2014/08/13/sweet-spiced-vegan-vanilla-chai-smoothie/

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas
• ¾ cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions: 

Literally add everything to a blender and blend. Voila. 

Vegan Untraditional Cookies and Cream Banana "Ice Cream"

Been on a banana ice cream and smoothie roll lately!
Found this banana ice cream on instagram from @thecoconutgoddess! She described this as a Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, but not your traditional cookies and cream. This ice cream is full of yummy goodness! 

Ingredients:
Ice Cream:
3 frozen chopped bananas
2 tsps raw cacao (I used cocoa powder)

Cookie Swirl:
10 regular dates, softened
1 tsp cacao powder

Hardening Chocolate Sauce:
1 Tbsp. melted coconut oil
2 tsps. raw cacao powder
1 tsp. maple syrup

Instructions: 

1. Make banana ice cream until blended smooth.

2.  Add in cookie swirl 

3. Top with hardening chocolate sauce! 

Happy thoughts to all!

Vegan Pumpkin Maple Nut Granola

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN. 

As Starbucks has proven with the release of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, it is kinda sorta officially fall!!

Well in my head it is, so we're just going to say it is! 

I love fall because its that time of the year where it is socially acceptable for me to truly show my love and mild obsession with all things pumpkin and cinnamon related!! 

So I hopped back on the granola train and found this recipe for a Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola on Edible Perspective, found here: http://www.edibleperspective.com/home/2013/11/15/breakfast-friday-pumpkin-maple-pecan-granola.html

I didn't have pecans so I changed the recipe to walnuts, but do as you please!

Ingredients:

wet mixture:

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil, melted
• 1-2 tablespoons muscovado sugar, or coconut sugar/sucanat/brown sugar
• 1 vanilla bean scraped, about 1/4 teaspoon (I opted for vanilla extract) 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon all spice
• 1/8 teaspoon clove

dry:

• 2 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 2/3 cup pecans, chopped (I just did walnuts)
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
• 6-8 chopped + pitted medjool dates

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line baking try with parchment paper

2. Combine wet mixture in a large bowl and take out 2 tablespoons of the wet mixture

3. With 2 tablespoons of the mixture set aside, mix oats in to large bowl with mixture

4. Spread on baking sheet and put in oven for 30 minutes, stir halfway through at 15 minutes 

5. While baking, mix the chopped nuts with the 2 tablespoons of wet mixture you set aside

6. Remove tray from oven and add chopped nuts to oat mixture and put bak in the oven for 12-15 minutes

7. In the meantime, chop the dates. I put mine in a food processor but chopping by hand is of course fine!

8. When time is up, remove oats from oven and add in chopped dates and let sit until cool. Mixture will be wet, but will harden with time.

9. Store in an air tight container in the fridge! 

Now you have a mapley, pumpkiny fall filled granola to have in yogurts, as cereal or as a snack! 

Vegan Avocado Chocolate Mousse

I'm back to trying to get those dang avocados into my diet. Avocados have so many benefits including: promoting heart health, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and many more it leaves one to wonder why we don't eat them more often! 

I used to be a huge fan of avocados when I was younger then I ate too many and now I can barely stand the smell of them. 

But now that I know of the health benefits, I've been trying to sneak it back into my diet. So I found a recipe for avocado chocolate mousse. I know, why would you pair chocolate and avocados together? Because you can't even taste the avocado!! WHAT? Craziness. I know. You get heart healthy benefits without even realizing it! 

I found this recipe from Mind Body Green, found here: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11379/the-best-vegan-chocolate-mousse-youll-ever-put-in-your-mouth.html

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup coconut milk or almond milk
• 2 tsp stevia (or other, I used agave)
• 1 tsp natural vanilla extract
• Optional extras: toasted sliced almonds, chia seeds, fruit, or chocolate 

Instructions

1. Take the ripe avocado and blend it until smooth. Mine wasn't ripe enough so it didn't become very smooth and was more grainy and textured. 

2. Mix cocoa powder and milk 

3. Mix cocoa powder and milk into avocado 

4. Stir in vanilla and sweetener and any added extras 

5. Store in fridge if not eaten immediately