Stovetop Granola (and normal eating during transitions)

Recipe from NOLS Cookery, 6th Edition.

Makes 6 cups, serves 4

5 Tbsp. butter
3 cups uncooked oatmeal flakes (I used old-fashioned rolled oats, but not the instant kind)
1/3 to 1/2 c. brown sugar or honey (depending on sweetness of fruit)
1/2 tsp. salt (if nuts used are unsalted
1 c. dried fruit
1 c. nuts and seeds

Chop fruit and put into a bowl, add water to cover.  Melt butter in a frying pan.  Add uncooked oatmeal and salt, stirring to coat with butter.  Sprinkle brown sugar over the top; add drained fruit and nuts.  Keep stirring until oatmeal is fried to a golden brown.  Can be served hot as is or with milk, or cold.

Friends, we are moving across town!  And we are so excited.  But it is hard work to move.  It's also hard to think about maintaining our food routines while we're in transition - which I'm realizing is important when there are young kids involved in a move.  One or two things out of whack is enough.  No need to throw in crazy digestion.

SO ... I usually make my favorite granola in big batches and keep it in the pantry ... but, I packed up most of my bowls and pans a while ago.  What I DO have available is a cast iron skillet.  I came across this recipe in a NOLS cookbook the Mister gave me for Christmas (intended for our family camping adventures, but suitable in this instance too!).  I've made it a few times in the last week - one batch is perfect for a breakfast (and gives me a bit of leftovers to snack on later).  I LOVE that we get to eat homemade granola without waiting for the baking and cooling processes.  Within 10 minutes of thinking, "This would be a great morning for granola!", it's on the table.  Seriously.

Some of the other breakfasts we've got on our minds during the move: 

-scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa verde on toast (remember, I kept out the skillet)

-smoothies (I have a handheld immersion blender that's about as valuable to me as the aforementioned pan) 

-these whole wheat oatmeal muffins (I made a double batch and stashed them in the freezer, but they're easy to whip up in just one bowl, and could be made into a "coffee cake" and baked in a cast iron pan if muffin tins are already in boxes).

Whether or not your summer plans involve a change of address, I'd encourage you to try out this recipe!  Hope you love it like we do.

Cooks Illustrated Super Chunky Granola

Yield: about 9 cups

1/3 c. maple syrup
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil
5 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
2 c. (10 oz) raw almonds, chopped coarse
2 c. raisins or other dried fruit, chopped

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in oil.  Fold in oats and almonds until thoroughly coated.  Transfer oat mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread across sheet into a thin, even layer (about 3/8" thick).  Using a stiff metal spatula, compress oat mixture until very compact.  Bake until lightly browned, 40-45 minutes, rotating pan once halfway through baking.  Remove granola from the oven and cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Break cooled granola into pieces of desired size.  Stir in dried fruit.  Granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (though it won't last that long - believe me!  You'll eat it before then).

I really love granola, and have experimented off and on with a number of different recipes.  Here are some conclusions I have come to over the years and over the recipes:
1. I like chunky granola
2. I like granola with variety - the more nuts, fruit, seeds, and grains in there, the better
3. I like it with just enough sweetness to cut the tang of plain yogurt
4. I prefer not having to stir it every 15 minutes for an hour or two ... I can't commit to that these days!

This recipe fulfills three out of four of those right away - the only thing it doesn't necessarily have is all the variety (but that can easily be remedied with substituting other chopped nuts or seeds for the almonds).

It's chunky.

You don't even have to stir it once, and if you forget to rotate the pan halfway through baking (like I forgot to yesterday) then there's no harm really.

It's got just the right about of sweetness in there, so that I feel like I'm getting something special for breakfast.

I've made this three times in the last month ... most recently I substituted almond extract for the vanilla (because that's what I had 4 teaspoons of) and I am crazy about the resulting flavor.  I've got dried cranberries, raisins, and dried cherries on hand.  All of them are delicious in this granola.

