What are YOU fueling up for? Kellogg's Vector #Giveaway!

Happy Summer Everyone!  

I sure hope that summer is treating you and your loved ones as good as it is treating us.  

We've been enjoying amazing weather (though a few too many forest fires) - and I have been so lucky to be home with our kids all summer. We've been camping, hiking, biking, golfing, beaching, road-tripping, wine tasting...it's been wonderful. And - we still have just under 5 more weeks until school starts.  Super-duper awesomeness!

So, how do you fuel up in the summer?  When we are outdoors, in addition to the mandatory water, we are always carrying extra snacks for our family.  Our go-to snacks are granola bars - especially ones with protein.  We love the convenience on the bars.  We've also got our favourite post-activity snacks - such as yogurt with fruit and granola - our kids just eat that up (I'm also a big yogurt and granola fan for breakfast).

Speaking of granola, did you know that Kellogg's has recently launched new Vector Granola Honey Almond Flavour?  They have, and it's good.  With 20g of protein per serving, 5g of fibre and 10 vitamins and minerals.  We were fortunate to have been given a sample to try - and while my almond-allergic hubby couldn't have any, the kids and I really enjoyed it with our yogurt and fresh strawberries from our garden!

Now for the best part...YOU have the chance to WIN a Kellogg's Vector Prize pack ($50 value!) - just like the one in the picture in this post.  Lucky you!  Enter below via the Rafflecopter.  Thanks so much...and watch for new recipe posts coming to Addicted to Recipes soon!  Despite our busy summer, we still need to eat, and I have been testing new recipes that will get posted soon!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Super Good (and Healthy!) Granola

I love adding granola to my yogurt.  I just love that extra crunch, and I do hope some added health benefits too!  Unfortunately, most store bought granola contains almonds, or the warning that there may be almonds.  And my hubby is allergic to almonds...so I often just go without granola.  And then I realized, hey, I'm a recipe blogger, I should be able to make a granola recipe that I like that is almond free...and here we go:

2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup pumpkin seeds (raw or salted, whichever you prefer)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt (skip the salt if you use salted pumpkin seeds)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons honey

1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped

Preheat oven to 300F.  Prepare baking sheet - cover with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix together the walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut and salt.

In a small bowl mix together the melted coconut oil and the honey.  Add this mixture to the nut and seed mixture.  Stir well.  Spread evenly onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle on the cranberries and dates.  Allow to cool completely, then transfer to an airtight container.

VERDICT:
I took this granola to work, to my team it was an experiment, and they all seemed to like it :-)  My hubby and both like it, as does our toddler.  Our oldest hasn't tried it yet, he seems a little nervous about it.  But hubby and I are happy, and I will make this again (after all, it is almond free - yay!).

Guest Post - The Grant Life

Hi Addicted to Recipes readers!  My name is Kelley and I blog over at the Grant life.  I'm super excited to be here today!  I am going to share an easy, delicious and healthy recipe!  I know, healthy and delicious don't always go together.  In this case..they go perfectly!

Im going to give you a little background on me before I share our simple recipe. [It's ridiculously simple and quick.. I gotta add some filler content.. hah!]  I'm a mom to two beautiful babies who are exactly 14 months apart.  [That's them at the beach last week!]  Since I was pregnant so soon after our daughter was born, I didn't have much time to get my pre-baby body back.  Now, 27 months after our first baby I'm attempting to shed those extra pounds.  I work out 4 or more times a week and I am slowly changing the way I eat.   Which is the harder part for me.  

Apparently Greek yogurt is good for you.. really good.  It's full of protein and has no trans/saturated fats.  Unfortunately it tastes like yogurt but feels like sour cream.  [Eww.. I know.]  The good news is you can add just about anything to it to give it a better flavor and texture.  My favorite thing to add is honey and granola.  My bloggy friend Jill has this simple recipe for frozen yogurt bites and they look so good!  I used my [healthy] Greek yogurt and my add ins and created my own version.  

Mix all your ingredients [granola and honey in my case].  Spoon them into a muffin tin (or onto freezer paper like Jill did) and place them in the freezer.  

The honey gives the Greek yogurt a much nicer texture and the granola.. well it just tastes good.  [Side note.. I love muffin pans!  They are so versatile.]  

It took about 2 hours for my Greek yogurt bites to harden.. I know this because I kept poking at them.  I wanted one.  And as you can see by the missing bite, I got one!  I wanted to make sure they were really good before I took pictures of them.  

I used a fork to pry them out of the muffin pan.  They popped out pretty easily.. I was kinda worried.  

Hello delicious healthy treats!  So nice to eat you!  I had two [or three] of these little guys and saved the rest for later.  They stayed fresh in a ziplock bag in the freezer.  

Thank you for letting me share my super easy snack recipe today!  If you get a chance stop by my blog and say hello!  I love making new friends!