Chocolate Almond Granola
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I’m still here! I do still cook, I promise. I just haven’t been documenting things the same way these days! When life is busy, prioritizing is a must. I have been learning the art of “yes” and “no.” Some things in life are an absolute “yes”: faith, family, relationships, rest. And some less obvious things more personal to me: music, dinner with friends, dates with my husband. I have been learning what things I have to prioritize in life in order to stay healthy and whole. Consequently, this means saying “no” to quite a few things as well. One of those things is time on my computer. I have to be on a computer a lot at work. Once I’m home, it’s just not healthy for me to be interacting with a screen again. I have to be really careful with my phone too. I really love documenting my life with food, but it has been on hold for awhile. I’m hoping to start incorporating it more again, especially as things slow down this summer. As you may know, I really love the challenge of making food for my family that is healthy, delicious, and affordable. The latter is getting more challenging all the time. Right now, I am responsible for a lot of meals every day: breakfast for 3 kids & 2 adults, packed lunches for those same 5 people, separate extra snacks for 2 kids, after school snacks, and dinner for the same 5. It’s taken me quite some time to get into a good routine with all this. But I am discovering better ways to stay on top of things and am coming up with some delicious recipes to help out.
This recipe came from spring break. It was a cold spring break here in Duluth. I was fine with it. One of the great thing about kids is they want to go outside no matter what. So, despite the frigid days, we spent time on the beach, biking, and fishing. I also made this delicious chocolate granola. It could be dessert or breakfast. It’s chocolatey enough to leave the kids with leftover chocolate milk in their cereal bowls, which is the sign of a good chocolate cereal.
Chocolate Almond Granola
30 min
Ingredients:
3 c regular rolled oats
1 c almonds, chopped
1/3 c cocoa powder
4 T butter
1/3 c maple syrup
2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 375 F
Stir oats, almonds, cocoa powder, and salt together in a large bowl
Melt butter in small bowl and stir in the maple syrup and vanilla
Pour the butter combo over the oats and stir well until everything is evenly coated
Lightly grease a 9x13 pan
Pour the granola into the pan and press it evenly into it.
Bake for 22 minutes
Remove the pan from the oven and let the granola cool in the pan completely before removing. After this, you’ll be able to break it up into bigger chunks if you desire!
