Finding Her Own Snacks

Claire has made a discovery. She now knows where her snacks live and how to access them. Luckily she hasn't figured out how to open the sealed tops yet, but that's only a matter of time. The day care lady at church is into Montessori style child care and she was praising the idea of having her snacks down low where Claire can access them herself, but I'm pretty sure that's just going to lead to me walking into the kitchen one day to find Claire and Prince feasting on several tins of cheesy puffs. We'll see. 

Hmm, what to have, what to have...

What's this?

Mmmmm, waffles. Yeah I want those.

Why won't these open? I need my cheesy puffs!

Claire has her appetizer and dessert picked out. Now what to have for the main course? Wait, why is she staring at me?

Granola Round II

I took another stab at granola making the other night and I think this batch is by far superior to the first (although Jeff's shock and exclamation about how much better this one was made me question how much he actually liked the first batch). Not only did I not burn it, but I changed up a few of the ingredients or modified the amount of them. This granola was not sticky at all like the first batch. Enjoy!

Georgia Peach Granola

1/2 cup canned peaches liquefied in blender (use a little of the syrup too)

1/4 cup honey

splash of no sugar added banana syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. walnut oil

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cardamom

2.5 cups of rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
2 cups chopped walnuts

dash of salt

3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1.) Preheat oven to 300, and mix all ingredients in the first group listed above in a blender until liquefied and well mixed.

2.) In a separate bowl, mix together all the ingredients in the second group listed above. Then add the wet ingredients to the bowl and stir until the granola is evenly coated.

3.) Spread mixture onto two cookie sheets and place them on the rack/racks (depending on the size of your sheets and oven) farthest from the heat source in your oven. Bake for 20 minutes stirring three times.

4.) If you are using two racks, rotate the racks and cook for 10 more minutes stirring twice (you will still cook for 10 more minutes even if using only one oven rack).

5.) Remove from the oven once your granola is nice and golden brown. Immediately pour the granola into a large bowl and add the chopped fruit. Allow it to cool completely before placing it in an air tight container.

Granola Goodness

You may not know this, but I am a granola addict. The only thing that keeps me under control is the fact that the granolas I like are six bucks a bag! I don't want chocolate chunks or tons of sugary sweetness in my granola, just crunchy nuts, some oats and dried fruit. My favorite is BareNaked's banana granola, but alas, it is in the six bucks a bag category. This would be fine if I only nibbled on it occasionally but the addict within me wouldn't allow it.

Recently I've seen several posts on various blogs about making your own granola, and then when I saw the movie It's Complicated last weekend there was yet another reference to it. I had never considered making my own granola before. I always assumed it must be some magical process that takes years to master. How else could something so delicious be made?

I took all these references as a sign however, and after going over several recipes decided to strike out on my own and give it a try. Since this project was about saving money I used a lot of ingredients I had lying around the house. I look forward to trying some other variation soon (perhaps a banana heavy variation), which won't be long considering the fact that this batch is almost gone!!! I will learn to pace myself. I will learn to pace myself. I will learn to....

Pantry Granola

ingredients:

1.5 cups steele cut oats

1 cup chopped almonds

1.5 cups chopped walnuts

.5 cups whole peanuts

couple dashes of salt

.5 cup of cooked apples pured
.25 cups of honey

3 Tbsp. walnut oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

a splash of no sugar added banana syrup (very optional)

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

.75 cups of dried apricots quartered

.75 cups of dried cranberries

directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the oats and nuts. I had steele cut oats on hand, but most recipes call for rolled oats.

2. Place all remaining ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth. Pour over the dry ingredients stirring well.

3. Spread the granola out thinly on two baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes stirring twice. Then, if you are having to use two oven racks, rotate the sheets so the top sheet is now on the bottom. Bake for an additional 20 minutes stirring twice.

4. Remove the granola from oven and allow to cool slightly before pouring into a large bowl along with the dried fruit. Once the granola has completely cooled you can store it in an air tight container for up to a month.

Some Notes:

I love the taste of this granola, even though I burnt mine slightly, but don't expect the liquid ingredients to smell good in the blender. I cook with my nose so I almost threw it out but either out of laziness or a sense of adventure I decided to give it a try. Once it starts baking though it smells like happiness and hugs!

Also, if you like a very dry granola this one might not appeal to you. It has a slight stickiness that causes me to eat it with a spoon (I'm often typing while eating so sticky fingers just won't do). I think next time I'll go a little lighter on the liquid and see if that helps.

Lastly, if you love granola but don't have some of the liquid ingredients that I used on hand, just do a search for granola recipes. There are a ton of variations on the liquid, most of which don't call for the apples for example. Since I have apple trees I happened to have canned apples, but if you are missing some of the ingredients you can probably find another recipe that calls for stuff you have on hand.

Here are the two recipes I looked at to make mine:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/10/granola_recipe.html

http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-favorite-granola.html

Irish Cream Cookies

Just incase you haven't had enough sweets over the last month, or if you are looking to reward yourself for doing good on your New Years resolutions, I've procured a cookie post for you all. This also looks like a great one to keep in mind for St. Patty's Day which is only a few short months away. Thanks for the post mom!

