A chewy delicious lemon snack to love! Lemon Vanilla Bean Rawnola is the perfect citrusy-sweet snack or smoothie bowl topping. Vegan, gluten-free, so easy!
If you read my last post, you know that I recently went to Oregon. And it was awesome…mostly. 98% awesome. But let’s talk about the other 2% for a moment…
Storytime.
Somehow, somewhere between Florida and Oregon my external hard drive that I keep all of my blog photos and videos and Adobe files and random projects and pretty much my entire life on stopped working. It could have been when I shoved it in the bottom of my backpack with an iPad and a laptop on top of it and carried that bag with me everywhere for 5 days straight. Maybe.
Luckily the peaceful yoga/trees/sunshine vibe of the trip prevented me from panicking too much while I was there, but you better believe I shipped that thing off to the data recovery dudes the day I got home! It appears to be a hardware issue (a.k.a. the port where the cord plugs in looked as if an angry person haphazardly jammed a screwdriver into it repeatedly).
I’m actually surprising myself with how zen I am about the whole thing. Every once in a while it just hits me like “AHHHHH I COULD LOSE EVERYTHING!!!” But most of the time–zen.
So all fingers crossed that the data recovery guys are successful, and my hard drive makes a full recovery. Although it certainly will not be a cheap recovery. They take advantage of the panicked desperate nature of the situation and a charge a shocking amount for these things. But just the thought of losing all those photos and the 3/4 finished ebook that’s on there makes me want to cry, so I guess it’s worth it.
Question for my blogger friends: How do you store the massive amounts of files that come with food blogging? In retrospect, putting everything on one single rectangle of plastic and metal seems rather idiotic, so I’m considering new methods. All tips appreciated!
Lemon Vanilla Bean Rawnola
Right now I’m very thankful I do not work 3 months in advance when it comes to recipe creation or I would be feeling quite lost. I made this deliciously citrusy Lemon Vanilla Bean Rawnola just a few days ago, so it was completely unaffected by the whole situation.
I originally created it to be the topping for a delicious pudding bottom that is coming soon, but it’s so tasty as a snack all it’s own that I had to give it it’s own post and video.
A chewy delicious lemon snack to love! LEMON VANILLA BEAN RAWNOLA {#vegan} >>>Click To Tweet
Lemon + vanilla deserves a spot in the flavor pair hall of fame I think. Right next to lemon + blueberry. And lemon + chocolate. And lemon + ginger. It’s a crowded place.
>>> Click below to pin <<<
Lemon Vanilla Bean Rawnola
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 10–14 pitted Medjool dates
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor (a food processor actually works best).
- If using a blender: blend on low speed stopping occasionally to shake and redistribute. Continue until it starts to clump together.
- If using a food processor: Process until it starts to clump together.
- Be careful of over-blending/processing and ending up with a giant ball of rawnola.
- Transfer to a container or jar. Keep in the fridge. It will get harder over time.
For a lemon-less but still chewy delicious topping…Oat Rawnola!
Looking for more lemon? These Lemon Poppyseed Muffins are one of my favorites!
I am such a sucker for anything lemon. I love the idea of rawnola, and these photos are gorgeous, light, and make me want to bathe in the sun. <3
Me too on the lemon part, it’s such a lovely flavor! And thank you, yes the Florida sun was on my side with these 🙂 I hope you are having some wonderful summery weather over there too!
Lovely flavours with the ingredients lime plus vanilla… nice recipe(:
I love these flavors together too, vanilla + just about anything is so delicious in my opinion! Thanks Maria 🙂
Oooh, that sounds yummy! And you’re right — lemon has so many suitors…
About the file storage — that’s something that stresses me out quite regularly. My computer became so overloaded (right at the time I was about to release that book) that it became completely dysfunctional. So I had to remove all my files from it and put them onto a backup drive. That made me feel really anxious though. Somehow, even though I know my computer could also conk out at any moment, the tiny external box that a hard drive is gives the appearance of being risky. And so I have 2. I do a backup onto one, and then back that one up onto another just to be safe.
At one point my husbands external drive died with all his files, so I understand the scary risk involved (hence 2 drives). I also tried out a remote backup option to my hard drive via wifi that a friend strongly recommended at first — ended up losing all my files because the internet cut out for a moment while it was backing up (eek) — luckily my husband was able to recover the files somehow that time, but I don’t trust that kind of backup setup at all now.
