When a dessert sporting roasted bananas crossed my tumblr dash, my mind immediately went to ice cream – banana ice cream, that is. I wondered if anyone had tried roasting bananas prior to freezing them for ice cream and, if so, what effect this might have on the finished product. Right away I hit the net in search of recipes. (An by “right away” I mean several weeks later. Procrastination, it’s my strong suit.)

Turns out there are as many ways to make roasted banana ice cream as there are bananas in a bunch. Let’s start with the roasting: you can slice and freeze the bananas and then roast them – or slice and roast them, and then pop ‘em in the freezer (which, incidentally, is the method I use here). You can roast them in their peels or naked. The bananas can function as the base in true banana ice cream form, or be used as flavoring for a milk base (non-dairy, in our case). Food processor or ice cream machine, take your pick. Or mix them half and half with unroasted bananas! Is your head spinning yet?

In the end, I went with the slice and roast method, and it worked quite well. The brown sugar and margarine congealed into a sticky sweetener which hardened nicely when chilled. As with regular old banana ice cream, you want to use overripe bananas – just not quite as brown and mushy as usual (too hard to slice!). The bananas shrink down quite a bit during roasting, so you’ll end up with a little less ice cream than normal; seven bananas yields about three quarters of a quart, whereas five unroasted bananas usually amounts to a full quart of ice cream for me.

The taste of roasted bananas is difficult to describe. It tastes…roasted? Kind of a bit richer than regular old bananas. The whiskey is optional, but is super-neat in that it prevents the ice cream from freezing solid. Instead, it exists in this perpetual state of soft serve. Definitely a bonus in my book.

 
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This is actually a variation on the Pesto Genovese from Nonna’s Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan. I’ve never met a pesto I didn’t like, but this one’s especially tasty. The original recipe calls for Soymage Parmesan, but here it’s swapped out for nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and – this is where things get strange – vegan chicken broth powder. Which I just so happen to have on hand thanks to my new favorite bulk foods site. (BACOS BY THE POUND!) I love the powdered stuff compared to bouillon – not only is it easy to use, but no palm oil. Yay! But I digress.

Served over a pound of gnocchi with some mixed veggies (not pictured – a last minute addition, they were still in the microwave during the photo session), this was the perfect quick and light meal for the first hot day of the year. fwiw, one recipe makes about enough pesto for one to two bags of gnocchi (or a bag of gnocchi + 2 cups o’ vegetables), depending on how heavy you like it.

I was craving something unhealthy – but not too unhealthy- for dinner, and this is what I came up with. Tater tots practically scream “junk food” (ditto: pan-fried bacon, vegan or not), but the tofu save this dish from nutritional purgatory.

Normally I’d add some veggies into the mix – corn, carrots, maybe some peppers or tomatoes – but this was right before a shopping trip and my stores were running low. Feel free to add in a cup or two of your favorites between steps 3 and 4. Mushrooms and black olive would go great with this flavor combo, I think.

Bacon and Tot Tofu Scramble

Ingredients

3-4 cups frozen tater tots
6 to 8 strips of Lightlife Smart Bacon (or tempeh bacon, if you prefer)
1 pound firm tofu, lightly pressed
1-3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 onion, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon chives
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cook the tater tots according to the instructions on the package. When they’re cooking, get going on the tofu scramble.

2. In a large frying pan or skillet, heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Add the bacon strips and cook evenly on each side (or according to the skillet directions on the package). When done, place the strips on a plate lined with paper towels; set aside. Leave as much of the oil – “bacon grease” – in the pan as possible.

3. Lightly press the brick of tofu to drain the excess moisture. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat (add an extra tablespoon if necessary). Add the diced onion and cook for about five minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another five minutes.

4. As the veggies are cooking, place the tofu in a large bowl and mash it with a fork until it becomes crumbly.

5. Pour the tofu into the skillet and mix it in with the onion and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the nutritional yeast, soy sauce, cumin, turmeric, parsley/chives, and the salt. Mix well. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until much of the moisture from the tofu has evaporated and the scrambled tofu is to your liking. Add the tater tots and mix well. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top of the tofu/tot mixture. Serve warm with ketchup, sriracha, gravy, or cheesy sauce!