Our church was having a Sunday evening meeting for one of our members to report on a short term mission trip to Ireland. Since good Christians can never seem to get together without food being involved (See Acts 2:46) we decided to have cookies and ice cream. I was one of the women who were asked to make “themed” cookies for the occasion. OK, when I think of Ireland the first thing that comes to my mind is Bailey’s Irish Cream. Since chocolate chip cookies are my favorite cookie, the following recipe was perfect. They are delicious (especially warm from the oven) and were a hit at the meeting. I actually use Carolanns Irish Cream which I like better than Baileys (and is about 40% cheaper) but the added flavor of Irish Cream to a basic chocolate chip cookie is amazing. So grab a few warm cookies and enjoy the cold, foggy weather.

IRISH CREAM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

½ c butter
½ c granulated sugar
½ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ c Irish Cream
2 ¼ c flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 (6 ounce) pkg chocolate chips
¾ c coconut
½ c chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugars and egg until fluffy. Add vanilla and Irish Cream. Mix dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture. Add coconut, nuts and chips. Drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 374 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Harvest Muffins

Hey everybody, we have another guest post! This one is from my sister Theresa up in the foothills. Hope you enjoy her ode to fall and tasty sounding recipe!



Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. In fact, when FOX was a fledgling network they had a short lived science fiction show whose name escapes me, but on one episode one of the characters (a female Space Marine) was waxing eloquent about why she missed autumn on Earth….she said, “There is something so desperate and sexy about autumn….” I have always found that to be a perfectly fitting description. Desperate because it’s the last push to get the harvest in and the household/farmstead/den battened down and sexy because it’s when the vast majority of animals mate in order to ensure a spring birth….lots of action, activity and pheromones in the air! I myself have very fond memories of helping my father’s family with the fall harvest on their farm in Iowa . As a small child I couldn’t help much, but help I did and it was the one time of year that whole side of the family came together to work as a clan. Crisp mornings, sweatshirts, my dad’s big coyote-fur lined winter jacket that I would get to wear once he worked up a sweat, leather work gloves, the crunch and smell of dried corn, the pulsing sound of the combine, the ubiquitous snarl of a chainsaw that we and others were constantly running to try to beat the snow with firewood preparations, and the occasional crack of a hunter’s rifle echoing off the land are all indelibly burned into my brain….desperate and sexy indeed.

As such I am a sucker for anything “harvest” whether a theme (how about a harvest wedding…sans chainsaws, of course!), decoration, movie or recipe. I received a recipe recently called “Harvest Muffins” from one of my Yahoo user groups. The ingredients sounded like a slam dunk, but the first batch left a lot to be desired….they made the house smell wonderful, however the spices called for were just enough for aromatics and not taste. In addition, the cook temps and times called for resulted in a very dry muffin that resulted in the last two remaining being thrown out. Plus the quantity of raisins called for completely overwhelmed the recipe.

I did a second batch and the only thing that resembles the original is the ingredients list. All spices and the raisins have been significantly adjusted and the baking temperature reduced while the time was increased. This resulted in a muffin that not only smells GREAT while baking, but tastes wonderful and remains very moist inside. Bear in mind that even once the toothpick comes out clean these muffins retain a lot of moisture around the apple shreds and may appear underdone if you eat one right after baking. Give them some time to sit and the moisture disperses evenly through the whole muffin. I store them in a plastic tub with a light dishtowel draped on top to keep them moist but prevent molding. Also keep in mind that these are more like a zucchini or banana bread than a true muffin and as such don’t rise terribly high.

I hope you relish them as much as I do—they are utterly perfect for a desperate, sexy fall morning (or even a mundane, frumpy one!). Serve with hot coffee or plain black tea and enjoy!!

2 c all purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
1 TBS baking powder
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 c apple juice/cider
1/3 c vegetable oil
¼ real maple syrup
1 large egg beaten
2 tsp vanilla

1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and shredded
3 oz chopped walnuts (1/2 of a big package)
½ c golden raisins

Blend dry ingredients in one bowl. Blend wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine the two until just mixed and fold in the last three ingredients.
Divide batter into muffin pan (the cups will be pretty full)

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. The apple should still be really moist inside.

Peach Salsa

On my way down to American Canyon this weekend, I saw a produce stand advertising peaches for 59 cents a pound. Of course I couldn't pass this up and did a last minute swerve onto the exit ramp. Now I am the proud owner of 45 pounds of peaches. The natural conclusion was that this weekend I made my second try at peach salsa. My first try turned out alright, but it was a bit too sweet for me which isn't suprising since the recipe I based this off of was originally a chutney. This time I added tomatoe, garlic, more onion and halved the total sugar and I think the result was definitly an improvement. While I am still not a huge fan of using sweet salsas as a dip, they are EXCELLENT on salty mexican dishes. Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.

3 1/2 cups peaches peeled, pitted and cut into small cubes
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped red onion
3-4 large garlic cloves finely chopped or grated
1 ½ - 2 cups of pureed raw tomatoes (just trim the ends and throw them in the food processor)
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon minced seeded Serrano chile (or sub for your favorite chile)*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1) Gracefully dump all the above ingredients into a large pot over medium heat.
2) Heat this delicious fragrant (it’s the cumin and vinegar that really make this smell awesome) mixture till it just barely starts to bubble. Keep in at this temperature for 15-20 minutes depending on how ripe your peaches are. If they aren’t very ripe you can extend this time until they are very soft.
3) If you wish to preserve your salsa you can either let it cool then pour it into baggies/tupperware and freeze or you can pour into mason jars and water bath them for 15 minutes. If you haven’t canned anything before, you can find lots of how to pages online. Here's one I found.

*For the peppers you can adjust to personal taste . I’d add it a little bit at a time and then taste it. Remember the pepper is going to taste a lot hotter when your salsa is warm than it will when it cools.