Kitchen Love for Heart-Smart Wonderful Pistachios
“I received free samples of Wonderful Pistachios mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Wonderful Pistachios and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”
One of best things about your college years is that it really is a time of self discovery and adventure. Since leaving the busy city of Hong Kong, Zoe and I have had to adapt to an alternative lifestyle where life’s joys no longer included shopping, eating out or traveling. It wasn’t easy, but it didn’t take long for us to discover joy in some of the most unexpected places.
In contrast to my busy weekends at home in Hong Kong, my Saturdays are now filled with late night movies, blogging, naps and studying. Like yesterday night, after a quiet evening to myself, Zoe and I went to an empty room on campus to practice Rumba (Latin Ballroom Dancing) with our boyfriends. Walking around our school corridors late in the evening made the experience more exciting and exhilarating.
Aswe began to dance, it soon become clear that we were all pretty terrible at it: making the wrong turns, stepping on the wrong beat and forgetting the steps. Our desperate attempts to imitate our teacher’s graceful, sexy moves just made the whole situation so funny. Our laughters filled the room and for a moment I felt as if time had stopped. I looked up briefly in the mirror and saw my reflection – me kneeling on the ballroom floor in tears, laughing. I had discovered joy in a place I did not expect.
As I write this post, I think back to the multitude of times where I had laughed so hard, and smiled so much just because I was too happy doing the “simplest things”. I am determined to capture them and make them last. As we got up this morning to photography our beautiful bowls of crunchy granola, raspberries, strawberries and yogurt, I remember the thrill that I had felt as I saw everything come together. Zoe was only too eager to feed me a spoonful of crunchy oats and pistachios, vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit. I grinned at her clumsy attempts to do so. The granola parfait was absolutely delicious – Creamy, cold, sweet, crunchy, fragrant all together in one bite! This was another one of those moments I will forever remember.
If you don’t already know, most granolas require a bucketload of oil, nut butter or sweetener. Like most cereals or junk food it is definitely not the healthiest things to consume for breakfast. I admit I still love store brought granola. However now we have a better alternative -using applesauce, then slow baking at low temperatures, and allowing it cool completely in the oven helps to create crunchy granola (without all the excess saturated fat, sugar or oil)!
Thanks to Wonderful Pistachios, Zoe and I finally were able to make our own granola! Pistachios add such great flavor, texture and color (look at those green flecks!) here! If you don’t already know, Pistachios are actually known as the Fit NUT because out of all nuts it contains the highest amount of protein and fibre and are also one of the lowest calorie, lowest fat “snack nuts”! Best of all, consuming about 1.5 ounces a day can lower your risk of heart disease when incorporated with a low saturated fat diet.
Portion sizing is the hardest part for me when it comes to nuts. Since then I’ve had to force myself to stop buying nuts. Fortunately I discovered these In-shell Wonderful pistachios at the airport when I was flying home for Christmas. Having to shell the pistachios actually sends a signal to your brain to stop overeating because of the visual cues that the shells give you! (That is the neuroscience nerd in me).
So try this granola that has 50% less saturated fats and sugar than normal granola! The beauty of this recipe is that using applesauce as opposed to nut butter, maple syrup, coconut oil makes it so much cheaper! The balance of sweet cranberries, salted crunchy pistachios and toasted coconut also makes this so fragrant and delicious!. I can’t describe how excited I felt as I tasted it my delicious healthy granola for breakfast! Maybe even drizzle honey or maple syrup to make this a fancy, decadent treat for yourself!
- 1¾ cup GF Rolled Oats
- ⅓ cup Wonderful pistachios, shelled & salted
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 6 tbsp applesauce
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Mix together the oats, pistachios, cinnamon, vanilla, coconut and apple sauce in a bowl. Line a tray with parchment paper. Spread out your granola.
LOVE,
Zoe & Mia
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