Rose is enjoying her third bowl of my homemade granola this morning, and I am thinking about starting a separate food blog because I know my family members, for one, who are not much into cooking are probably wondering why they bother to check my blog every day. They thought they'd be getting pictures of the kids instead of recipes and pictures of food. Ha! Besides, if I just post kid pics this is all you'd get today... 
They have the day off school while teachers have meetings.
As for the food thing, it's likely no one even knew I like to cook. And I don't, really. I don't like to cook that big family meal we call dinner every night. I'm uncomfortable around main dishes and vegetable sides and other such things. I can do a salmon patty and mashed potatoes, can even warm up frozen corn or green beans. I can follow a recipe and make a really good homemade soup like minestrone, too. But roast a chicken with lemon and rosemary? Or grill a steak to juicy doneness? Unh-unh. That's George's department. Besides, he has more energy at that time of day than I'll ever have (maybe that parathyroid surgery would help here).What I have decided I do like to do is concoct things. Like the homemade yogurt. Or a yummy batch of granola or loaf of whole wheat bread. Try as he might, George will never top me in chocolate chip cookie making (though that's the only sweet I like to bake, honestly, and it happens rarely because I eat them if I bake them). I also love to make jams and tomato sauces to put up in jars for the winter. There's such a good, old-fashioned feeling to all of that. I picture a long line of women in my family, back through centuries, doing these very things. Wearing a pretty or at least practical apron while they did it, too. (I love aprons.)
I love the word cauldron, too, and think I might have been in a witch in a past life. But that's another subject...
Back to the granola. Here's my recipe from the Hillbilly Housewife website:
3 cups regular oats (I actually use 4 cups without changing the recipe)
1 stick butter (can cut by 1/4 if using 3 c. oats; I'd rather add oats to make more)
1/2 c. honey or maple syrup
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. each nuts and dried fruit (optional)
Melt butter. Add honey and salt and heat briefly to combine. Add oats and stir completely.
Turn onto ungreased cookie sheet (I actually do smear a little butter on the pan), spread evenly and bake at 375 degrees F. for 10 minutes (up to 12 min.). It will still look sticky, but don't bake it any longer. Cool, then store or eat.
This will not store for long because the butter can go rancid. But it's only 4 cups worth so we eat it up pretty fast.
This is the easiest granola recipe I've found. It's also very cheap if you use regular store-bought butter (or, heaven forbid, margarine). The Hillbilly Housewife is all about feeding your family for cheap!
However, we buy our butter from Cedar Summit Farm here in Minnesota (avail. at our co-op). It's only made in the summer months when the cows are out to pasture eating grass and wildflowers, etc. That way it's highest in vitamin and omega-3 fat content and consequently the healthiest for you. It's delicious and $5.99 a pound (about twice as much as conventional butter but we feel it's worth the splurge to actually eat a healthy fat instead of a questionable one.)
So, our cost for this is...
.99 for a pound of bulk bin oats (4 cups is about one pound)=.99
5.99 for a pound of butter (divided by 4)=1.49
8.00 for a quart of local honey (div. by 8)=1.00
salt is negligable (is that a word?)
nuts and fruit are optional so I won't include them (and I don't know how much the almonds I used cost off the top of my head anyway)
Total cost for 4 cups of homemade granola my way (organic, etc.): $3.48.
That's actually close to a bag of granola at the store, but then it's not organic and not healthy fat.
You'll save $.75 a batch if you use conventional butter at about $3/pound. I suppose you can get cheaper honey, too, but definitely try to buy locally produced honey because it contains enzymes and other good stuff that are helpful in fighting seasonal allergies and promoting your best, "local" health. Besides, any time you buy something from a local farmer, you are putting your money into your local economy times three, which you can read about for yourself in Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver because I can't remember why that is. We get our honey from Marquette Farms, 35 miles away, and every grocery store around here sells it.
So there's another recipe and food post for you. I'm actually working on one about Elijah and Aspergers Syndrome, and if I can get it done today I'll post that too. "Explaining Eli", is it really needed? Some days I think so!
Blessings on your day, Lisa
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