Happy Apple-Pecan Granola

So today I don't have much to say other than I had a really nice surprise when I went to the rec today. I was running around the track and up runs my best friend Shelby. She is a cutie patutie. You can learn a lot from her. She is happy. And bottom-line is she makes me happy. Which brings me to the next subject of the day. Allowing yourself to be happy. Lately I feel like I see a lot of sad people who are just down in the dumps. They are so weighed down by grief or some sort of sadness. It is truly heartbreaking. But when the day ends, I feel like a majority of them aren't allowing themselves to be happy. Now I totally know how it feels to be depressed and feel down in the dumps. I truly do. I think at sometime in everyone's life, we will all be compelled to feel that way. And I totally understand that sometimes, you try to be happy and you try to force a smile but at the end of the day, you feel exhausted and confused. My heart goes out to anyone feeling that way. But sometimes, I will say. There also comes a time where its time to free yourself and just be happy. I have watched a few people recently just hold themselves back from being happy. They are frustrated with their situations and they are confused, which is so hard, I get that, but they just tell themselves that they aren't meant to be happy and they allow themselves to be harsh and bitter to themselves and sometimes those around them. Something that I have learned about happiness is that you have to fight for it sometimes. Some days, you will have to fake it, but if you are truly trying to better yourself and look beyond yourself by helping others, you will start learning and growing and evolving into a better happier person. If you are sad, and feel depressed, if you just focus your time and energy everyday thinking about how sad you are and all the negative things that happened to you that day or that week or that year, then of course you are going to be sad! But if you are looking beyond yourself and your state of sadness and help others, try to better your own self and morals, and try to learn everyday, then true happiness with come. And when in doubt, no matter what your beliefs, I ask you to pray. Pray to God. I know He is there, and if prayed to in faith, He WILL help you. I have learned all these principles about happiness from personal experience so don't think, "Talking about how to be happy is easy for you because you don't know pain or sadness." Just trust that these things are true, and if sought diligently will make you a better person. So, on a little less serious note, I will give you a little something that makes me happy. Food!! A recipe!! Say What?! Yay!!! And today it is specially yummy... Happy Apple-Pecan Granola  :)




Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons natural sugar cane
• 1/4 cup grapeseed, safflower, or sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 handfuls of pecans, slightly chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped apple

1. Heat up the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add pecans and honey
3. Stir and let cook for one minute
4. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla
5. In a small bowl, mix the oats and the coconut
6. Once the honey/oil mixture has been cooking for about two minutes, pour it over the oats.
7. Stir it all together until the oats are completely coated in the mixture.
8. Spread the oats thinly over a baking sheet
9. Sprinkle the sugar over the oats
10. Place the pan on the middle shelf of the oven.
11. After five minutes of baking, sprinkle the apples over the mixture and stir
12. Let bake for another five minutes, then stir
13. Let bake for another five minutes, then take out of the oven.
14. Enjoy with yogurt, fruit, in handfuls, or by the bucket load if your like me. :)