Adventures in Granola Making

I love granola. 

I'm not exactly sure when the idea first struck me, but I've had plans to make granola from scratch sitting in the back of my mind for a long time now. 

Today, with a bit of a break in the heat and nothing else on the to-do list, I decided to give it a go.  There are literally hundreds of recipes online, but I decided to start with a source I know well, and gave this recipe a try. 

We only had a few of the ingredients on hand, so I had to make a quick try to the grocery store to pick up the rest.  I'll admit I became a bit overwhelmed at the store.  I wasn't sure which oats to buy and the selection of nuts and seeds had me filling up my bulk food bags and then emptying them as I found something I thought would work better.  (I ended up going with raw and unsalted.)  At nearly $7.00 for a cup of pumpkin seeds, I chose to leave them out and I didn't find sesame seeds until after I had checked out (they were by the sushi stand, naturally). 

In the end I used:
-large flake 100% whole grain oats
-sunflower seeds
-almonds
-whole wheat flour (I couldn't find whole wheat pastry flour)
-cinnamon
-sea salt
-coconut oil
-maple syrup
-apple juice
-pure vanilla extract
-pure almond extract

I'm happy to say that I would consider my first foray into granola making a success.  I wouldn't mind if it were slightly sweeter, but a handful of raisins seems to do the trick.  Jen and The Bean seem to have enjoyed it too.  It's a good thing, because I doubled the batch! 

Note: For anyone who's interested, I would guess that the total ingredient cost was about $10 for about a gallon/ four litres of granola.  I haven't done a price:volume comparrison, but granola is pretty expensive, so I'm guessing that I probably saved a little by making it myself. 

Russian Tea Cakes

I made these the other week (month?) for my Nana's 80th birthday party.  They've come to be a quick and easy favourite cookie recipe, so I thought I'd share.

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup ground almonds 

1/2 cup icing sugar 

Preheat oven to 325.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, sift together the flour and salt.  

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla.  Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Add the ground almonds and stir until blended.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together in large clumps.  

To form cookie, roll dough between your palms into a 1-inch ball.  Place the balls 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.   

Bake cookies until the bottoms are light brown, about 20 minutes.  Let the cookies cool.  

Sift the icing sugar over the cookies.

Enjoy.

We don't usually have unsalted butter on hand, so I have used salted and then just left out the additional salt.  It doesn't seem to make a significant difference.  Also, you could use another nut (like hazelnuts) in place of the almonds.  Finally, I've found that it's easier to form the balls if the dough is sitting on top of the oven --the extra heat helps make them stick together more easily.

Let me know if you try baking these!  I'd love to hear how they turn out.  Alternately, if you have a great cookie recipe you'd like to share, feel free to leave it in the comments.  I love baking!

Homemade Playdough

I think we've mentioned on here how much we LOVE the daycare that we found for The Bean.

The daycare provider is so wonderful.  She has a strong background in early childhood education and more than that, you can tell that she really cares about the kids in her care.  She does arts and crafts, lots of outings to the drop-in centre, library and parks, and she also places a strong emphasis on the idea that a child is never too young to learn. 

The kids there are also great.  There are only five kids including The Bean.  The next oldest is a two-year-old who is also there full-day.  The older three are ages four and five and spend the morning in kindergarten then come to daycare in the afternoon.  All of the children are only-children and they seem to care for each other in almost a sibling-like way.  When Jen went to pick up The Bean early one day last week the little girl there came over and gave him a hug goodbye.  So sweet.

Anyway, being so happy with everything there and having time off this week to do extra little projects, I thought I'd make a "Happy Spring" gift for each of the kids.  I found a playdough recipe online and made two batches.  

Here is the recipe I used: 

HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 tablespoon powdered alum
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons vanilla
food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients in a frying pan. Add oil and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until reaching the consistency of mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and food coloring. Divide into balls and work in color by kneading the playdough. 

I found the final result to be a little dry.  It's possible I overcooked the dough, or maybe it could just use a smidge more oil.  In any case, I think it will be fine and that the kids will enjoy playing with it.  I added vanilla to the green playdough, just like the recipe called for, but I used some lavender essential oil in the blue playdough (which I wanted to be purple, but alas, we were out of red food dye)  and it smells heavenly.  I imagine you could use a few drops of any essential oil to add your desired scent.

To finish things off I rolled the dough into balls and stamped it with a flower-shaped cookie cutter we have, stuck it into plastic baggies and then added a label using some scrapbook paper I had stashed away.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  

I may try a different recipe next time.  I know the Junior Kindergarten teacher at school has a good one she uses all the time.  I'm also interested in experimenting with natural dyes like beet water to add color.   Do you have suggestions either for recipes or dyes?  

Hope you have a wonderful start to your spring! 

Making Baby Food

Yesterday morning while Jen and The Bean napped I prepared some baby food.  We've been making an effort to make most of his food since he started solids a few months ago.  It's easy to do and we like knowing exactly what he's getting.  That said, we've supplemented with jarred food along the way, especially when traveling.  We don't feel bad giving him the organic jarred stuff, but still prefer giving him food we've made.  

Here's are the steps I took: 

Wash the fruit.

Cut it up. 

Boil for a few minutes.   

Drain.

Puree using an immersion blender (my preference) or food processor. 

Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

Once frozen I wrap each cube in plastic wrap and put them into a labeled and dated freezer bag.  I don't like using all the plastic, but I haven't been able to find a better solution where the food does not get freezer burn. Suggestions are welcome!

A few other notes:
-I did not cook the mango.  It was my first time making it and it just seemed weird to cook it.  
-The prunes do not need to be washed or cut.
-We peel all the fruit.  It's really easy to get the skin off of peaches by boiling them briefly and then plunging them into ice water.
-When draining, we reserve some of the water so that if the puree comes out thick, we can thin it out.
-It is really hard to get prunes out of the ice cube tray.  I think it has to do with their consistency.  I haven't found a good solution to this problem.  
-The Bean does eat things other than fruit!  This just happened to be what I was making yesterday. :)

EDIT
-I wanted to add that I was just reading an article on making baby food that says you should steam your fruits and veggies rather than boiling them as it preserves more of the nutrients.  We only have one steamer, so I'm not sure we'll do it on a consistent basis, but it's still good to know.

Iced Tea Lemonade

My favourite drink of this summer is iced tea lemonade.  It combines two of my favourite drinks, so as far as I'm concerned, it couldn't get much better.  Except, maybe, if you wanted to add a shot of tequila and sit outside sipping it on a nice summer evening.  :) 

Easy-peasy directions:
Brew a half cup of your favourite tea.
Sweeten to your liking.
Fill a glass with ice.
Add lemonade.
Add tea.
(Add tequila.)
Enjoy!

Non-Challenge Day 10

Day 10 – Share your favorite recipe (or two)


ALLISON'S SESAME SALMON

Ingredients:
1 salmon filet
1/8 c sesame oil
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Directions:
-mix ingredients
-pour over salmon
-put under broiler for 10 minutes

So simple and so good!