Tropical Granola

I have been having such a craving for tropical dried fruit lately. Maybe it is the warmer weather or something...who knows. I don't like to snack on just dried fruit though because it does have quite a bit of sugar. I was trying to think of a way to get my tropical fruit craving filled and came up with Tropical Granola! I am a little obsessed with homemade granola lately. It is so delicious and you can customize it to your craving of the week. I found this recipe on Annie's Eats, but modified it slightly. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup brown sugar; to be honest, I forgot to put it in, but it still tastes great! The original recipe also uses pineapple puree instead of honey. Since I didn't have any pineapple available I used honey. It also calls for coconut extract, but I left it out.

Tropical Granola

5 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup honey
1 ripe banana mashed
1/3 cup applesauce (I used the unsweetened type)
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of cinnamon
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups dried tropical fruit
1/2 cup nut of your choice (optional- I left this out this time)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Measure oats into a large bowl and add in nuts if you are using them. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, mashed banana, applesauce, salt, cinnamon until well combined and smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the oats and stir until evenly coated. Spread mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet.
3. Bake at 352F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the granola. Bake for 15 more minutes. Cool for about 15 minutes and then add in fruit and chocolate chips. Stir or toss to combine.

Yummy Easy Side Dish

This recipe is so easy and quick and so delicious! It seems like such a fancy dish, but it literally took me less than 2 minutes to put together. I used canned veggies, but you could use fresh.

Green Beans with Sundried Tomatoes and Garlic
Makes 1 serving of sundried tomato topping (because the hubby won't even try it)

1 can of green beans (I used the sodium free canned green beans)
2 sundried tomatoes
1 small garlic clove
1 tsp water (or oil)

1. In a food processor or blender (I used a small one), blend water, garlic clove and sundried tomatoes. I like mine a little chunky, but you can make it any consistency you like.
2. Heat (or cook) green beans.
3. Spoon sundried tomato topping over green beans and ENJOY!

This would be a great low fat, low salt, low carb, quick and easy side dish!

Freschetta and a Giveaway!!

I recently signed up to be part of the Freschetta Fresh Connection bloggers. They contacted me and asked me to be part of a blog review and giveaway. They sent me some coupons to try their By the Slice and their Simply...Inspired.
I got the Bruschetta Simply...Inspired variety and had a tasting with some family. I decided to try the Bruschetta variety because I am a huge fan of tomatoes and this pizza looked like it was covered from the picture on the package. My husband is a picky eater, and in order for him to enjoy a slice, I decided this was probably the safest of the choices as most of the other choices had veggies that he would not even try. On exam of the pizza when removing it from the package, I discovered that I was right about the great number of tomatoes. If you like tomatoes, this could be your pizza. We popped it in the oven, sliced it up and took a taste. The crust is thin, just like the hubby likes. The cheese is very tasty when you compare to other brands of frozen pizza. I could have honestly used a little more Italian spice flavoring to punch up the bruschetta flavor. It was mostly very tomatoe-y, but I still very much enjoyed it. The family all agreed that this was a very delicious frozen pizza and will be one try another of again.
I also had a coupon for a By the Slice pizza. I decided to try Vegetable Medley because I am a huge fan of veggie pizza. Again, did not dissapoint.
Prior to trying these pizzas, I had never before tried Freschetta variety, but I plan on trying some of their other varities (especially the natural rising and for the hubby the California style).
Freschetta has generously offered to allow their bloggers to have a giveaway for Freschetta coupons and a storage container set.
Here is how to enter: Visit http://www.freschetta.com/ and leave a comment below telling me which variety you would be excited to try. In order to receive your coupon, please leave me a way to contact you in order to get your address so they can mail you your prize.
Winner will be randomly selected on 5/5! Good luck

Disclaimer- Freschetta did provide me with free coupons to try their product as well as a storage container set in order to do a blog review on their products.


Winner Is...

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