Banana Bread Soft Serve topped with homemade granola. My new favorite!

Incidentally, I have discovered that I prefer walnuts in my granola if I’m to put it on banana ice cream; almonds if I’m eating it with applesauce and bran flakes. Fussy, who me?

Me, always with the not-quite-seasonal recipes. I’m confused: Is this considered an autumnal dish, because of the sweet potatoes, or is ice cream de facto summer fare? Whatever, this is spring, so I’m either a bit early or five months too late. Whatever, I do what I want. Like eat ice cream on Christmas! Yeah, I said it.

Anyway, turns out that sweet potato is a really delicious taste for banana ice cream. Shane downs it by the gallon, and I’m having trouble coming up with new and inventive flavors – so I’m really surprised that I didn’t think of this one sooner. Like, in November!

If you’re a holiday flavor traditionalist, file this one away for next Thanksgiving. Shock and amaze your guests with a quart (or gallon!) of awesomely healthy vegan ice cream. Insert screaming noise here.

Sweet Potato Soft Serve

(Makes about a quart of ice cream.)

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, baked and cooled
3-4 overripe bananas, peeled, sliced and frozen
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
a splash of non-dairy milk or creamer, if needed

Directions

1. Scrub the sweet potato clean and then pat to dry. Baked at 425F for 45 to 50 minutes, or until soft and tender. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove the peel. In a small bowl, mash the sweet potato using a fork. Set aside and allow to cool fully.

2. Place the mashed sweet potato in a food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy.

3. Add the bananas in the food processor and pulse until smoothly blended. Most likely you’ll need to stir them by hand several times, as the frozen chunks tend to gather and become “stuck” on one side of the bowl. If necessary, add a splash of non-dairy milk or creamer to get things moving!

Alternately, you can allow the bananas to defrost on the counter top for 30 to 60 minutes beforehand, so that they’re easier to work with. Before putting them in the food processor, break them up into smaller chunks with a butter knife.

Note: Since introducing extra liquids (such as non-dairy milk) into the mix results in a slightly icier finished product, I prefer defrosting to non-dairy milk. If you’re in a hurry, pop the bananas in the microwave for 20 to 45 seconds instead.

4. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and pulse until blended. Sample the batter and add extra sugar and/or spices to taste.

5. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container. Enjoy immediately as soft serve, or pop the ice cream in the freezer for an hour+ for a firmer dessert. Store any leftovers in the freezer in an airtight container. If the frozen banana ice cream proves too hard to scoop, microwave it for ten seconds to help loosen it up (or let the container sit on the counter for ten to thirty minutes prior to eating, depending on room temp).

Cornbread Waffles from Vegan Brunch with homemade strawberry sauce (leftovers from the Banana Flapjacks, also from VB). A little dry but otherwise good – and the whole house smelled of popcorn while they were cooking!

Also we scored a “new” waffle maker during our last trip to Goodwill. It bakes a whopping FOUR waffles at a time instead of just two, making it twice as likely that Shane will cook waffles the next time I ask him!

So my first time making stromboli wasn’t quite the disaster it could have been, thank dog. But the call was close, my friends. (Short version: the recipe called for an ungreased cookie sheet and – surprise! – it took me ten minutes to pry the baked stromboli off the sheet without ripping them in half.)

The recipe is Stromboli with Red Pepper Puree, Spinach and Basil from Donna Klein’s Vegan Italiano. Actually it calls for arugula, but I swapped that out for pureed spinach, which is quickly becoming my preferred method of enjoying spinach. I also added some fried strips of Lightlife bacon, which after cooking was too rigid to leave as-is – I had to break them into little bits. Instead of homemade dough, Klein uses refrigerated French bread dough, which is a huge pain to work with. Whereas you’re supposed to roll it into smaller rectangles, it would rather retain its long, tubular shape. Cue: begging and tears.

Tasty as hell, but it’d be way easier to make my own dough from scratch instead of relying on the refrigerated stuff. Waaaay too hard to work with.

