Vanilla, Almond, Chia Seed Granola

Granola is about 1million times easier to make then you think it is. It’s incredibly easy.

I love granola but pretty much no matter where you get it, what brand it is, how expensive it is, whether the box says organic, all natural or additive free, it is almost always full of some weird unhealthy ingredients. It might be delicious, but it ain’t good for you. Homemade makes an awesome on the go snack, or an insanely delicious breakfast.

What you’ll need:

3 1/2 c. organic rolled oats (not quick oats or anything, just plain ole oats)
3/4 c. chopped organic almonds
1/4 c. organic chia seeds
1/2 c. organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, almonds and chia seeds. Mix the sugar, seal salt and water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil while whisking regularly so it doesn’t burn. Stir it for 1 minute and remove it from the heat. Add the coconut oil and vanilla. Pour all the liquid into the bowl with the oat mix. Stir it until everything is completely covered. Spread the mix out onto a baking sheet covered in unbleached parchment paper (or and oiled cake pan) and with lightly oiled fingers press it down to into a thin sheet. Put it in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until its dry and crunchy all the way through.

Let it cool for 2-4 hours and break it up into small pieces.

Store sealed in a cool dry place. I’m working on figuring how to make granola bars, but its more difficult to make into bars then I thought it would be. When I figure it out, I’ll let you know how it went =)

My favorite way to eat this granola is in a bowl with some ice cold raw milk on it. Its amazing.

Obviously you can eat it anyway you like granola though. Enjoy!

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

Quick and Easy Fried Potatoes…. And the giveaway winner!!!

2 great things this post… Delicious fried potatoes and the giveaway winner!!

First off is the winner of the 6 half gallon Mason jars!!

Drumroll please…….

Marcia G., entry number 76- mg—-@yahoo.com!

Congratulations!! You won my first giveaway! I sent you an email, just get back to me in the next week (by September 3rd) with your mailing address and I’ll get em shipped right out to you!! Go brew some fantastic teas, or store some yummy food, or decorate your house with em!

Thanks to everyone who entered!! If you didn’t win and would like some, they are available over here on Amazon (and they are even on sale)!

Now its recipe time! It’s been like 2 weeks since I posted a recipe, I’m feeling pretty slack, but I’ve been working on my wedding… Which is in 12 days! So much to do…

Quick and Easy Fried Potatoes

You will need-

4 medium/large organic potatoes
3 tbsp. coconut oil for cooking in
1.5 tbsp. organic garlic and herb seasoning (I like this stuff best)
1 tsp. organic cilantro (dried, if you use fresh, use a little more)
1 tsp. organic oregano (dried, same thing as the cilantro)
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional, makes em spicy!)

First off slice your potatoes into thin circles, don’t peel them. As thin as you can make them. Then roughly chop them into quarters. Very roughly. I just piled them up and cut randomly. They’ll get mushed when you cook them, don’t waste time making them perfect. Pour the coconut oil in the bottom of the pan and dump all the ‘taters on top. Dump all of the seasonings on and stir them. Make sure they are all thoroughly coated in the oil and the seasonings.

Cover them and cook over medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Stirring once every 5 minutes. Not stirring them the whole time gives them a chance to get browned, and covering them makes them cook faster.

Yummm!!

If you add free range/pastured eggs, you can make them a main dish. You can also add onions at the beginning and cook them with the potatoes. And of course bacon and cheese make everything better =)

Enjoy!

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

Epic Healing Salve

Hey guys! Don’t forget to ‘like’ me on Facebook!! I only need 100 total likes by August 11th likes to do a giveaway of 6 half gallon mason jars!!

I’ve been debating weather or not I should share this recipe. I adjusted another bloggers recipe to make mine, so its kind of from another blogger (which you should go read so you can decide which way works best for you!). But in the end, its just the most amazing salve ever so I decided you all needed to see how to make some!!

(Salve is pronounced sav, in case you didn’t know ….)

This particular salve is made from the leaves of the plantain leaf. (Not the starchy banana looking fruit plant). Plantain (broad leaf or narrow leaf) can almost certainly be found in your yard or a nearby field. I used broad leaf plantain for my recipe but you could use narrow leaf plantain if that’s what you find.

This is what the leaves look like. They are easy to identify by the thick veins that run through them in one direction and the flower stems are thick, green spikes out of the middle.

The plant in its natural environment

This plant is really an amazing plant. You may think its a weed but its pretty awesome. Its edible (just like salad greens or cooked in a recipe in place of any greens) and medicinal. If you get stung by a bee just pick a leaf of this, chew it up and rub the poultice on the sting. It removes the stinger, stops the swelling, eases the pain and eases the itchiness.

How to make the salve-

You will need:

A mason jar loosely pack with plantain leaves* Organic Olive Oil Beeswax (Buy here) Coconut Oil (Buy here)

(*I didn’t put amounts because its how much you want to make. I used a quart jar 3/4 full of leaves and got a pint and a half of salve and half a pint of leftover infused oil. As far as beeswax and coconut oil go, use 2 tablespoons of each per 1/2 cup of oil.)

