Herbs, Granola, and Solitude

Today's not-so-favorite moments included . . .

. . . arriving home from the grocery store and realizing I had forgotten the main item I went to buy.

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . listening to the kids at Joy's school sing in their annual choral program.  They even had a live band accompanying them.  It was a lot of fun.

. . . seeing olive branches waving gracefully in the wind.

. . . Phillip taking the kids to my parents' cabin for the weekend.  Ah . . . productivity!

. . . planting some new herbs in my container garden.  I got ambitious and tried some garlic, too.  We'll see how well it does.  Of course, the bigger question is how well I will do at watering and fertilizing consistently.  My vision of my future yard definitely includes a drip irrigation system and a timer.

. . . finally getting an updated version of my cookbook ready to print and bind (and by "bind" I mean a spiral-bound job courtesy of my local Staples store).  You wouldn't think it would take so long add a few recipes and modify others, but even today's final edit took me several hours.  I'm worn out, but very glad it's done.

And another thing . . .

. . . Cathy, I know you asked for my granola recipe a while ago, and I'm sorry I haven't gotten it to you before now.  There are two reasons for the delay.  One is that I didn't have it typed up yet when you asked, and the other is that I'm not yet sure whether I consider it "THE" granola recipe or just "A" granola recipe.  It's good, but I want to try a couple others before I settle on a keeper.

Of course, there's no telling when I will have the leisure to conduct said research, so in the meantime, here's the (finally typed up) granola recipe I've been using so far:


Brown Sugar Granola

2 c rolled oats
1/4 c wheat germ
1/4 c dry milk powder or creamer
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 c cooking oil
1/4 c water
1 t vanilla extract
Add-ins such as 1/4 c raisins, peanuts, dried cranberries, etc.

Stir together first five ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine oil, water, and vanilla, then stir into oat mixture. Put granola into a 9x13” pan and bake at 300 for about 24 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and stir one more time, then let cool three minutes and stir in any add-ins you desire. Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container.