So 2 drives — doing backups of backups. I’m also debating getting a remote online file storage system somehow in addition just to be safe, but am worried about the astronomical costs because of all them photos 😮
Good luck with recovering things! Fingers crossed for you over here.
*hard drive = backup drive…
I have reached the same point with my computer, constantly at max capacity even with the backup drive there. I really need to upgrade computers, but that’s so pricey. I agree, I hate having to have everything externally. It just feels like so much more could go wrong that way. But necessary.
So I have one back up drive that just automatically backs up everything actually ON my computer, but since not everything fits on my computer I have to have another that I just do manually. I’m assuming you mean the same thing, but have a duplicate copy on another backup drive just to be safe. That seems like the only way to go, I just worry about keeping them identical and getting confused.
Yes I was considering some sort of remote/cloud thing too, just for an off site copy of everything, but they are quite expensive. Plus most of the mainstream companies don’t offer more than 1 TB which will not be enough for all the photos I have. I think I will just go with the 2 hard drives for now. It’s shocking how many files blogging creates ?
I just got an email from Seagate saying they could recover it YAY!! So now I just hope they can send it back to me before my computer maxes out again lol. Thanks for sharing your setup!
Yay — so glad they can recover 🙂
I have two My Passport external drives. One is black and I keep it handy at all times to throw files back and forth, and do a backup on that as well every so often. All my files are on there. Then I have another My Passport external drive but red — that’s the backup of the backup. So to do a backup of a backup I basically first back everything up to black. Then plug them both in (I have multiple usb ports on the mac) and do a backup of the entire system, black drive included, onto red. So color coding so I don’t get confused 🙂
The only trouble is I’m really lazy with technical stuff and have to be reminded to do backups of backups of backups 😀
Oh got it, that makes sense! I actually didn’t know you could do that, backup with an external drive included. Very helpful! I’m pretty sure I have 2 USB ports. Oh I am the worst at remembering too…and getting really annoyed at that little thing for reminding me all the time. “I know I haven’t backed up in 54 days, quit judging me for it!!” lol
THANK YOU for asking about file storage. I’ve been reaching my computer’s max capacity for storage and I’m freaking out about what to do. I might take Audrey’s advice…. get two external hard drives and back up on that. Ahh it’s so stressful though. I’m going to check back here to see if any other experienced bloggers have some good advice too.
Can someone just make a computer for food bloggers with like 10TB of storage please!! I know it’s so frustrating, I just keep emptying my trash can buying time before I have to find a new solution. I can’t imagine how many files bloggers who have been going for like 5 years must have? I think the 2 external hard drives is what I’m going to try. It’s not simple but it’s safer at least!
Hey Natalie, the recipe sounds too good! I’m gonna try this. For the file storage problems my hubs recommended using clouds, we really like Dropbox, and once in a week/month I would synchronize it with another cloud like Google drive. And I also keep my important things on my computer as well so basically I have the most important things at 3 different places. Hope it helps X
This is really helpful advice! The cloud storage seems much simpler which I like, my main concern is that I think the max storage offered by Dropbox or Google drive is only 1 TB which I know I will exceed sooner or later. Have you had that issue? Using two different services is smart though just in case something glitches. Thanks for sharing your method 🙂
Yeah, sadly the storage is usually limited, e.g. my Dropbox account is almost full so I upload there only the most important things, and I also have a Box account which gave a bigger space… I hope you can get your files restored, waiting for it must be frustrating!
They actually have emailed me now and said that they can get them back, which is awesome news!! Now I’m just waiting for them to process and ship it to me and stuff. But still, big relief. Yeah I’m sure there have to be cloud services out there that offer more, I’ll shop around 🙂
Oh wow, Natalie, I would totally have panicked! I’m so glad to read your above comment that they are able to get you everything back! I actually don’t back up anything, totally stupid, I know, but I actually have just talked to my husband about figuring out how to back all this stuff up recently, so I need to do it. I’m totally clueless about how all that works so I will have to figure it out.
On to the recipe, looks amazing. LOVE lemon and love vanilla, so combining the two for a perfect summery rawnola, is just perfection! I love all that lemon zest and I bet the smell is amazing. I love, love the smell of lemon, who doesn’t right? I love the simplicity too. I’m FINALLY making your mint chocolate bars this weekend for my daughter. I’ve had the dates for awhile but I have the worst habit of getting sidetracked and forgetting things and then I’ve been pretty sick for the past 8 days, but I’m feeling better now and want to make these so she can have them for school this week!!