Process:

The leaves in the oil

Add enough olive oil to your mason jar to cover your leaves (I used about 2 cups for my quart jar). Here’s where I do my own thing. Put the jar of oil in a cool, dark place. Take it out and shake it twice a day (or more) for 2 weeks. At the end of the two weeks strain the leaves out. Squeeze them in your fingers to get all of the oil out. You don’t want to waste any. Get rid of the leaves however you see fit (or save them and use them as a poultice). Put the oil in a sauce pan and melt the coconut oil ad beeswax into it over as low of heat as you can. You heat it on low heat so you don’t disrupt the nature of the beeswax.

Pour it into sterilized mason jars and let it cool. Its ready to use immediately. It lasts for a year stored in a cool, dark place.

So what do you use it on??

Everything!!

Ok, not quite, but almost!

It stops bug bites from itching along with making them go away quicker, it helps stings, scratches, small cuts, bruises and poison ivy. It also really helps new tattoos and piercings. I recently got a new tattoo and its healing up very nicely. It was one of the most painful tattoos I’ve gotten and the salve really helps when it starts burning and itching.

Just because I mentioned it, this is the tattoo I got. It was a horrible, crappy, scratcher tattoo (just thick, black letters) that my favorite artist over at Inner Vision Body Art fixed for me =)

Anyways, back to the salve, I’ve been rubbing it on everything. Its fantastic!!

So go make some!!

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

This post was shared on Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Natural Living Monday, Party Wave Wednesday, The Blog Strut and Wildcrafting Wednesday!

Garlic Lemon Roasted Asparagus

       For this you will need:

1 bunch of fresh organic asparagus

4 cloves of organic garlic

2 tbsp. organic lemon juice

4 tbsp. coconut oil

Put the oil and garlic in a cast iron skillet and cook until the garlic is nice and brown. Then add in the lemon juice and mix it thoroughly. Once its mixed add in the asparagus, cut into thirds. I like to cook mine for 3 or 4 minutes. But you can cook it as short or as long as you like. It all depends on how crunchy/mushy you want it to be.

And that’s it! Super easy, delicious side dish!

Like what you read? Follow me on Facebook!

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

Salted Almond Ginger Chocolate Bark

Happy Monday!  ….Said no one ever….

However, this salted almond ginger chocolate bark might make your Monday slightly better =)

You will need:

1/3 cup organic cocoa powder

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 tsp. organic pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

1/3 cup roughly chopped raw organic soaked almonds

1 heaping teaspoon organic fresh ginger (ground or very finely chopped)

Sea salt

Start by combing all the ingredients for the chocolate in a skillet and whisk over a medium heat.

Heat until the honey and coconut oil are melted and it looks like a smooth batch of freshly melted chocolate

Pour into a well greased glass baking dish. I used coconut oil to grease my dish.

Take all of your toppings and make an even layer over top of the chocolate.

Place it in the freezer for half an hour or until it firms up.

The hardest part is getting it out of the pan. No matter  how well greased the pan is, its hard to get out. I used a pancake flipper to scrape it up of the bottom and peel into pieces. You could also make mini pieces in muffin tins (in a paper, not just in the tin) they wouldn’t be so hard to get out.

And that’s it!!

Yay for real food!

You could also add any toppings you like. You could use strawberries or dried fruits and other nuts.

Use your imagination =)

X’s and O’s

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

Linked to Thank Your Body Thursday, Party Wave Wednesday, Tuned-in Tuesday’s, Natural Living Monday and Fat Tuesday!

Chemical Free Beauty Routine

Everything I do, as far as my beauty routine goes, is chemical free except for my deodorant. (Which I am working on. I want something that actually keeps me from smelling bad, which seems to be one of the more difficult things to do.)

However, I thought I’d share everything else that I do!

The cups are my vinegar and baking soda for my hair, the left bar is Dr. Bronner’s and the right bar is the Canus goat’s milk soap!

As far as my shower goes, I do no-poo for my hair. (If you’d like to read more on that you can see my post about it.)

Then I use Dr. Bronner’s organic lavender bar soap on my body. The biggest thing about using bar soap and using natural soap, is that when you switch, it feels so different. We’re so used to the ‘clean’ feeling chemicals give you. When your in the shower and still wet, your skin will feel different because its not stripped of everything you naturally have to protect your skin. Once you get out of the shower and dry off your skin feels better then ever, but it definitely takes some getting used to.

For my face (and my baby!) I use Canus goat’s milk soap. I swear it gets rid of my black heads, plus my face is incredibly soft after using it.

Once week I use the simplest sea salt mask on my face to soften it. (see the end of this post for the recipe and instructions =)

For my stretch marks from pregnancy, I use coconut oil.

Its helps restore the elasticity in your skin and will tighten it back up. It has done so much for my stretch marks. They were bright red 2 months ago and they’re already a very light pink. My stomach’s skin is almost back to its natural tightness, even my fiance is impressed.

