Paleo Granola

The last 4-5 months, one of my Bro-n-Law's, Matt, has been living with us and it's been awesome! He's moving to Seattle tomorrow morning and I am so sad to see him (and Jasper) go, but I know he's really going to enjoy it there! That also means another vacation will be in the works! WooHoo! So Matt, I hope you have enjoyed your time with us as much as we have and know that you are welcome back anytime! Drive safe, have fun and we'll see you soon! We love you! (p.s.-Boz is going to miss his cousin Jasper so much!)

In efforts to lighten the mood a bit, how was your Halloween? Mine was full of relaxing in front of the TV, handing out candy to Trick or Treaters and getting a "Boorito" from Chipotle (and eating candy too, but we won't talk about that!). Negative point of the night- a group of middle school aged kids where one was dressed as a drug dealer... SERIOUSLY?! #1- I hope this child's parent realized that's what they were telling people they are dressed as and screams their head off, #2 - no candy for you!, #3- SERIOUSLY?! Highlight of the night- the cutest little princess came up to my door, as she was getting candy, I noticed that she came on a 4-wheeler... her dad said she got really tired of all the walking (she was only about 4), so he took her home and took her back out on his 4-wheeler so she could still enjoy the night. High five to that dad!!!

Now that the candy festivities are over, let's get back to eating healthy!

Paleo Granola

Ingredients:

1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Almonds
1/2 C Sunflower Kernels
1/2 C Pepitas
1/2 C Raisins
1/4 C Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)
1/4 C Pumpkin Puree
1/4 C Walnut Oil
2 tsp of instant coffee (optional, but really yummy!)
Dash of Salt or any seasoning you want (cinnamon would be good, or pumpkin pie spice)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Mix all ingrendients into bowl. Make sure that all "dry ingredients" get covered by the pumpkin and walnut oil!
3. Evenly spread mixture out on parchment-paper lined pan
4. Bake for 45-50min. (bake a few minutes longer if you want it really crunchy)
5. Set on cooling rack and cool completely!!! This is where it really "crunches" up!

*Walmart has bags in their produce section for about $2.50 each of the Sunflower Kernels and Pepitas! Those bags will last me around 7-8 batches of this, yay for being cost effective!
** When picking out your nuts (haha), make sure that they are plain. Meaning no salt, not roasted in any oils, etc...