After tearing through Vegan Italiano, I finally sprung for a new cookbook that’s been on my wishlist forever: Nonna’s Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan. Yup, I bought another vegan Italian cookbook. OF COURSE I did. My last name is Garbato, after all.

I’ve been kind of slow to start this one; the recipes are interlaced with tips and anecdotes about Italian cooking, so that the cookbook really deserves a more thorough reading than I’ve been able to commit to as of yet. But when I was hit with an undeniable pasta craving, I cracked it open and decided to make the first pasta dish I came upon: Spaghetti per Mimi. It’s a really hearty sauce with tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, Kalamata olives (my favorite!), peppers, onion, garlic, and some other goodies. Easy and delicious!

Served with a new-old favorite, Green Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic from the aforementioned Vegan Italiano. This is hands down one of my favorite recipes in the book, second – well, third – only to the pan-fried pizza and roasted pepper sauce. Melt in your mouth good, I now buy a pound of fresh greens beans every time I go to the store, just so I can cook up another batch. Way better than green beans have any right to be.

According to Isa, Banana Rabanada (otherwise known as Brazilian French Toast) is a traditional Christmas dish in Brazil. Thick slices of bread are coated in a banana custard and then pan fried, much like the French toast I so loved as a kid (with eggs assuming the role of banana, of course). The recipe featured in Vegan Brunch includes a custard-like batter made of overripe bananas blended with vanilla, nondairy milk, and cornstarch. Though I’ve never been a fan of French toast recipes that replace egg-based batters with bananas – they always have the weirdest aftertaste – I decided to give this recipe a try anyway. Since the bananas take center stage, perhaps their presence wouldn’t seem so out of place here. Makes sense, right?

I did make one major modification to Isa’s recipe. Ever since discovering the awesomeness that is baked French toast (courtesy of Vegan Junk Food), I’ve been reluctant to fry French toast ever again. So messy! And slow! And dangerous, what with that hot oil flying everywhere.

I hit the google to see whether anyone had tried modifying this recipe for baking, but no one had; the closest hit I found was a query on Isa’s Pumpkin French Toast recipe concerning baking vs. frying. The many recipes I saw for bread pudding (new to me!) proved encouraging, especially in their similarity to baked French toast – the main difference being that pudding uses pieces of bread instead of whole slices. Anyway, I figured a little experimentation couldn’t hurt.

So I soaked the bread – seven slices of old Italian – in the batter as instructed (plus three tablespoons of sugar for added sweetness), and then baked it using Lane Gold’s method: 30 minutes uncovered at 350F. And it worked! Most of the batter soaked into the bread and the remaining liquid thickened up into a custard- or syrup-like consistency. In the picture above, the top piece is flipped upside-down to show the gooey banana underside, while the tops are dusted with cinnamon and cocoa powder. Not shown is the maple syrup I smothered it with some thirty seconds later. The syrup mixed with the cinnamon and cocoa powder to create a mini river of deliciousness I can only call awesome sauce.

Probably this version isn’t as decadent as the original, with its fatty fried exterior – and it’s not nearly as good as the baked French toast found in Vegan Junk Food, which is sticky sweet with sugar. But it’s also hella healthier than either, with less fat and sugar, and a serving of fruit to boot.

There was a huge air bubble in the middle of the loaf, which ended up being a pretty convenient receptacle for extra Daiya cheese. Vegan ingenuity, yay!

In my nearly 35 years, I’d never had Chicken Tetrazzini before Betty Goes Vegan. Looking at the dish’s description on Wiki, it’s not hard to see why – my mum probably would have dismissed the rich, butter cream sauce as too fatty. That, and I can’t heave milk! (On second thought, that’s really the more obvious answer. Doh me.)

Turns out that Chicken Tetrazzini is quite tasty, though I think it’d be even better un-baked and extra-saucy! I’d also rather omit the nooch (used for garnish on top) and just add some homemade parm upon serving, but that’s just me.

Pro tip: the recipe calls for plain creamer, which I can never find ’round these parts, so I swapped it out for soy milk and added a little cornstarch to thicken things up. Worked like a charm.

