Cranberry Orange Granola

I've been in a cooking rut lately...or just really, really busy with life outside of the kitchen...or both.  Life has been crazy busy.  My boys both started school last week and this week and I have a huge project at work that has me going in at odd hours day and night...so, I've been thinking of recipes, but haven't had much time to play in the kitchen.

Finally, today, I took the afternoon off of work (mainly because I had to go back in later in the evening) and I finally got to test out one of the recipes that has been stewing in my head for who knows how long.  And can I just say, it's amazing...really, it's about the best granola I've had. And what's great about this recipe is that you can easily change it up pretty much any way you want to with nuts, fruits, etc.

This post is featured on Allergy Free Wednesdays, Allergy Friendly Friday and Whole Food Fridays.

Cranberry Orange Granola
2 cups gluten free rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup buckwheat grouts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup dried apple pieces

Directions
Preheat oven to 300F. Grease a large baking sheet/pan and set aside.

Combine the oats, nuts, buckwheat, and seeds in a large bowl.  Add in the honey, coconut oil, vanilla, and orange juice and mix until everything is evenly coated. 

Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake for ~45minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven once the granola has turned a golden brown.

Mix the orange zest, cranberries, and apple pieces into the granola.  Continue mixing the granola every half hour while it cools on the baking sheet.

Once cooled, place granola in an airtight container.  If stored at room temp it should be good for about a week.  If stored in the freezer it will last a couple of months.

Chewy Granola Bar Treats

I really am not sure I should call these granola bars, they are more like granola treats.  Really they are basically like rice krispy treats, but with granola instead, so yeah, they are granola treats.  They are really good, and a great way to sneak in whole grain, but at the same time you are eating marshmallows...just so you know. :)  So, yes, this is a dessert.

Chewy Granola Bar Treats
1 10-oz package large marshmallows
1/4 cup dairy-free margarine (I used Nucoa)
4 cups GF granola (I used about 1 1/2 bags of Udi's Gluten Free Au Naturel Granola)
1 1/2 cups GF rice cereal (I used EnviroKidz Koala Crisp cereal, to give it a little chocolate taste.)
Dairy-free mini chocolate chips (like Enjoy Life chocolate chips)

Directions
Grease a 13X9 baking pan with dairy-free margarine or cooking spray.  Set aside. Put marshmallows and the 1/4 cup margarine in a large saucepan.  Heat over medium-low heat until marshmallows are melted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and mix in granola and rice cereal.  Transfer to the prepared baking pan and press the mixture down with a greased rubber spatula to make it even.  Once the mixture starts to cool, press the mini chocolate chips into the top of the treats.  Once completely cooled, cut into bars.

This post is featured on Cybele Pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday for 4/22/11.  Check it out here.

Udi's Review

I am so incredibly behind on reviews, but this one, no matter how behind I get, really needs to be done.  I LOVE UDI'S!  They saved us when I changed my older son's diet, he has been the pickiest with the gf breads, and Udi's has allowed him to enjoy PB&J's again.

I recently got the opportunity to become a community ambassador for Udi's.  This means I get to share the love at Gluten-free meetings and at in-store demos, etc.  I'm not bound to only love Udi's, so I can still try and review other products, but I chose to affiliate myself with this company because of how they have helped us on our gluten-free journey.

Being an ambassador, I got to try everything in the product lineup: (1) Udi's Gluten Free White Sandwich Bread, (2) Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread, (3) Cinnamon Raisin Bread, (4) Udi's Gluten Free Plain Bagels, (5) Whole Grain Bagels, (6) Cinnamon Raisin Bagels, (7) Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust, (8) Udi's Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls, (9) Udi's Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins, (10) Udi's Gluten Free Double Chocolate Muffins, (11) Udi's Gluten Free Lemon Streusel Muffins, (12) Udi's Gluten Free Granola, Au Naturel, (13) Udi's Gluten Free Granola, Cranberry, (14) Udi's Gluten Free Granola, Vanilla, and (15)Udi's Gluten Free Granola, Original.


Fifteen products, and they all have been amazing.  When I conveniently switched my boys bread from their white sandwich bread (which they love!) to the whole grain, they didn't even notice.  What mom can say that about switching from white to whole wheat?!?!  So, yes, we are now big fans of the whole grain bread.  I already am a huge fan of their plain bagels, and their whole grain and cinnamon raisin do not disappoint.  My older son is loving bagels now, too.  I don't think he ever really ate bagels before our diet change, but he definitely does now.  I have to say with both the cinnamon raisin bagels, and the cinnamon raisin bread.  That option was always taken for granted.  I chose so many other types of bagels over cinnamon raisin back in my gluten days, but really I almost cried when I ate the cinnamon raisin bagel for the first time.  Being able to have an option at all, meant more than I could imagine.

The muffins are amazingly good, they are like those jumbo bakery muffins that I used to indulge in, I love them.  I've already raved about the double chocolate muffins, which by the way, I never get to eat, because my boys down them too fast.  But the blueberry ones are like eating fresh blueberries, they are so good.  But, I think my favorite is the lemon streusel, I love lemon and they have just the right amount in the muffin, with just the right amount of chewiness.  It's simply heavenly.

I think my boys two favorite things, beyond what they already have as regular favorites, were the cinnamon rolls and the pizza crust.  My older one begged me for cinnamon rolls for days when we tried them for the first time.  And the pizza crust is our new regular.  The first time we had it, my older son ate the crusts off of everyone's plate....he never eats the crusts!!!  It is a thin crust, and we usually go for thicker crusts, but they were so incredibly easy and so tasty, it definitely is a new regular in the house.

Now for the granola, can a just say how happy I am that I can snack on granola again...and how amazing it is that their original granola has pistachios, I love it!  All of their granola is really tasty, and I find myself looking for ways to add granola to everything, just so I have an excuse to eat it. :)

Quite simply put, all of Udi's gluten-free products get 10 out of 10 from me and my family, they have given us back some of that normalcy and convenience we have been missing.  Once again:  I LOVE UDI'S!!!