TUESDAY: Whole Grains

When your kids give you trouble about eating healthy food, the next alternative is to make it look/ taste/ feel different.

This is what I have to do with granola.  I love granola, but have never been able to get my kids to try some (out of the box that is).  My sister in law makes her own homemade granola that her kids eat for breakfast almost daily.  This is a great whole-grain way to start the day.

Although my kids won’t eat it like cereal, there are other ways they will eat it.  Here are some granola ideas.

• Mixed it with yogurt
• Use as a topping for a baked apple!!
• Add to muffins
• Bake it in bread
• Make granola bars
• Roll bananas in granola and freeze
• Top a salad with it.
• Toss it with oatmeal for a cruchy twist
• Add it to smoothies
• Soften it up with heated milk and let sit. Then eat.
• Use instead of bread crumbs for stuffing
• Crush and roll chicken in it before baking for some crispy chicken.
• Eat it straight with various nuts and seeds as add-ins.  Try sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins, craisins, pecans, m&m’s, cashews, dried apricots, dried apples, dried pineapple.
• Makes a great neighbor gift.  Pour granola in decorative cellophane bag and tie with ribbon.

What do you do with granola?

We recently tried  Bear Naked Granola.  If you don’t have time to make your own, this is the next best thing. With all natural ingredients, no preservatives, no HFCS, no hyrdrogenated oils, no trans fats, no cholesterol, and No artificial flavors.  Plus it tasted really good!  We  tried a recipe on their site for Pumpkin Muffins!! These were really great! Everyone loved them.

Do you want to try some Bear Naked Granola??  They are offering a blog reader two bags of granola. For your chance to be chosen, comment today. I’ll choose a winner on Thursday.