Today I have a treat for all of you! I made homemade maple granola and it was way better than the granola I made a few weeks ago. It’s sweet, but not over powering and this recipe forms those wonderful granola clusters. I don’t know about you, but my favorite granolas have clusters rather than small little oat pieces, but maybe I’m just picky. 😛 Did I mention that it’s super duper easy to make too?  My boyfriend agrees that this granola is really good (but maybe my taste tester has to say that)! I hope all of you agree, though. 🙂

vegan maple granola

This recipe was adapted from the Easy Homemade Granola recipe on page 13 of The Teen’s Vegetarian Cookbook by Judy Krizmanic. It’s easy to make, portable, tasty, and vegan. Try it on a peanut butter sandwich, with some almond milk, or even by the handful!

yield: approx. 12 servings

ingredients:

1 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup cashews

3 cups oatmeal

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar plus 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup  raisins or other dried fruit if desired (added after baking)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 in glass baking pan or 2 cookie sheets.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients except for the raisins.

3. Spread the mixture into the glass baking pan or on the 2 cookie sheets.

4, Bake for about 25 minutes or until the granola turns golden brown (It took me a little over 30 minutes when I used a 9×13 baking dish). Make sure to stir the granola as it is cooking.

5. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Add raisins to the granola if desired and store in a Tupperware or other airtight container.

Running update

On a completely different note, I am back to pain free running! My darn IT band seems to be fine after a few runs in a row. FINALLY! Also, the strength/rehabilitation exercises I have been doing for the last month and a half are paying off as the right side of my body is feeling stronger. And maybe, just maybe I am starting to feel a little bit more flexible because I have been doing yoga a few times per week.  I still wouldn’t call myself flexible, but I am better than I used to be. 😉 Yesterday I went on a lovely, pain free run with my boyfriend and it was the furthest I have run since my half marathon in the beginning of June!

Yes, 3.63 blissful miles was “far” for me, but not one twinge in the IT band so I’ll take it.This girl is happy to be running in general! I cannot wait to go back to running higher mileage and training for a race, but I know that I must go slow and be patient. I hoping to run a 10k or half in October or November, but for the time being my next mission is to try a 4 miler and a 4.5 miler.

Lollapalooza

The time is finally here! Tomorrow through Sunday I will be at Lollapalooza and I’m super pumped.  I cannot wait to see several of my favorite artists live as well as my sister and a friend from college I haven’t seen in a while. 🙂  This means I may not update this blog for a few days, but I’ll see what I can do.

The weekend is ALMOST here! Anyone have any exciting plans this weekend? 🙂