crunchtastic

I do not hug trees.  I have to make this abundantly clear so that you, dear reader, don’t feel like I’m leading you on.   I eat things with faces.  I love meat.  I’ll be honest with you, if there was more meat on them, I would eat the faces.  I like whales and white rhinos, but if I have money to donate I’m going to spend it on people.  You get the picture.  I am all for doing things to leave a smaller footprint, but I’m not going to cut off my feet.  Life is for living and progress is good, but please Mr. Scientist, stay out of my food.  I got this one.  I’m going crunchy.

What I want to do is move away from processed food.  My goal is to be raising my own meat, collecting fresh eggs each morning, growing my own fruits and vegetables, baking bread from flour I mill from organic grain, making my dairy products from raw milk – either from a nearby organic farmer or my own cow.  I don’t want to be eating chemicals.  Neither do I want to be rubbing them into my skin. I am already making my own cleaning supplies, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry soap etc.  I’ve stopped using shampoo and conditioner altogether, but more on that later.  I want to go back to the way things were done in my grandparents’ day and before.  Crunch-like.

I believe the main cause of most of our problems is pharmaceuticals and mass-produced foods.  Don’t get me wrong, if I’ve got strep or staph or any other thing that requires it, I’m going to take the antibiotic.  But do I really have to eat it in my meat?  Man-made/chemically altered or medicated products made strictly for profit is what I am determined to free myself from.  I believe they are the direct cause of the new syndromes and disorders that have been plaguing this great country over the past 50+ years.  I’m not there yet, but I’m on the path.  At the very least I am hyperaware.  My mind started this journey long ago, and I’m starting to catch my body up.   Getting Crunchy.

And I can’t think of a better way to start being crunchy than with granola.

I love granola; it’s what’s for breakfast almost every day.  Here’s the recipe for the granola I’m currently munching on.  It’s not very sweet, but it hits the spot… especially mixed with a chopped up apple in some Greek yogurt.

Dry ingredients:

6 cups organic oatmeal

1/4 cup chopped raw almonds

2 TBS sesame seeds

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

3/4 cup wheat germ

3 TBS brown sugar

2 TBS cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

Wet ingredients:

5 TBS honey

1-1/2 TBS unrefined virgin coconut oil

1-1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Extras:

Craisins or any dehydrated fruit

Dark Chocolate Chips

Mix together all of the dry ingredients except the crasins and chocolate:

Add wet ingredients and mix well to evenly coat:

Divide granola between two parchment lined cookie sheets at a consistent thickness to avoid burning:

Bake at 300 degrees for an hour switching racks half way through.  After an hour, stir then continue baking, checking every five minutes thereafter until desired color and CRUNCHINESS is reached.

Mix in Craisins and Chocolate.  Store in glass jar in fridge and enjoy:

-jw