In between hair washes, I use a homemade dry shampoo on the roots of my hair to suck up some of the excess oil from the no-poo switch. And, I would actually suggest using it even if you haven’t switched. Its super helpful anytime. Especially if you have someone who won’t let you in the bathroom alone very often…… Like a baby……

It works amazingly. Just put it on your roots with a make-up brush and comb it through. Its made with cocoa, so it smells good, and you can find the recipe over here at Wellness Mama’s blog.

To whiten my teeth I use activated charcoal once a week, and I brush with Earthpaste.

Super Easy Sea Salt Face Mask

So for the face mask I mentioned earlier, all you need is about a teaspoon of good quality sea salt and a few drops of water. (No seriously, just a few drops of water.)

Add just enough water to make the salt wet, like so ^^, and rub it evenly all over your face.

It should look like your face is horribly diseased and peeling.

Let it sit for 15 minutes, or until its dry again, and rinse it off with warm water. It’ll make your face dry (but soft!!) so rub a little coconut oil on to moisturize.

No-poo Update:

I told ya I’d update my no-poo journey.

This is how my hair looks now-

Oh my god! Half of it fell out!!

So. Much. Volume!!

Its still in the adjusting stage, so my scalp over compensates on its oil production. It also feels a little rough when its drying, but once its dry its pretty soft. Nothing super exciting yet! Just tons of volume =) I’m hoping it adjust before my wedding in September!

~Courtney, The Crunchy Delinquent

This was shared on Party Wave Wednesday!

Related articles

• Officially No-poo!! (thecrunchydelinquent.wordpress.com)
• Just naturally whitening my teeth…. (thecrunchydelinquent.wordpress.com)
• Coconut Oil For Beauty (thecrunchydelinquent.wordpress.com)

Coconut Oil For Beauty

      My 2 month old daughter gets awful cradle cap. I’ll have it cleaned up and it will be gone for a few days then magically overnight she have a sudden collection of it on her little head. The general treatment is get some baby oil, put it on their scalp and comb it out. I hate combing it out. The comb is plastic and seems to irritate her scalp no matter how lightly I comb and then there is dead skin in the comb and she’s crying because I’m combing and it makes her mad…. You get the idea, its a pain. So I use coconut oil for everything. Seriously, for EVERYTHING. So I thought, why not use it for her cradle cap? So I pull the jug out of the closet, scrape some out and start rubbing it into her hair. I go get the comb but when I go to comb out all the dead skin, its gone. Just gone. The coconut oil disintegrated it. I have been using it on her every few days ever since. In the 4 weeks since I’ve started using it on her scalp, her skin has gotten less dry, her hair is always soft and shiny (it is obviously always close to that since its baby hair, but its even more so now), her hair has started growing more, her scalp looks healthier and even when her cradle cap attacks again, its not as bad.

      When she has diaper rash I rub a little oil on her sore bum and it clears up within a few minutes (if its more severe diaper rash it may take a day or two to clear up). When she gets out of the bath tub I use it as a baby lotion to re-soften her skin. If she scratches herself with those crazy baby fingernails that grow in 5 seconds, I rub a little on to clear it up faster. When I shave my legs I use it as moisturizer. When I wash my hair I use it as conditioner. When my lips are dry and cracked I rub some on. I could continue this paragraph for ever. Its so awesome and used for everything.

Health benefits:

So now that I’ve listed a few of the wonderful uses for coconut oil, your probably wondering why its so ‘crunchy’ and good for you. Look at the back of your lotion bottle real quick. Count how many ingredients are in there. Now count how many of those ingredients you can’t pronounce. There’s only one ingredient in coconut oil- coconut oil. Have you ever thought about what your rubbing onto your skin? It absorbs into your skin and you more then likely don’t know what it is or where it comes from. In fact it can be more dangerous for you too rub some of them onto your skin as it is to eat them.  Just one example of a common ingredient in lotion, and a description of it:

• Glyceryl Oleate- Toxic to humans, including carcinogenic, reproductive and developmentally toxic, neurotoxic, and acute toxicity. It is also an environmental toxin. Toxic to aquatic animals. (SOURCE)

That’s just one of the ingredients. Just one. There’s about 50 in your lotion.

In your lib balm, there is often alcohol, menthol, camphor and phenol. Did you know that all of those actually dry your lips out? Therefore increasing your need for lip balm. What does that mean for lip balm companies? More money. Swap out your lip balm for come coconut oil, or even homemade lip balm (I’ll share a recipe for this at a later date).

Coconut oil has been shown to reduce your chance of certain cancers, soothe aching muscles, restore skins natural elasticity, help with weight loss and helps your hair grow. It can also help with digestion, heart disease, stress relief and HIV (seriously, it does).

So toxins vs any of those listed above? I personally would pick the coconut oil.

So, if you haven’t discovered coconut oil yet, GET SOME! Its the most amazing thing I think I have ever owned. Our household will never be without a big ‘ole gallon jug of organic expeller pressed coconut oil. You can find some here. You can also look at your local natural foods store, I get mine at a bulk natural foods store owned by a local family.

Also, you can read this book- The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife for even more information, testimonials and information about coconut oil. (also was used as a source for some of my info.)

This post is linked to Party Wave Wednesday at HolisticSquid.com!