Today was National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie day. Guess who has two pounds of strawberries and four stalks of rhubarb slowly going bad in her refrigerator.
Today was also National Play Outside Day. I went running on a treadmill.
There’s a metaphor or a joke in there somewhere, but I can’t find it.
The day wasn’t a total bust though – after my run, I decided to make granola. (Did so before I showered after the run. There was definitely a smelly hippy making granola joke in there and, unfortunately for me, Oliver did find it. Multiple times. I’m glad he amuses himself…)
I like making granola because it’s easy and you can throw all the almost gone, random spices and nuts you have in the cupboard in to clear out clutter.
I might have gone overboard. We definitely don’t need five jars of granola.
Here’s what went into mine:
- 8 cups of dry oats. (TOO MANY CUPS! I would have been fine with four.)
- Pumpkin seeds, like 1/4 cup.
- Walnuts. Half a cup I think.
- Two tablespoons of flax seeds.
- Some random poppy seeds I found in the cupboard.
- Two tablespoons of cinnamon.
- A tablespoon of nutmeg.
- A cup of agave syrup.
- A cup of vegetable oil.
- Two tablespoons of vanilla.
- NO SUGAR! So many recipes call for sugar and I don’t see why you’d need any thing more than the agave, personally.
Here’s how I made it:
- Step one: Bring the oil, vanilla, agave, cinnamon and nutmeg to a boil in a saucepan.
- Step two: Mix all the dry goods (oats, nuts, seeds, whatever other randomness you decide to throw in) together in a big bowl.
- Step three: Pour the boiling contents of the saucepan into the big bowl of oats and nuts. Mix it all up.
- Step four: Spread the granola mixture onto a couple cookie sheets (that you’ve greased up so the granola doesn’t stick.)
- Step five: Bake the granola for 20-30 minutes in an oven that you’ve pre-heated to 325 degrees.
- Step six: Have way too much granola on your hands. Enjoy!
As revenge for all the “smelly hippy” jokes at my expense, please enjoy this adorable photo of O snuggling with our cat, Nacho:
I’m seriously so lucky… both that I have these two in my life and that Oliver doesn’t read this blog…
