Chocolate-dipped Macaroon "Granola": gluten and grain free!

I'm always on the hunt for delicious and healthy snack foods.  Especially while I'm pregnant I feel the need/desire to snack.  So while browsing Pinterest, I pinned this delicious granola recipe.  It looks fantastic, but I wanted to make it grain free and add chocolate.  

What's the deal with grain free you may ask?  

Well, our society's diet is dominated by grains.  

Wheat is a huge part of that, but also oats, rice, cornmeal, barley, etc.

It's not that all grains are bad, but we don't need nearly as many as we usually eat.
Another name for a grain free diet is the Paleo diet.  You may or may not have heard of that.  Well, we don't eat that way all the time, but it has a lot of good principles.

Anyway, so that's what makes this snack great.  It's grain free - packed with protein, good fats, and antioxidants.

Plus it's just delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

3/4 cup of almonds

3/4 cup of walnuts

1/4 cup of ground flaxseed

1 1/2 - 2 cups of shredded coconut

1/2 t. coconut extract

1/2 t. vanilla extract

 1/2 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. butter

6 oz dark chocolate

*Preheat oven to 350

*Place nuts and pumpkin seeds on a cutting board and chop them roughly (you could also use a food processor, just don't grind them too finely)

*Put the nuts in a bowl and add the ground flaxseed and coconut

*melt the coconut oil and butter in a dish, then add the extracts

*pour the oil mixture over the nut mixture and mix well

*spread in an even layer on a rimmed cookie sheet (line with tin foil for easy clean up!)

*bake for about 10 minutes or until everything is toasty and your kitchen smells like heaven

*melt the chocolate in the microwave (go by 30 sec. increments so you won't burn it)

*drizzle the melted chocolate over the toasted granola

*stick it in the frig (or freezer!) until the chocolate has hardened

*break up the granola and store in an airtight container

*enjoy!!!

xoxo

jessica