Coconut-Almond Granola (with Cardamom!)

I am currently in the midst of a granola phase. I was inspired by a granola episode on Spilled Milk, one of my favorite food podcasts. I adapted a recipe from Orangette but the end product differs quite a lot from Molly's granola. There is no chocolate and I added cardamom. I am hoping I will be able to stop myself having a diet of only granola for the rest of the week.

Ingredients:
3 cups oats
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped raw pecans
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
6 Tbsp Honey (I used blackberry honey)
3/4-1 tsp flaky sea salt
6 cardamom pods, seeds crushed and added


Method:
Preheat oven to 300F. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until everything is thoroughly coated (I used my hands). Bake for 20 minutes and then stir. Continue baking for 15-20 minutes until brown and toasty. Try not to eat straight from the pan.
Enjoy with milk or yogurt. I like it with full fat greek yogurt and pineapple or soy milk.

Chocolate-Banana Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting

It seems that it takes approximately 2 days for bananas to get spotty and 3 days to be "too ripe" in this weather. I think its a blessing in spotted disguise because I love almost any baked good with bananas in it. I got this cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking but instead of using the chocolate fudge frosting they suggest, I used this mocha frosting recipe from the Pioneer Woman's blog. Truly an outstanding combination!! The cupcakes were a "dump and stir" affair and the frosting was equally easy to make. I'll definitely be making these again. 
Note: I doubled the cupcake recipe to make 24 cupcakes but I made the frosting recipe as stated. I think next time I may double the frosting recipe too. It really depends how high you want your frosting:cupcake ratio :)

Feed to coffee loving husbands and enjoy the love :)