A healthy lifestyle is key to a happy life. Each week, we round up a delicious recipe that makes us feel and look good. This week, we’re loving the Banana Granola recipe from Green Kitchen Stories. Enjoy!

Banana Granola

• 3 cups / 250 g / 700 ml rolled oats (gluten-free, if needed)
• 1/2 cup / 80 g / 120 ml raw almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup / 80 g / 120 ml raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract or ground vanilla
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, room temperature
• 3 tbsp maple syrup, runny honey or date molasses
• 2 very ripe bananas, peeled and broken into smaller pieces

Preheat the oven 400°F / 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, vanilla and salt. In a separate bowl add coconut oil, maple and bananas. Use your hands to mix the ingredients completely smooth. Add the banana mixture to the dry mixture and combine well, using your hands, for about a minute, so all is well-coated and clumpy. Turn out and spread the granola in an even layer on the baking tray. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, check at around 10 minutes and turn the granola over with a wooden spoon. Allow to cool completely before putting in a container. 

Serve with organic yogurt, preferable goat or sheep or almond milk and fresh fruit.

If you prefer it raw and have a dehydrator, this recipe will work too.

Enjoy!

When it comes to expert information, we always go straight to the source. Today, our Managing Director Sena Kang tells us the inside story on our newly available CC Cream that was carefully formulated over the course of three years. Try it for yourself from Sephora. http://ow.ly/lMkHO 

WHY DID DR. JART+ FIRST CREATE A CC CREAM?

Sena Kang: We had first started working on the formula for CC Cream in 2009, but held off on launching it because CC Cream felt like too light of an idea to follow BB Cream. When CC first launched a couple of years ago in Korea, it was made by small brands that wanted to create something like a BB, but different. Eventually, Sephora asked us to create CC Cream, which we already had ready to go. We decided to come out and define what CC is—an afternoon BB. BB Cream is a skin treatment that should be used in the morning, whereas CC Cream is a skincare compact. It combines BB and skin essence, which includes 7 different vitamins, each having a different effect.

HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE CC CREAM INTO YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE

SK: I have a high stress job, so I use a different BB Cream per season. Right now, I use the Water Fuse BB. I apply a small amount after Ceramidin liquid cream, which I let absorb. I then apply CC. I’m 36 years old, so it is important that my skin stays very moisturized. I like to have moist skin in both the morning and the afternoon, keeping my skin very dewy until I go home and wash my face. It’s all about skin nutrition. 

WHAT TYPE OF SKIN DOES CC CREAM WORK BEST ON?

SK: CC Cream is great for all skin types during all four seasons. It’s good for dry skin because of the essence and its vitamins.  It’s also perfect for people who deal with dark spots. For oily skin, it’s wonderful because it controls your pores.  

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENTS IN CC CREAM?

SK: Our V7. Each vitamin is helpful in its own way.

WHAT ARE THE LONG-LASTING EFFECTS OF WEARING CC CREAM?

SK: I’ve been using it for weeks now, and if I remove my CC Cream, my skin remains dewy and I don’t feel any dryness at all. People ask me all the time about my skin, even when I don’t have makeup on.

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT DR. JART+’S CC CREAM?

SK: Our CC Cream is a compact designed to benefit skin. It is not makeup. It’s a different formula that has been in the works for a few years, unlike many other brands that quickly hurried to make their CC Creams over the course of the last year. We are a dermatological brand. Our only concern is skin, not makeup.