Apricot Flax Fall Granola

The main problem with me making granola is my self-control. I could eat the entire batch in one sitting. How about you?! A few weekends ago we were going hiking so I wanted to make some granola to take with us. It's a great hiking snack because it's light weight, easy to eat and pack. We ended up hiking Siler Bald near Franklin, NC. It was a very pretty trail and a great workout. As we were hiking up the trail a black bear ran right out behind me! We also hiked Whiteside Mountain near Highlands, NC.

Granola is also a great addition to oatmeal or Greek yogurt!

Also try our Gluten-Free Power Granola and our Gluten-Free Cinnamon Vanilla Granola!

Below is the picture from the hike that we posted on Instagram. Read more about our hiking trips here.

Clean Eat Recipe: Apricot Flax Fall Granola

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (around 10-12) dried apricots (look for ones with no sugar added), chopped into small pieces
• 2 cups gluten free quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup ground organic flax seed
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, excluding apricots
3. Add chopped apricots and stir to distribute throughout the granola
4. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
5. Spread granola mixture onto baking sheet
6. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until desired texture is reached (check at 15 minutes as granola can burn quickly)

Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bites

A new hike means a new energy bite recipe! It's been awhile since we made protein/energy bites and we were craving oatmeal raisin cookies (I know, I'm actually not normally a fan of oatmeal raisin cookies either but these are good!). So I decided to turn the cookies into portable energy bites for our hike! Some of our most popular recipes are protein/energy bites. If you haven't yet, you must try them!

You can see more of our hiking/travel related posts below. :)

Clean Eat Recipe: Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 4 (+) Tbsp natural peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1-2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp stevia extract
• 1 tsp coconut oil, melted

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together, excluding raisins and peanut butter.
2. Melt peanut butter and add to mixture.
3. Fold in raisins.
4. Depending on your specific ingredients, you may need to add more oats and/or peanut butter in order for your bites to stick together.

Clean Eat Recipe: Gluten Free Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

Making your own granola is super easy. Like really easy. It's much less expensive and you know exactly what is in it! We love to make granola before going on our hiking trips. You can also make it to add to your yogurt for breakfast! Just be careful with the serving size - it's really easy to over-eat. I just made a batch of this to take on our most recent trip to San Diego and it didn't even make it past the first day, let alone on the hiking trail!

RELATED: Gluten Free Power Granola

Clean Eat Recipe: Gluten Free Cinnamon Vanilla Granola

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract (avoid HFCS)
• 1/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient mixture and stir to combine (I used a fork)
5. Spoon out mixture onto lined baking sheet
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until desired crispness