Let me know if you experiment with this recipe, and how you feel about the results!

Cloth Diapers 101

One thing checked off the to-do list today: wash our "new" (second-hand Craigslist) cloth diapers.  

In honor of that, I'm going to share a little bit of cloth diapering info that I passed along to some girlfriends last summer (when literally everyone I interacted with regularly was pregnant, considering pregnancy, or had just delivered.  Everyone.)

Image from www.bakersfieldmom.com
Disclaimer: cloth diapering is not all blue skies
and artistic pastel colors in a picturesque field.
Sometimes there's real poop involved.

Feel free to write off this post if you're not into it.  Ain't no thing ...

First of all, I'd like to make a disclaimer: I like cloth diapering, but it's not for everyone.  If you don't want to read this, and if you don't agree with my position, that's OK!  I absolutely don't want to be pushy or to make you feel like EVERYONE should be using cloth diapers just because I'm on board.

Image from www.keeperofthehome.org

This is for those of you who have babies, are getting ready to have them, or may want babies in the future and are considering cloth diapering.  I felt really intimidated by the diapering systems before the Mr. did research about them and picked the one that he wanted (see how intimidated I was?  I wouldn't even do the research!)  But we discovered that cloth diapers basically fall into three categories: covers, pockets, and all-in-ones.  And I was still intimidated until I just decided to take the plunge - Baby Girl was a month old, diapers were expensive, and we had cloth ready to use.  So here are a few things I have learned...

The covers are modern "old-school" cloth diapers - you wrap an absorbent rectangle (called a prefold) around the baby, secure it, and then put a waterproof cover around it.  This used to be with those giant pins and plastic pants, but thank God, there are new and easier ways to secure the prefold and new types of covers!  One of the benefits of this style is that you just have a few covers that you can reuse - if the baby pees, you just replace the prefold and can use the same cover!  So there's not a huge stack of materials to deal with.  There are also more fitted "prefolds" out there that are super absorbent, have snaps or velcro, and fit tidily around the baby so that you don't have to do origami every time you try to wrap a rectangle around a squirmy baby.  You still put a cover over them. Thirsties brand diapers fall into this category, as does Flip and Imse Vimse.

Pocket diapers are what we have - BumGenius is one brand that does these (and this is what we use).  You still have the waterproof cover, but you slide or snap the absorbent pad into a pocket in the diaper.  You can add extra absorbency by using a second liner at nighttime or other times when you won't be changing the baby's diaper as often.  These are popular because while they are cloth diapers, they're very similar to conventional diapers in style and use.  We are using BumGenius and we love them - and we've gotten our families to use them too with relative ease.  Fuzzibunz makes pockets also.

All-in-ones are just that - the cover is attached to the absorbent piece.  I think a lot of brands make these - we have a few BumGenius all-in-ones that we like, but the only downside is that they take forever to dry.  So I only use them when we're in a pinch.  All-in-ones are popular because they are the most like disposables - one piece, nothing to assemble or disassemble.  Easy as pie.

The brands that I'm most familiar with are Bumgenius (pocket and all-in-one, or AIO), Thirsties (covers),  Fuzzibunz (pocket), and Kissaluvs (pockets and covers). 

Some extra things that come along with cloth diapering -

(1) detergent that has no additives, brighteners, scents, or colors.  We have used All Free and Clear as well as Charlie's Soap (made in NC!).  Washing in other things can deteriorate the waterproofness of the diapers.

(2) wet bags for cloth diapering on the go - if you change a diaper at church or your parents' house, belive me, you don't want it sitting wet (or worse) in your diaper bag.  Wet bags are washable and waterproof.  They are your cloth diapering friend.

(3) washable trash can liners - these have elastic around the top and fit into a large size trash can.  We have two, and when we wash diapers we just dump all the diapers and the liner into the machine to be washed.  That way, we don't ever have to touch poop.  I can't remember what brand we have, but we purchased two of them on amazon for about $25.