Yes I am feeling very relieved now! You don’t back up at all!?! Whoa, living on the edge over there lol! I ran out of room on my computer months ago and was forced to start. I hope you come up with a system soon, that would freak me out. File management is so annoying. But I think Audrey’s recommendation in the comments above is what I’m going to try next.
I know lemon is technically a winter fruit, but it just has that summer zing that I am obsessed with right now! Two of my favorites flavors too, I almost wanted to throw blueberry in the mix because all three together are so wonderful 🙂
Oh no, being sick sucks, especially in the summertime. I’m glad you are on the getting better side of things now though, 8 days is a long time! Well if the bars happen then I hope Olivia loves them! I’m amazed she’s back to school again already, but they are a perfect snack for that 🙂
Oh no! Right… I’m going to go and backup my files right now! I would freak out if that happened. I really hope it gets fixed, fingers crossed for you <3 I have an external hd that I tend to keep everything stored on but I'm so disorganised and files end up all over the place, really need to get that sorted and make sure I back them up more. Thanks for the warning!
Anyway, I've been drooling over this rawnola from the photos on your social media accounts and the recipe is fantastic, as always. I can imagine this over ice cream – YUM.
I think that’s what I dislike about external drives, it’s just more files and folders and places to lose things. And who has the time to stop everything for a day and go back and organize the old stuff!? lol I should, I really should. But if nothing else, let this be a warning to make backups of your backups, that’s what I’m going to start doing. And at this point they did say they could recover it all, yay! Now just waiting.
Thank you Aimee! Most of the rawnola consumption in my life happens with ice cream 🙂 You have so many wonderful ice cream flavors to choose from, I think lemon would pair well with lots of them!
Oh no! That’s awful Natalie, I’m so sorry. Hope they can extract the data! Today’s electronics is so fragile, I’m so paranoid about something like that happening all the time. Though I often don’t act on that paranoia (oops). I try to back up my blog stuff to an external drive and an online storage place but I also hear good stuff about Crash Plan or whatever that service is called – it backs up your computer in real time. On a completely unrelated note, I LOVE the lemon touch in this rawnola of yours!!!
Hahaha I know exactly what you mean! “I’m really freaked out that I might lose everything…but I don’t really feel like dealing with all this backing up stuff either.” I think I’m just really optimistic…yeah that’s it 😀 Hmmm I’ll look into Crash Plan, someone else doing it periodically that I don’t have to remember to do sounds good. But I hate adding in one more monthly/yearly fee, there are so many of those in the world of blogging. Thanks for the tip though. And thank you, I’m loving the lemon too!
Yup, exactly :D. I agree that yet another recurring fee is a pain. That’s why I never got it. But I might be ripping my hair out once I lose something that I haven’t gotten around uploading to Dropbox or something.
Ohhhh no Natalie!! I really hope everything gets recovered and the beautiful people above have given you plenty of ideas for the future!
As for the lemon and vanilla flavour combo!! Definitely on the wall of fame! Can’t wait to give this a try, it just sounds super delicious! I’m a fan for all things Lemon, especially a good lemon pie!
At this point I’m pretty sure they can recover every, thank goodness!! Yes so many ideas above, I knew it must be a common blogger problem 😀 Mmmm now I want lemon pie <3 Especially with coconut whip on top. Or lemon bars. Or even just lemon nicecream, I've been making that a lot lately. Oh man, so many good lemon things. And now I want to toss some vanilla into all of them 🙂
Thank you for another yummy recipe, Natalie! It’s a super treat and worked out well. I can’t wait to try it with oranges, too.
I don’t know what kind of web hosting setup you’re using, but some companies offer unlimited storage; Bluehost and HostPapa are the 2 I have direct experience with although there are plenty of others. If you create a folder specifically for backups, you’ll have your own cloud storage for no additional fees. Because those files won’t be using any bandwidth to speak of (you’ll be the only one accessing them) you won’t be causing the hosting provider any issues because for them, storage is cheap while bandwidth is expensive.
