Granola Four-Ways! With Nature's Hand Granola

Until we went artificial-free, I wasn't really a granola fan. Too crunchy or too soft, often tasting of cardboard... Blech! But now that I've had to find alternatives to our favorite "brand name" cereals, most of which contain artificial preservatives (BHA, BHT, or TBHQ,) I've had to give granola another look. And boy have I been pleasantly surprised!

With a large assortment of lightly sweetened and naturally flavored options to choose from, I've found many ways to enjoy eating granola again! I was extremely pleased to find Nature's Hand Granola. I'm not a fan of soft granola, and Nature's Hand didn't disappoint. Pleasantly crunchy and clumpy. And the flavors I chose had nice chewy dried fruit bits too.

Nature's Hand Granola wasn't just yummy for a healthy, low-fat, low-sugar, no-sodium, all-natural granola. It was just plain YUMMY! 

My Four Favorite Ways to Enjoy Granola:

1. Eat it plain!

2. Eat as a cereal, with milk

3. With yogurt - as a parfait or just a mix-in! Also on ice cream. Same concept.

4. "Apple Sandwiches"

(These certainly aren't the ONLY ways. Here are some yummy-looking recipes. Granola can be a tasty pie or tart topping, with baked apples, etc. But I'm too lazy to cook... )

Mama's "Apple Sandwich"

Rosemary bread, apple sandwich with PB and Nature's Hand Wild Blueberry granola, salad
w/cauliflower, broccoli, carrot scraps, golden beet, dried blueberries, sunflower seeds, dressing 

I found this "Apple Sandwich" recipe at MOMables. I loved it with my Nature's Hand Granola, but with this extra crunchy granola, I think they would have been better as "open face" sandwiches. It was a bit hard to eat this way, but really yummy and fun once I pulled the apples apart.
To help keep the granola from getting soggy, I spread peanut butter on both slices of apple, to create a barrier.
I think in future I'll pack the ingredients separately and assemble on-site. More fun, and I can fit more apple slices in there!

For the most part I snacked on my granola in handfuls here and there. Or ate it like cereal. But a few times, I was able to pack a yummy, healthy treat to-go!

Simple Parfait

This one is easy and should be fairly obvious, but I'll describe it anyway.
Layer yogurt (I prefer Greek yogurt,) sliced fresh (or canned) fruit, and granola in alternating layers. DONE! Deeelicious!

You can prepare these a bit in advance, but be advised that the granola could get soggy after being in there too long. I ate mine an hour later, and it was still mostly crunchy. Depending how long there is between leaving the house and lunch, these would be a great treat to pack. I used an 8-ounce plastic Ball freezer jam jar, since it's sturdy and has a lid that closes nicely.

Mama's Breakfast On the Go!

For a quick on-the-go breakfast, I packed some Nature's Hand Granola in a sealable container and grabbed a yogurt cup. Some of the granola went into my yogurt, but Baby ended up eating most of the yogurt, so I got my granola plain!

You can find Nature's Hand Granola online, or at a store near you!

Disclaimer: I was given two flavors of Nature's Hand granola to try. They lasted about 5 seconds each! Haha!