(4) cloth wipes and spray bottle - I didn't do this for a long time, because I thought that I would be pushing myself over the edge from "Mainstream Though Somewhat Granola" to "Really Weird - Watch Out".  But, I gave in.  I cut up a flannel receiving blanket, zig-zagged the edges, and bought a 97 cent spray bottle at walmart that I filled with water, 1 tsp. of baby oil, and a few squirts of baby soap.  I shake up the bottle before spraying, wet the wipe, and then use that instead of disposable ones.  Note: I only use it for wet diapers.  Dirty diapers still get the throw-away wipe treatment.

(5) drying rack - with a few exceptions, you're not supposed to put the waterproof part of anything in the dryer because it breaks down the waterproofness.  So, some kind of line or rack is super helpful! 

A few nice "extras" ...

(1) Someone gave us some Kushies Diaper Liners - these are flushable sheets that go in the diaper between the baby and the diaper.  That way, when there are solids, you don't have to touch any poop or anything.  You just lift out the liner and flush it.

(2) We also have a diaper sprayer that hooks up with our toilet so that we can spray the solids that are left in the diaper if the liner doesn't do its job or if we forget to put one in there.  It's like one of those sprayers at a kitchen sink with a little button you push to spray.  We like ours - it's the bumgenius brand - but I read somewhere that you could build one yourself out of hardware store parts for like $4 if you know how.

(3) We don't cloth diaper all the time.  We used disposables for the first few weeks, and usually when we travel for the weekend we'll use them.  So don't feel like if you're using cloth that you're locked into doing it all the time.

I like cloth diapering, but I will let YOU ask ME any questions.  My goal is to not-offer unwanted advice.  Just know that you CAN do it if you want to try.  There's a learning curve, but take it easy on yourself and just give it a go if you want.  Buying one or two of different styles, or looking to borrow from friends, or purchasing used cloth diapers on craigslist or ebay are all great ways to get started in the adventure.  

The end.

the granola lady

Granola Makes 12 cups Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine: 6 c. oats (I prefer old-fashioned but quick-cooking oats are fine too) 3 c. cheerios (or any other cereal) 3 c. corn flakes (again, any other cereal works) Optional: slivered almonds, shredded coconut, other tasty things like toasted wheat germ or Golden Grahams cereal In a saucepan, heat until boiling: 1/2 c. water 1/2 c. oil 1/2 c. honey (substitute same amount of white or brown sugar or molasses if that's what you've got) Pour the liquid mixture into the oat mixture and stir until everything is moistened. If you feel like it's not moistened enough, make more liquid mixture by heating equal parts water, oil, and honey and stirring that in. Put the mixture into two 9"x13" cake pans (or one large roasting pan if you've got it) and spread evenly. Some people say use cookie sheets - I find that I tend to accidentally throw stuff out of the pan if the sides aren't high enough, and I find that cake pans or a roasting pan work better for me. However, if you're more precise and can handle well-manicured stirring, by all means use the cookie sheet. Put pans in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Add raisins or other dried fruit if desired. Store in airtight bag (or back in the oats container). By now you've probably figured out that all of my recipes are more "madness" than "method." I don't even measure for this one anymore, except for the wet ingredients (and even then, the only reason I measure is to make sure I have equal parts of everything). I have used all oats before, thrown in some cinnamon and cloves, and crumbled up stale cookies in with the oats (no waste, right? Makes for an amazing batch though ...). Granola is AWESOME for that reason - just moisten everything, bake it at a low temperature for an hour or more, and stir periodically, and the result is a tasty breakfast, snack, or ice-cream topping, depending on when and how you decide to consume it. And the best part? People who stay overnight ask for granola for breakfast. Yes. It's happened twice now. I guess of all the things cooks get known for - corn casserole, biscuits, or pot roast - granola is fitting for me. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I'll take it.