Uploading them is easy via FTP. I use Firefox as my browser and use an addon called FireFTP. I create a folder on my PC where new data is stored and upload to my webhost backup folder once a month, although you will determine the schedule that suits you best. Start the upload before you go to bed and let it run while you sleep. You can choose to disconnect the FTP connection once the uploads finish and the connection sits idle for X amount of time.
Cheers!
★★★★★
Yay!! I’m so happy it turned out well 🙂 And orange rawnola sounds awesome!
Hmmm that’s a very interesting method I had not thought of. And much much cheaper than paying for a separate cloud storage provider. I’m not super familiar with FTP although I do know a little bit and I’m sure I could figure it out. I’ll have to check with my host since I am no longer with bluehost, but thanks for the tip!
Oh my gosh, this is genius! I used to make my own granola, but the baking takes forever. This looks so quick and easy!
Yep, it’s like granola’s super fast and easy cousin 🙂 But chewier. Plus summertime = try no to turn the oven on as much as possible, so it’s perfect for that too!
I’m so glad they were able to recover everything for you! Very scary. Unfortunately, I’m over here living on the edge just like Brandi. I have never back anything up. I know that’s so dumb!! I mean, I have backups of the blog just in case, but not of my computer. Luckily, I don’t work too far in advance either – a couple weeks at most usually. But, now you’ve scared me and I might have to put a plan in action.
I LOVE this lemony granola! LOVE lemons! I have a lemon delight hitting the blog soon too – perhaps tomorrow. This granola would make an amazing additoinal topping to my recipe…hmmmmm. 🙂
Back away from the edge and back up your photos lol! Yep the auto backups of my actual blog has been somewhat comforting to me to throughout all of this. If all else fails I could always download the photos from there I guess. And honestly if my computer’s hard drive was big enough to handle it I probably never would’ve started backing up either. But defintely a good idea!
Well now I’m very intrigued by this upcoming recipe because I love all things lemon and I also usually love things that require toppings! 🙂
Oh, no! That is such a horrible feeling. My laptop died once, and I lost everything – years worth of pictures. It was so sad. I hope the tech people are able to recover your data. I have gotten in trouble from tech people that I have too many pictures on my computer, but it is hard when you’re a food blogger. You never know what pictures you may need again later. I’d like to figure out a different system. After losing everything once, I now back up my computer on an external hard drive regularly. Once a day is ideal, but I don’t usually get to it quite that often.
Oh that’s terrible! I have nightmare’s about that sort of scenario, you’ve made me even more determined to find a better system. Especially for photos, those are irreplaceable and we have SO many of them as bloggers! Luckily since it was mostly a hardware issue they have said that they can recover it, but I think it was a good wake up call for me anyways. Wow once a day is really good! I’m doing well to back up once a week lol.
1) Let’s just talk about Oregon. How dreamy and delightful is it?!?! I loved it when I was there a couple of years ago. But ironically, I also had a technology malfunction and the charging port of my iPad was a done deal. And nearly $200 USD later had a new little piece of plastic. I feel you.
2) Let’s talk about this rawnola. I have never made rawnola. But I feel like I would totally love it, and it would go in that category with nut butters and fresh berries, where I eat it in slight excess and am not good at practicing restraint. Ooops!
3) Let’s talk about file storage. I have an external hard drive where I do a weekly/bi-weekly backup of my whole computer. Just plug it in and start Time Machine, and away it goes. Then, I have a second backup drive, where I just drag and drop important blog files, like my new photos, or the updated version of projects I’m currently working on. It means I have two backups of really important stuff and one back up of my full computer. But it doesn’t mean I never worry about it anyway haha . . .
That is SO WEIRD! The portland energy just ruins electronic ports somehow lol. But it is still an amazing place! If it would stay summer all year round I would happily move there, I’m not sure about the winters though.
You’ve never made rawnola?!? Knowing you are your recipe style, it seems like something you would love! Plus it’s a great platform for flavor experimentation, I would love to see what sorts of flavors you come up with 🙂 And actually berries and rawnola and nut butter allotter would be very good and very additive!
So your system sounds almost identical to mine except one very important difference which is that my Time Machine back up drive doesn’t include my second backup drive, only my actual computer files. I am going to switch to your system as soon as I get my drive back, it sounds like a good plan. Oh there is no amount of backups that would guarantee no chance of loss, but the more backups the better 🙂
You know how much I love your original rawnola and the lemon and vanilla in this one make me so excited! If i actually had a lemon I would be making it right now. I need to wait patiently.
