With the influx of holiday goodies coming up I’m trying to get ahead of the game and stock the house with healthy meal and snack options as well as cute & inexpensive handmade gifts for neighbors, teachers and friends. Breakfast is a great way to start so we made this Coconut, Cranberry and Almond Granola. They kids have been eating it on yogurt, ice cream and even dry from a bowl as an afternoon snack.
Granola is so simple and so easily customized to a family’s tastebuds. We used to make it weekly so that Rob and the kids had a healthy breakfast and snack option. We’d switch out the nuts and flavorings so it wasn’t the same old thing week after week. I’ve shared other granola recipes here to give you an idea of how easy to change it up.
This is one of our favorites by far. I love the chewiness of the cranberries, they get a toasty flavor from baking but they can be added later in the baking process or even at the end if you want something more tart. Switch them out for dried cherries for a really tasty treat. We can’t find dried cherries all the time so they’re treated like a gold when we do.
Coconut, Cranberry & Almond Granola
Ingredients
- 4 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
- 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup vegetable or coconut oil
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 300°
Toss together oats, freeze dried coconut, almonds and cranberries in a large bowl. In a glass measuring cup slightly warm the oil and honey in the microwave for 15-25 seconds just so the honey flows freely.
Add the vanilla to the oil and honey mixture and pour over the oats. With a wooden or silicone spoon thoroughly mix the ingredients so all of the oats are coated. This step take a minute or two.
Pour this out on a baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 8-10 minutes. Your granola should be golden brown.
Remove from oven, spread onto a sheet of parchment to cool and it will be crunchy and ready to eat in 10 minutes.
Pour the granola in jars and decorate with ribbon and tags and gift our to anyone that eats 🙂 I especially like this idea as hostess gifts for those that are putting on elaborate parties or dinners. Who wants to cook the next day? Add the granola along with a gorgeous bouquet or bottle of wine and be known as the unique and useful gift giver.
What’s on your menu for Thanksgiving?
First off I’ll start off by saying these tasted nothing like cheez-its. But that’s a good thing. These were by far better. Their real cheese and butter flavor cannot be imitated in a box. The ingredient list if short, the mixing was easy and they baked quickly. They do take some time to create especially if you want small bite size crackers. I’m guessing they made bigger would work too but I like the small pop in your mouth size of these.
Using an 18-count egg carton Sabreena fashioned her own Mancala board and grabbed some glass gems from my craft cabinet. Within 1 hour of her big idea she and Shae were playing. Like I said I didn’t know how to play the game but apparently Shae did and they went through about 4 games before dinnertime. This is now a nightly ritual, one I don’t mind at all. I’m gonna bring all the quiet games into the living room so we can have nightly intellectual games instead of tv and video game time. Materials and Directions
Cut 2 sections of 2 cups to use as the “store” and cut out the dividers of those 2 pieces. Glue the store cups on the ends of the remaining carton, set aside to dry for several minutes. Seal up the holes in the “store” cups with paper or tape. 
The girls used colorful tissue paper and mod podge. This just made the game board a little more festive.
Your game is ready to play with marbles, rocks, seeds, beads or in our case glass gems.
Mancala is the word for this type of “sowing” game. There are many versions of it around the world from many cultures. 
