Life is in the Details

Homemade granola

A few weeks ago I made granola for the first time, and it came out fantastic! I used a recipe from the Cooks Illustrated website for Classic Granola and added a few extras, it seems a very versatile recipe. This morning I wondered what to make for breakfast and Ana suggested making the granola again.  I still had plenty of all the ingredients to make it again, so I thought good idea!

It's such a simple thing to make, you basically just chop the nuts, I used walnuts and almonds...

 

Give Eloise her token walnut that she waits for as soon as she sees the bag come out...

Mix with the oats and seeds, add a little coconut for some chewy sweetness...

and then heat up some honey and maple syrup and a bit of canola oil, and mix it in...

 

Spread it in a pan, and bake the granola, and turn it every few minutes to evenly brown the oats and toast the nuts.

Add some raisins and cranberries.  Last time I also added dried strawberries, yum!

 

Then in order to make bigger chunks, I press down on the granola with paper towels, which sort of sticks the granola together in bigger chunks similarly to Rice Krispie treats.

And wah-la, homemade granola.  I love it!

It seems to be much cheaper to make your own granola.  I know that the ingredients are a bit expensive, but it makes a lot, and the natural granola from the store is sold in such small packages and costs at least $5 for about 3-4 what I consider small servings. I can get about 10-12 fairly big servings from one recipe. It's definitely the way to go, and much simpler than I thought it would be.

Now I am curled up on the couch finishing some icord for those baby booties and listening to the insane gusty wind outside. I have a feeling there may be some trees and branches down after this one.  Driving rain too. Very glad I'm home today!

The plus side of dieting...

Last Thursday, I reluctantly went back to Weight Watchers.  I have been on Weight Watchers many times before, and always lost weight, only to gain it all back. So about 3 years ago I lost 65 pounds and I've gained all the weight back with the exception of 16 pounds.  Happy about those 16 pounds, sad about the 49 I put back on.  So I begin again. But on a positive note, diets force me to be creative with cooking!

I am not only trying to eat low fat and low calorie foods, but I'm also trying to pay attention to the food labels avoiding trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and enriched flours per Dr. Oz (from the Oprah show). Over the weekend, I noticed that the store bought English Muffins, the "Hearty Grain- Double Oat" variety, actually contains enriched wheat flour rather than the whole grains. Go figure, yet it's marketed as health food.  

I thought to myself, there must be a way to make these as healthier than the ones from the store! I found a recipe at allrecipes.com for Whole Grain English Muffins! And I made them tonight!

I couldn't believe how they really came out looking just like English muffins!!

And the inside really had the nooks and crannies! Very cool! Ana and I shared one for dessert with a little bit of Sarabeth Peach Apricot Preserves. YUM! I love those preserves too, a little expensive, but just delicious!!

So these were made with whole wheat flour, and all purpose flour, but no enriched flour in sight! I might be able to get used to this kind of diet food!