Good Eats: Maple Granola

Today I was aimlessly wandering through a collection of amazing blogs, and I was reading "10 in 20: Morning Meals" by one of my favorite blogs The Everygirl. And when I saw this link to make maple granola, I freaked out because I. Love. Granola. The only problem with this delicious, crunchy treat is that in today's society, companies pack granola with lots of sugar, preservatives, and other processed ingredients. That's why I have always wanted to make my own granola, and it was surprisingly easy.

 

What You'll Need:

 

3 cups of oats

1/4 cup of coconut oil

1/2 chopped walnuts

1/3 chopped almonds

5 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tbsp. of raw honey

1/4 tsp. of salt

1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract

 

Directions:

The directions on the original blog post include mixing dry ingredients then heating liquids, but I threw everything into a bowl, mixed it up, cooked it, and then poof! I had delicious maple granola. I simplified the steps because it still tastes the same whatever way you make it...

 

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

2. Mix all the ingredients together (it helps to mix dry first, then add wet, but whichever way you prefer)

3. Lay the granola on a pan with parchment paper

4. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown

 

Tips:

1. Whatever nuts you prefer can be substituted for the 1/3 cup of almonds and 1/2 cup of walnuts. I only had almonds (we're an almond loving family), and the granola still tasted fabulous.

2. When the granola first comes out of the oven, it isn't hard like it should be. I thought I had done something wrong, but let it cool and it'll turn out just fine.

3. If the granola isn't sweet enough, add a little organic cane sugar (can be found at Whole Foods)

4. Whole oats work a lot better than steel cut oats. Again, I had to work with what we had, and this meant I had to use steel cut oats instead. The granola wasn't as chunky, but still had a phenomenal taste!

5. If the granola isn't sticky enough before baking, add a little more honey and coconut oil. Adding more maple syrup will make the flavor overwhelming and we don't want this, so stick with honey and coconut for added "stickiness".

 

 

{all the ingredients minus vanilla}

 

{pre-cut almonds, I just guessed on the amount}

 

{it takes a long time to cut, use a food processor instead!}

 

{yum. honey.}

 

{does anyone love the smell of vanilla more than I do?}

 

{mix it well or it'll have a weird texture}

 

{yummy!}

 

I plan on adding some almond milk and fresh berries to my granola in the morning for a healthy start to the day!

Happy baking :)

Love,

Natalie

Island Time

Today I was lucky enough to take a short day trip to the beautiful Hilton Head Island. I was able to see the beautiful beaches there, enjoy some delicious food, and simply relax for one day. It's a short two hour drive to the island, and because of some circumstances, I almost chose not to go- but I am sure glad I did, the weather was just right and it was lovely to get away even if it were only one afternoon in "paradise".

After you go over the bridge onto the island, you leave the boring trees and marsh grass to a seashore dotted with beautiful houses and extremely clean beaches. Because we were there for only one day, we didn't do as much exploring as I'd hoped, but there will be more trips to come (hopefully with more time to look around).

Once late afternoon passed, I could almost taste the seafood from the hundreds of restaurants that were about to open their doors for floods of hungry island-goers. Luckily, my family knew where we were going to find the best location, and we decided on Skull Creek Boathouse. 

It's a mostly outdoors and is one of the few restaurants actually on the water, and not to mention the food was simply amazing!

An example of one of the outdoor seating areas

After lots of decision making on the massive menu selection, I decided on the good ol' fried shrimp (you can't go wrong). Sitting as the sun shined through the trees and as the breeze came off the water completely made my night, but there was more to come! Upon leaving Skull Creek Boathouse, we headed on over to Frankie Bones, a New York Style restaurant that had a delicious variety of desserts. Of course, I settled with my personal favorite, the carrot cake, and with our stomachs full of Hilton Head cuisine, we headed back home.

Even though the trip was short and sweet, I enjoyed my time before another weekend of travelling. I'll be headed north two hours instead of south to visit my cousins in Myrtle Beach, which also means posting this weekend may be limited. But stay tuned for {hopefully} a post loaded with pictures from my weekend adventures!

Love,

Natalie

Escaping the Heat: My Tips

The south is one of the most beautiful places; there's the beach, friendly people, and lovely weather, well, most of the year. Don't get me wrong, the weather here is lovely in the fall and spring, the winter is quite mild, but summertime here is like standing in an oven... for 5 months. Add the extreme heat and add a whole lot of humidity, and it's practically impossible to do anything outside unless you plan on getting drenched in sweat or you're headed somewhere with water. Around mid-July, the whole heat and humidity thing gets really old, and us southerners rely on many things to keep us going through these rough months. After being born and raised in such a unruly summer environment, I've found many things helpful for escaping the heat.

Clothes

Even though most of us would rather wear our bathing suits everywhere during the summer, we normally need more clothes than that. For the summer I rely on my collection of collard button-ups (or oxfords) because they are light, easily paired with shorts, and universal to any events that may pop up on the calendar. Skirts are nice to wear, but during the summer I normally find skirts to be quite annoying (the wind picks them up, not good for adventuring, etc.) so I stick with my good selection of shorts. Last summer, I visited a local thrift shop, picked out some jeans that were in good condition, cut them into shorts, added lace trim to the pockets and bottoms, and voila! I haven't stopped wearing them since! In the case of shoes, I would love to say I spend the summer prancing around in my fancy sandals but honestly, you can't tear my Rainbow flip flops off my feet when it's this hot outside. However, if you're looking for a fancier shoe to pair your outfits with but are worried they'll get ruined over the course of the summer, there is a brand (click here!) that sells knock off Jack Rogers. I know several people with these shoes and they say they're extremely comfortable and they don't have to worry about ruining a $100 pair of sandals. After I get ready before going out, I usually slide in one of American Apparel's hair bows to add style to any boring pony tail.

Snacks

Obviously, if you've ever visited the south, you'll find that the drink of choice is sweet tea. Even though I'm not a fan of it, it's cold and sweet and that's all that matters here! Frozen treats are also typical for any hot day, but most treats are full of corn syrup and unneccisary amounts of sugar. That's why lately I've been making my own. They're extremely easy to make and there are so many recipes! 

Now don't these look simply delicious? 

Activities

At this point of the year, it's way too hot to be just hanging out outside, and even though the AC calls everyone indoors, there's only so much one can do when cramped inside for long periods of time. So what do I do? I'm a bike ride away from the pool and 10 minutes away from two beaches, so I take advantage of these resources. Other than that I can be found filling my RooCup with a coke ICEE. RooCup's are $7 cups that give you 25 cent refills at any Kangaroo gas station all summer, and because there's plenty of these gas stations around, I'll bear the heat and ride my bike to one. 

I'd like to sprout off more ideas, but other than those two options, I'm usually reading a good book indoors, checking social media, taking pilates and yoga at a local gym, or catching a movie with my friends (I'm pretty much in hibernation mode all summer, oops).

Hope y'all are beating this heat!

Love,

Natalie