Technically Bananas Foster is a dessert made of rich, sugary sauce mixed with fresh bananas and served atop a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Waffles fill in for the ice cream in this dish from Betty Goes Vegan, though I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t throw a scoop of ice cream on there for good measure. For extra shiny bonus points, make it banana ice cream!

Not that these waffles aren’t already diabetes on a plate, nosiree. In other words, delish. Just don’t plan on doing any math afterwards.

Pro tip: this recipe only makes six waffles, leaving quite a bit of sauce left over. I saved it for use on pancakes, but I bet it’d also make for a great banana ice cream flavoring. NOTE TO SELF.

Yet another dish from Vegan Italiano (though the recipe calls for rotelle, but whatever. I do what I want.)

Quick and tasty, with sauteed onions, garlic, and mushrooms. The black olives were my own addition just because I love them so.

Topped with homemade vegan parmesan and served with a side o’ garlic bread. Carb coma in 4, 3, 2, 1….

Epic mealtime was epic.

After a slew of cold and rainy weather, I was craving some hot soup and warm bread something crazy. Enter: Roasted Carrot and Potato Soup from Robin Robertson’s The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook (hint: not just for vegetarians!) and Sicilian Bread Pie with Broccoli from Vegan Italiano, by Donna Klein. (Reviewed yesterday, in point o’ facts!)

Rich, creamy, and super-savory, the soup is a new favorite. It takes a little extra planning, since you’ve gotta roast the veggies beforehand, but it’s so worth it. (Bonus points for using leftover roasted vegetables.) You’re supposed to process the whole shebang in a blender or food processor, but I like my soup a little chunky, so I set about 1/3 aside – you can spot a stray carrot piece in the photo above.

Pre-blender, the soup resembles chicken noodle, with potatoes playing the role of featured carb. Also quite delicious! Not creamy, but still totally nom-worthy.

The bread pie was more of a pain; the refrigerated french bread dough didn’t take kindly to my efforts to reshape it from a rectangle to a circle. But I persevered and, while the pie ended up a bit misshapen (like all my pies inevitably do), it was still really good.

The top and bottom pieces didn’t completely fuse together, so I was able to remove the top piece for dunking purposes. Turns out that this soup? Was made for bread.

Craving, satisfied.

Why hello, never ending vegan pasta bowl!

I received a copy of Donna Klein’s Vegan Italiano for Christmas – and in the few short months that I’ve owned it, I’ve managed to tear through nearly three dozen recipes. This is unprecedented for me, cookbook hoarder and master procrastinator that I am. But I also love, love, LOVE pasta, and since the dishes all sound so incredible, my biggest challenge was choosing just one to start.

(As it turns out, the inaugural recipe was Frying-Pan Pizza, and it was a game changer. Hearty, doughy pizza! In less than 20 minutes! MAGIC!)

Among the recipes I tried:

* Italian-Style Butter Bean Dip (page 4)
* Sicilian-Style Tomato Spread (page 13)
* Cauliflower Soup with Parsley (page 16)
* Baked Vegetable Soup (page 21)
* Tomato and Bread Stew with Pasta (page 27)
* Olive Croutons (page 34)
* Farfalle with Sundried Tomato-Mint Pesto and a side of Fresh Broccoli Marinara (pages 53 and 99)
* Farfalle with Zucchini, Mint, and Almonds (page 54)
* Fettuccine with Mushrooms and Marsala and a side of Roasted Carrots with Rosemary and Sage (pages 55 and 101)
* Fusilli with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts with a side of Green Beans with Walnut Sauce (pages 56 and 103)
* Linguine with Breadcrumbs and Lemon (page 58)
* Linguine with Broccoli Sauce and Garlic (page 59)
* Linguine with Caper and Green Olive Marinara Sauce (page 60)
* Linguine with Potatoes, Green Beans, and Spinach-Walnut Pesto (page 62)
* Linguine with Roasted Pepper, Tomato, and Garlic Sauce (page 64)
* Potato Gnocchi with Sundried Tomato-Almond Pesto (page 73)
* Sicilian Skillet Pasta Pie (page 76)
* Spaghetti with Red Wine and Rosemary Marinara Sauce and Skillet Garlic Bread (pages 78 and 138)
* Baked Herbed Rice (page 83)
* Lemon-Pine Nut Rice (page 84)
* Microwave Risotto with Saffron (page 86)
* Risotto with Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoes (page 89)
* Baked Mixed Vegetable Casserole (page 125)
* Pesto Pizza with a Semolina Crust (pages 132 and 130)
* Frying-Pan Pizza (page 134)
* Baked Garlic Bread (page 138)
* Spinach Pesto Pasta with a side of Green Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic (pages 144 and 102)
* Lemon-Basil Pesto Sauce (page 145; paired with angel hair and sweet corn)