As for backups, I worry about it all the time. My site is backed up daily by my host and I pay for a another backup derive too, just in case. I had everything on my laptop until very recently then it got so full it started acting very weird so i had to take everything off it. Now it’s all on a hard drive but I worry about it so much. I think I’m gong to buy another so I have 2 backups ‘just in case’. Just imagine if we carry on blogging for like the next ten years we’ll be up to our ears in hard drives! lol
I’m so glad to hear that your data can be retrieved. I would have had a complete panic attack when that happened in Portland!
It’s very similar to the original, just subtly tangier. Still awesome with green smoothies and smoothie bowls 🙂
It’s scary worrisome stuff! Yeah I have my site backed up through my host too, so at least that wouldn’t have been affected even if my hard drive was not repairable. But I had the same issue–my computer got too full so I had no choice but to switch to externals. There just seems like way more things that can go wrong with externals, I am going to go to two as well now. I wish there was a good cloud storage option too, but all of them seem too small and too expensive. Oh I know, I don’t even want to think about how many photos I’ll have by then? Thanks Mel!
Oh, my goodness! I am SO glad they were able to recover everything! Just reading about that stressed me out – eeep! Looks like you also got some great advice regarding backing up files.
This rawnola looks amazing!!! I’m so obsessed with lemon AND vanilla – it’s such a dreamy combo and so perfectly summery! Especially with the lemon zest. I’ve been making an oat-free rawnola which is by no means low-fat because it has nuts, but I NEED to try making it again with your lemony twist! <3
Nutty rawnola sounds delicious too, or I even imagine hemp seeds would be good! Whatever it takes to make those chewy little morsels, nicecream and smoothies are so much better with them. The lemon version isn’t took crazy different from the original, but it’s easy enough and zesty enough that I like the addition. And yes i was SO relieved to get that email! I always love starting these kinds of discussions too, there is usually someone who has been there, done that, and has good tips 🙂
BUMMER! I’m so sorry, Natalie. Positive vibes are being sent that your hard work is fully recovered.
I’ve never put lemon and vanilla together, but I can totally see how they would be amazing in one crunchy jar of granola. This looks and sounds like the perfect breakfast or snack. Love it!
Thank you for the positive vibes Linda! They have emailed me now saying they could recover it all and are shipping it back, yay!! Definitely a lesson learned from this whole situation though. I’ve been overlooking the lemon + vanilla thing until now too for some crazy reason, but it’s wonderful! Add blueberry to the mix and you’re really got something spectacular 🙂
I can’t believe this has just 5 ingredients! It looks so complex and flavorful.
I think that’s why I’m so rawnola obsessed, it’s so simple but SO good! Thanks Alisa 🙂
Love this rawnola!
And so sorry about your hard drive!! I keep all my blog files on my hard drive too and its my biggest fear something will happen to it!! Keep us updated on getting your files back!
Thanks Ceara! I was really lucky and they could recover everything, yay!! But it definitely gave me the scare I needed to step up my backing up game lol.
I feel like you could probably teach a class on how to make a great blog. This is fantastic! I have to say, what really got me was your design. You certainly know how to make your blog more than just a rant about an issue. Youve made it possible for people to connect. Good for you, because not that many people know what theyre doing.
This recipe is DELICIOUS!!!! I didn’t have vanilla bean powder, so I used 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, still delicious! Next time I will have the powder.
I put this on top of a fruit medley: “raw”Apple pie, bananas, raspberries and blackberries. The lemon granola added a delicious and refreshing topping….a truly MUST keep recipe. THANK YOU
Oh, my allergies don’t thank you…lmbo, I dealt with the stinging (from the lemons, can only have so much citrus and pollinated fruit), but was in sheer heaven!
I am so so happy you liked it Stacy!! Cinnamon is never a bad idea, you can use a dash of vanilla extra instead as well though if you don’t want to/can’t find the powder. Mmmm that sounds like a lovely little fruity snack! Interesting about the citrus thing, I’ve never heard to that, but I have this rawnola recipe that is citrus free if you (and your allergies!) prefer for next time: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/oat-rawnola-healthy-cookie-dough/
What kind/brand vanilla powder do you use? Any recommendations? Thx.
I usually use the Terrasoul brand for vanilla bean powder. Or Sunfood is good too, but pretty pricey😬