Baking/cooking

Such a busy day.  I did get one more triangle finished this morning so will post that first – this is the 3rd of the 52 needed – I think I said I needed 48 the other day – wrong – 13 on each side, 4 sides makes 52.  Long way to go.  I have been quilting on the Christmas quilt too every evening and short spells in the day and although it is half finished there is a lot of quilting to do still.

3rd triangle

I love homemade granola for breakfast cereal.  I know that I am not eating a ton of sugar first thing in the morning by eating my kind and not the store kind which quite often does have a lot of sugar in it.  Sometimes I put dried fruit in it but most times I do not put dried fruit in it but add frozen berries to it instead along with the milk.  I found this recipe quite a few years ago and I have cut the recipe in half.

Home Made Granola

5 cups of quick oats (recipe calls for quick oats but quite often I use whatever I have on hand which is usually not the quick oats most times steel cut and it turns out the same) (EDITED: I didn’t mean steel cut oats – I meant Old Fashioned - sorry)
1/3 cup oil – I use canola
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional – high in omega 3)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped almonds
if you add fruit like raisins or other dried fruit add what you want the recipe calls for about 1 to 2 cups (add the dried fruit after the baking process or they will get too tough)
optional:  I have added 1/3 cup of coconut and that is good too

Put all in your mixer and mix for about 3 to 5 minutes until all is well coated with the oil and honey.  Put in a high sided baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes – stir mixture about and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes until it s lightly browned.  Let it cool completely and put in a large ziplock bag or a tightly covered container.  With the nuts and fruit the mixture makes about 6 or 7 cups.  Serving size is up to you – I use about a 1/2 cup with milk and fruit. (it is filling)

I love this stuff and eat it more for breakfast than any other breakfast food and rarely buy the sugary cereal from the store. I do miss this when we travel. I make a bag of it before we leave but I don't bother to make several bags as it will kind of go stale after awhile. When this runs out I will be looking for it in the health food isle as it is better (I think) than the cereal isle foods - less sugar) - but not as good as homemade.

It looks like our weather might finally be turning a little and we will be having cooler nights for the rest of the week.  This will come in very handy for us while packing the camper and cleaning up the yard and the house before we go.  The entire yard needs to be cut and that is best in the morning to do.  I am having to water plants this evening.  It has been so hot and I have not been paying attention to the plants.  I noticed today that the bed the furthest  from the house is drooping badly so I have put the water on it this evening and will let it go for several hours.  Hopefully that will perk it up some.  Maybe the hottest spell this summer has already happened? and from now on it won’t be so bad and we will get rain too? one can hope!

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What a pain that experiment was.  I put them in the dehydrator at 8 in the morning and last night at 11 I finally called it quits and shut it off.  Some were dry, some weren’t.  It was too hard to go through them picking out the dried from the juicy so they are laying in the freezer on trays and I will bag them all and store in the freezer.  According to my book you are to blanch your berries before you put them in the dehydrator to split the skins and get the waxy shine off of the berries which prevents them from drying well.   Because of that process the berries are too hot to handle very well for spreading out on the dryer racks.  I rinsed them in cold water but it didn’t help much.  The blanching makes them soft – hence harder to handle.  But drying did reduce the size of the berries and I will still use them, just that they will be a mixture – but putting them  in muffins and whatever I don’t think it will matter all that much.

this is about half of the berries in their dried/not so dried life -- some look like raisins and some don't next I will try apples - should be easier to handle!

the hydrangea bush that is producing several colors of flowers this year - really makes it interesting. Hard to see the colors on it in the photo but the flowers on the right side are the ones that have more lilac color in them - the lilies underneath will need to be moved as there being completely overshadowed by the bush now - it wasn't like that several years ago.

one the easiest Dear Jane blocks -- Row 13, Block 10. I am prepping block 11 this morning 3 left to make!

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