Yummy Crunchy Goodness

Today I made granola. Can we just say YUM!

Back when I was just a mother of 2 and led the leisurely life of a military wife, I used to make it alot.

These days I am more and more freaked out by the things that are in our prepared foods. I compulsively read the labels and more times than not leave the store without much food. So I look for non high fructose corn syrup and items that have the fewest unpronounceable ingredients.

So I am making granola again. Here's the recipe.....

Wow, ever notice how brown granola is?

4 cups old fashion oats

1 1/2 cups nuts ( I mixed almonds and pecans)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup veg oil

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Coffee break. More brown :)

Mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar and salt together.

Warm the oil and honey and whisk in the vanilla.

Pour this over the oat mixture.

Spread over a lightly oiled pan ( I used a couple of 13 x 9 metal cake pans )

Bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes.

Let cool.

You can add 1 1/2 cups of dried fruit after it has cooled. I left mine plain since folks in this house have such varied tastes. Its a very versatile recipe. You can also do some googling and come up with recipes that used other ingredients such as molasses and wheat germ. But this one was closet to what I had in my pantry.

I enjoyed mine with golden raisins and Stoneyfield Organic Vanilla Yogurt.

Sometimes life comes at you fast......

No its not an insurance commercial. It's an explanation.

Where to begin?

You may have noticed my absence as of late. If there is anyone left out there reading.

Hellooooooooo?

Ever realize that the world is just spinning and somewhere back there you forgot to keep up? That's the revelation I came up with this past month. And the result was a sad one yet relieving one. I have left the Shoppes on Woodlawn.

I simply didn't have time to devote to making my little area what it needed to be. And the pressure to get new aprons and signs and any of my other creations in there just took the fun out of why I loved doing it in the first place.

So I guess I am back to being a hobbyist. I plan to keep up with Etsy, but when i feel up to it .

And I am also involved in some local trunk shows traveling to different Conway schools that feature Arkansas artist that sell on Etsy (AREtsy). And I am always up for the custom job.... when and if I have the time.

I plan to make some things for myself and family, who have been greatly neglected in these past 2 years of my crafting. I want my sewing and crochet and what ever else I decided to dive into to become fun again.

The Library has been a great place to work as well. Although these pretty spring days have made me miss my "housewife" status.

I really, really miss hanging my clothes out to dry. Who would have thought I would miss laundry ;)

But I have started a group that meats at the Library. We are called the Yarn-a-holics. It's a non bias yarn lovers group. If you crochet, knit, spin, weave...... then we are the support group for you. Everyone has been so very supportive of it. We have had close to 20 people every week since we started at the end of March.

So while giving up the Shoppes was a tad depressing, I feel like it has released me to create in many more ways. So hopefully I'll be here more often showing you my new creations. Thanks for all your support :)