Granola: A yummy food... and also a lifestyle discriptor.

I have been known to wax philosophical on granola... the food, the lifestyle... the fact that on more than one occasion I have heard this word called out in a crowd and known, instinctively, that it was a moniker for myself and not anybody else. And I was right!  I have heard tell that granola is indigestible. This may be true and I have yet to test this information any double blind control groups... in the mean time I will continue to make and eat this stuff... cause it's delicious. And it makes me feel like a million bucks. And yes, this could very well be because it's an awesome way to eat lots of indigestible fiber that cleans out my insides... so what? It's been a much more enjoyable experience eating this on the regular than it ever has been to take phsylum husks powder. Bleckity-bleck-bleck-blecks! All that being said.... I make granola frequently and unapologetically and I savor the results with a relish bordering on food worship. Here is my recipe.

Homemade Granola
makes about 10 cups

Ingredients:
6-7 cups oats

1-2 cups "fillers" (this could be nuts, seeds etc)

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 cup honey

1 cup oil ( olive oil is great, coconut oil is divine.)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp flax seed meal

 

 

Method:

Butter a large casserole and fill with the dry ingredients. Give this a little stir while your honey and oil heat up until just warm and mixable. I prefer to to this little warm up act in a sauce pan on the stove. Add the vanilla to the honey and oil and then pour the wet over the dry and stir until it's allwell coated and glistening. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and stir. Bake another 15 minutes and stir again. Might need a little bit more to just perfectly toast your cereal... this is a case by case basis. Use your best judgement. Once it appears to be perfectlygolden brown take it out of the oven sprinkle with the flax seed meal and give that a stir. Then let it sit until room temp. Somehow, magically, when you leave it alone to cool like this it clumps into delicate little crunchy clusters. Fresh, homemade granola is fantastic as a breakfast or snack we usually enjoy our granola topped with some fresh fruit and our homemade yogurt.

Bone Broth: An easy way to stretch your money while adding nutrition and flavor.

Potions Class....

There is something about stirring a large pot full of ambiguous looking bones and scraps that makes me feel ... witchy. In a good way! I stir that junks counterclockwise and reminisce about cloaks, wands, bezoars and widdershins. Fantasy fiction aside though, bone broth can be a great way to stretch your dollars and put more nutrition per bite into your meals. I have heard tell that the apple cider vinegar does an awesome "leaching of the bones" which pulls the nutrients out of them and into the broth. And how this is so good for your immune system it used to be the only thing prescribed by doctors for a cold.... Chicken soup. Because it was assumed that this dish would be prepared with proper bone broth and not from a can that looks strangely similar to some of my favorite pop art. 

Bone Broth
makes 3-4 quarts

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs bones (fresh or leftover)
3-4 cups saved veggie peelings. (onion, carrot & potato skins etc)
12 pepper corns
a bay leaf (if you have it)
3 Tbsp apple cider vingar

Method:   

Throw all the above ingredients in a large soup pot. Cover them/fill the pot with water. Let this sit for an hour or so to thaw if your ingredients were starting frozen. Bring just to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer and let this sit partially covered for a few hours. Then use a colander to strain out the bones and veggies and save your broth in a jar or pitcher. You can skim the top if you want to take your fats out. If you aren't going to use this broth within a week I would suggest saving it in the freezer. It's probably best to use from frozen within 3 months of preparation. There are a couple great methods for freezing broth. Individual freezer bags work well if you use a few cups at once... ice cube trays work well also. Though I would suggest a few hours freezing and then moving your broth cubes into a freezer bag to keep them fresh.

Yogurt-y Goodness

There are a few foods that I put up on a pedestal and sacrifice hours of my life to preparing on a mostly weekly basis in enough quantity for my entire family to eat a serving (or two) on a daily basis. Yogurt is one of those foods.

Yogurt 
makes 4-5 quarts

High quality milk means high quality yogurt.

Ingredients:
1 gallon of milk
1/2 or 1 cup fresh yogurt

 Also necessary:
Crock pot
Food thermometer
Five quart size containers with lids.
A few cozy blankets



method: Pour the milk into your crock pot. Place the lid on fully and crank the heat up to HIGH.

waiting...

Wait a little while. Maybe a few hours. (Every crock pot is different. I

180 degrees

suggest getting to know your machine. For instance, my crock pot and I are intimate enough to know this takes approximately 90-120 minutes... depending on the weather.) What you are waiting for is for the heat to get up to 180 degrees.

...all tucked in for the night!

Then turn down the heat, leave the lid off and unplug the crock pot. Wait a little while. Maybe a few hours... (again, timing varies with different crock pots and different weather) What you are waiting for is for the heat to get down to between 100 and 110 degrees. When the temperature is right, add your yogurt culture and whisk it well to disperse

into the containers...

it evenly. cover with the lid. Then comes the really cute part... tuck your yogurt in for a nap under those cozy blankets for 8-12 hours or so... I like mine a little strong so I let it rest for 13-14 hours. Then you are ready to observe the magic. Remove your blankets and uncover your crock pot to find your own homemade yogurt! Dish this out into your containers and keep refrigerated. I'm not sure how long it's good for... ours doesn't stick around for more than two weeks ever. Cause we eat it up!
 

homemade yogurt!