I blogged each dish as I went, so I won’t bother rehashing each one here – but you can click through the recipe titles to see photos and read more about any given recipe.

As was expected (did I mention my carb addiction?), there were very few dishes that I didn’t absolutely love. Growing up my mom made pasta on a weekly basis, but my experiences were mostly limited to spaghetti and meat sauce. Klein introduced me to a number of new vegan favorites: the ‘Linguine with Roasted Pepper, Tomato, and Garlic Sauce’ is out of this world, as is the ‘Sicilian Skillet Pasta Pie’ – and the ‘Fettuccine with Mushrooms and Marsala’ and ‘Farfalle with Zucchini, Mint, and Almonds’ aren’t too shabby either. And the ‘Linguine with Breadcrumbs and Lemon’? AH-MAY-ZING. I never would have thought to mix breadcrumbs with pasta, but now I’m putting them on all the things.

(Adding quotes because the recipe titles seem to bleed together otherwise.)

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In Vegan Brunch, Isa declares her intent to bring the word “flapjacks” back. I’m down! Especially if it means pancakes for dinner. In this case, Banana Flapjacks.

This stack is pretty good – cakey and chewy, with a definite hint of bananas – but it’s the sauce I’m super-excited about. The first batch of strawberries I bought this year turned out to be a bust (tasteless!), so I decided to turn them into sauce. I had trouble getting it to thicken in time for dinner, so as a shortcut I tried the old “arrowroot slurry” trick I always use in soy-based ice cream. Instead of the usual soy creamer, I went with coconut, and added some coconut extract for good measure. Voilà! Strawberry daiquiri sauce! Definitely gonna have to replicate it with a proper recipe.

Bet it’s amazing on ice cream too. Yeah, it’s always about ice cream with me. That or pizza.

Another breakfast dish from Vegan Brunch – but you probably caught that from the picture. Though I doubt I’d ever be awake and aware enough to assemble this for breakfast, it does make for a mighty filling dinner. What we have here are three layers of goodness: sliced potatoes, a tofu scramble, and seasoned tempeh mixed with red peppers. Or in my case, green peppers and Lightlife ground sausage. It’s a good enough substitute for tempeh in a pinch, though its sticky texture does make it a little difficult to work with.

Believe it or not, I actually used less cheese (Daiya!) than directed: a little more than half a bag, versus the required 1/2 pound. A half a pound! And I thought I had a Daiya cheese problem.

I was happily snacking away on an orange-flavored chocolate bar when I realized that I’d yet to try a similarly flavored banana ice cream. Clearly that COULD NOT STAND!, and so I remedied the situation asap. Which, in Kelly speak, means a week or so. The tortoise wins the race, yo!

As you can imagine, this is super-delicious and will no doubt become a staple in my freezer. Especially if I get that shiny new Yonanas machine I wishlisted for my birthday. Mom, if you’re reading this….

Orange Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

(Makes about a quart of ice cream.)

Ingredients

4-5 overripe bananas, peeled, sliced and frozen
1/3 cup orange juice concentrate, frozen but thawed slightly
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
orange and/or lemon peel to taste (optional)
maple syrup or another vegan sweetener, if needed
a splash of non-dairy milk or creamer, if needed

Directions

1. Place the bananas in the food processor and pulse until smoothly blended. Most likely you’ll need to stir them by hand several times, as the frozen chunks tend to gather and become “stuck” on one side of the bowl. If necessary, add a splash of non-dairy milk or creamer to get things moving!

