2010 Healthy Recipes, Week #3

Nothing beats fresh, good tasting food. And the more I dive into healthier cooking, the more I realize that a lot of stuff you buy from the grocery store is such sub-par compared to making something from scratch, controlling ALL the ingredients, and really savoring the quality of the items that go into your product. A few simple, fresh ingredients hands down taste much better than a convenience food, that is full of stabilizers, preservatives and other chemicals.

We are a couple weeks into the new year, and I've already dropped 8+ pounds. Mostly due to being back on track with eating, now that the holiday weeks are over. And secondarily, really aggressively kicking up my workout routine. I've started running again as well as lifting weights. Now you'd think this is nothing major, but for me it really is major! I have not run for ages. And while I continue to increase my cardiovascular stamina, it's nice to be running at a fast pace on the treadmill at the gym, intermixing it with brisk walking. The more I do this, the more endurance I know I'll be able to achieve with running and this will continue with the weight loss and lifestyle change I'm adopting. I'll never be a runner, but I can be a jogger.

I make my own organic yogurt from scratch each week, so I can enjoy it for breakfast at work. Most of the stuff at the grocery store is not very good from my perspective in terms of flavor and texture. Additionally, the really nice no sugar organic yogurt is expensive. It's really cost effective to just make it at home. My yogurt maker has been a great tool in our kitchen.

With this homemade yogurt, I was craving granola over the past few weeks. I decided to look at a few recipes in cook books that I had, as well as looking online for ways to make it more nutritional, and less oily. I based my recipe loosely on an Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa recipe, but increased the honey, reduced the oil and used olive oil instead of vegetable oil for better nutrition and a better mix of good fat to just fat based on a recipe I viewed from the American Heart Association website. I added more dried fruit as well to the finished granola, particularly dried pineapple. Not the adulterated sugary kind, but the simplistic unadulterated dried kind with NOTHING else in it. This type of pineapple alone is SO GOOD! A little bit of this with some fresh homemade Greek style organic yogurt on top is a FANTASTIC breakfast to start my mornings with.



Honey Sweetened Granola

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cups sliced / slivered almonds
½ cup olive oil
½ cup good honey
1 1/2 cups small diced dried apricots
1 cup small diced dried figs
1 cup small diced dried pineapple
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
½ cup sunflower seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Pour onto a 13 by 18 by 1-inch sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even, golden brown, about 25-40 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Add the dried fruit, cashews and sunflower seeds. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.