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May 2010  |  By Ann Marie Scheidler  |  Comments (3)

Annie’s Edibles Gourmet Granola

TAGS: Annie's Edibles, granola, Lake Forest, healthy eating

Some women take lemons and turn them into lemonade. And others make fabulous granola.

Anne Casey, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire at St. Mary’s School in Lake Forest, never imagined that something she loved to give as a hostess gift would be the very thing to keep her family afloat when her husband lost his job last year.

“My friends rallied around me and told me it was time to start selling my granola,” Casey explains. “And with their help organizing and marketing and packaging, I launched ‘Annie’s Edibles Gourmet Granola’ at the Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market last summer.”

As a diabetic and the mother to a diabetic child, Casey was always looking for a healthy snack. Over the years, she perfected her all-natural, high fiber recipe that’s made with whole grains. Casey has plans to expand her granola line this summer, but her two current flavors—orange almond-cashew and orange almond-cashew coconut—are already crowd favorites.

Casey describes her granola business as an evolutionary process. “In the beginning, I had so much to distract me from focusing on my product but there was always a sign that would bring me back.” Like when she needed a commercial kitchen to bake her granola.

“During the summer, our church’s pastor let me use the school kitchen. But when school started, because it’s a nut-free zone, I had to find somewhere else to work. That’s when another angel entered my life,” Casey says. “Maria O’Rourke, owner of a new Lake Forest catering business called Food Love, offered to rent me her kitchen on Sundays when she was closed. It was another clear sign that I needed to keep going with this idea.”

When the Lake Bluff Farmers’ Market closed in October, Casey was selling 100 bags of granola each week. It wasn’t long before the corporate orders began pouring in and Annie’s Edibles Gourmet Granola found herself on the shelves of The Bent Fork bakery in Highwood, The Village Market and Peg Ann Kompany in Lake Bluff, Food Love in Lake Forest and most recently, The Grand Food Centers in Winnetka and Glencoe.

“I really believe this is just the beginning,” says Casey. “I can’t wait to see where this journey will take us.”