Alternately, you can allow the bananas to defrost on the counter top for 30 to 60 minutes beforehand, so that they’re easier to work with. Before putting them in the food processor, break them up into smaller chunks with a butter knife.

Note: Since introducing extra liquids (such as non-dairy milk) into the mix results in a slightly icier finished product, I prefer defrosting to non-dairy milk. If you’re in a hurry, pop the bananas in the microwave for 20 to 45 seconds instead.

2. If the bananas aren’t sweet enough for your taste (sometimes this happens if you freeze them before they’re sufficiently ripe), add a bit of sugar to taste. Any sugar works fine – white, brown, etc. – but maple syrup is perfect here.

3. Add the cocoa powder and orange juice concentrate and pulse until blended. Sample the batter and add extra cocoa powder or orange juice concentrate if desired, as well as orange and/or lemon peel to taste.

4. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container. Enjoy immediately as soft serve, or pop the ice cream in the freezer for an hour+ for a firmer dessert. Store any leftovers in the freezer in an airtight container. If the frozen banana ice cream proves too hard to scoop, microwave it for ten seconds to help loosen it up (or let the container sit on the counter for ten to thirty minutes prior to eating, depending on room temp).

If you know me, you knew it was only a matter of time before my obsession with Greek flavors led me to couscous! (Mmmmm, couscous.) I already loved sundried tomato couscous, so the addition of lemon, garlic, spinach, and Kalamata olives seems a natural progression.

Plus I think I’ve had a breakthrough with spinach: pulverized to a messy paste in the food processor, I can add it to pretty much anything without worrying about the wilty, stringy texture of cooked spinach that normally turns me off of the stuff. After thirty seconds in a food processor, it’s about the size of chopped parsley and capable of hiding in just about anything: soup, rice, bread – even ice cream. (True story!) Two cups of baby spinach may seem like a lot, but it breaks down to less than 1/3 a cup. Healthy and pretty!

Greek-Style Couscous with Lemon and Garlic

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water + extra as needed
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup sundried tomatoes (dried, not oil-packed), diced into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup Kalamata olives, quartered
2 cups fresh baby spinach, processed to a paste-like consistency in a food processor
1 1/2 cup plain couscous (dry)
salt and pepper to taste
a dash of lemon peel (optional)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt, pepper &/or seasonings of your choice, to taste

Directions

1. In a large saucepan (about 3 quarts), bring the olive oil to medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about three minutes.

2. Add the vegetable stock, water, and lemon juice; mix well. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Add the sundried tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until they reach the desired tenderness.

3. Add the Kalamata olives, spinach, couscous, and salt and pepper, mixing well. Cook on medium-low for about five minutes, or until the couscous is soft and fluffy. Add additional water as needed.

4. Before serving, stir in the parsley, as well as any extra seasonings to taste. Serve warm!

How am I just now making apple cinnamon flavored granola? Apples and cinnamon are, like, my thang.

As it turns out, I didn’t even think of this combo until after a botched attempt at orange granola, using concentrated OJ (way, way too much concentrated OJ) as the main seasoning. The fail might have been epic, but at least it inspired me to use frozen apple juice in this next batch. In moderation, of course!

Apple Cinnamon Granola

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon frozen apple juice concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon (+ an extra teaspoon if you like your apples super-cinnamony!)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
6 cups quick or rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup dehydrated apple slices, cut into bite-sized pieces
2/3 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.

2. Start by roasting the oats! (Optional.) Lightly grease two medium-sized baking sheets with sides. Divide the oats between the two and spread them out evenly. Bake at 300F for 20 minutes, stirring at the halfway point.

3. In a bowl or measuring cup, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, apple sauce, maple syrup, and spices; mix well.

4. In a large bowl, combine the oats and almonds. Stir to combine. Pour the apple mix on top of the oats and mix until well blended.

5. Spread the oats out evenly on the baking sheets. Bake at 300F for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes. If necessary, break up any large clumps with a spoon or by hand. Allow to cool on the countertop for at least a half hour before stirring in the raisins and apple slices and transferring to an airtight container or ziplock bag. The granola can be frozen for longer storage.