Granola Bars!

Tried making homemade granola bars tonight for the first time. They were not cheap to make (about $20 for the pan) but they are a lot cheaper than the individually wrapped fresh ones that Whole Foods has by the cash registers and Will has recently tried and really likes.

I looked around the internet today and looked and the ingredient list on the ones we have been buying and came up with my own recipe...they are in the fridge setting up now so I don't have a final outcome but what I have tasted was good!

Nutty Chewy Granola Bars
Dry Ingredients
1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (hulled)
1/4 cup hemp seeds (hulled)
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (hulled)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup wheat bran
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup almonds (I left mine whole)
3/4 cup dried fruit (I used a mix of cherries, blueberries and cranberries)
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Combine the dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup honey (I used local wildflower honey)
1/4 cup coconut oil

Combine in small sauce pan and bring just to a boil. Cook at a very low boil for 4 minutes stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and mix is 1 tsp vanilla.

Pour over dry ingredients mixing in thoroughly. Pour mixture into a lined cookie sheet size pan and press into pan. I scored mine for cutting at this point then place the pan in the fridge to set up.

I will update this when they come out of the fridge!

Update- ok, so they taste great but are really sticky! I am thinking that next time I will reduce my golden syrup and honey a bit and maybe cook the syrup a bit longer. The will definitely be eaten and will be made again!

Sunday * Gratitude

I'm going to continue with my Sunday theme this week...gratitude. This morning we were able to open our home to our friends for brunch. I am so grateful that we have a home where we are able to welcome our friends and family. The house is an ongoing project (and probably will be for years...) but it is slowly getting to where we want it and I am thankful that we have friends that feel comfortable here and share it with us. I am grateful everyday for the amazing man that I share this home and my life with. Today was a beautiful, sunny, spring feeling, day. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend outside soaking up that sunshine before the cold and rain come back this week....

Gratitude*Sunday

A New Challenge and My Projects

The last few months I have been enjoying participating in swaps that I have joined through the Ravelry website. This month I will be not only a member of but moderating the monthly swap. The swap will be based around a project bag and a one skein project to go into it. I am really hoping to have good participation and that everyone has fun!

I have also signed up to test knit a couple of new patterns for designers through Ravelry. I am casting on the Family Tree Cowl  tonight and love the color choices that I will be using. I'm really hoping it will turn out well and Danielle has already claimed it! I have signed up for a few others also that I will share soon!

I am still working on Samantha's scarf. It has been a challenge because the yarn catches on every little piece of dry skin on my hands, and with it being winter my hands are really dry, so it has been a slow going process.

Til next time...I'm off to knit!

Pic Of The Week

My pic of the week was taken Saturday as we celebrated Grandma Sara's 96th birthday. She is an amazing southern lady and I am grateful to have the privilege of knowing her.

Gratitude * Sunday

Well, in 10 minutes I have changed my weekly ideas. :) A friend has joined Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots with Gratitude * Sunday. I am inspired by this and have decided to join in. So, on Sundays I will take a few minutes to just reflect on my week and what I am thankful for... if you would like to join in, just click on the link at the bottom of this post.

This Week I Am Grateful For:

• My family, the one I am related to by birth and the one I have found here with Will. Saturday was his Grandma Sara's 96th birthday. I am thankful for the time I have been privileged enough to spend with her.
• My friends, last weekend we had a dinner and game night with friends Saturday and had a small birthday get together for another friend on Sunday. I am grateful for the time we get to spend together with everyone's busy schedules.
• The time I get to spend with Dani. After having her not living close for so long I am enjoying the time I am getting with her. With work schedules we still don't get a lot of time together so dinner last night as a family and shopping this morning mean a lot.
• That spring is on it's way. I am looking forward to getting a few herbs and veggies growing and to weekends at the lake.
• The puppy curled up next to me...

Gratitude*Sunday

It's Been A While...

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've updated here. I had really hoped to be better at updating and it just didn't happen and so much has happened in the last year that I really wish I had been better about updating...

Some recaps of the last year:
1. We welcomed our sweet puppy, Sara,  into our life last April. She just turned 1 on Saturday and I love her to pieces!

At the shelter the day we met

 Cuddling with her toys at 6 months old

She likes the middle half of the bed!

2. Danielle moved home. I love having her here and am proud of how well she is doing. She is working full time and will be going back to school this year.

3. Will and I have both changed jobs and are much happier in our new jobs. Will has a much shorter commute and no more traveling for work which is really nice.

4. We are continuing to work on updating things around the house. It is slowly but surely getting to what we want.

I really seriously going to try to get back to this and stick with it! The plan is to have different themes that I update each week and to use this as a journal for myself and to share with anyone interested.

Ideas for my themes:
Sunday - Photo of the week
Monday - 
Tuesday - What I'm reading
Wednesday - 
Thursday - Current Projects
Friday - 
Saturday - Recipe of the week

More later... :)

Bread - Round 2

When I made bread a few weeks ago there was also another recipe/method I wanted to try and it took me until today to get a chance to try it. This round was based on The Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. The advantage of this recipe is that it makes enough dough for 4 - 1lb loafs, you can store the dough in the fridge for up to 14 days so you don't have to bake it all at once, it is much quicker (2 hour rise time vs 18 hours) and it says in the recipe that you can use a heavy duty stand mixer with a bread hook instead of mixing it by hand.

 

 

The Kitchen Aid was definitely up for the challange!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Basic bread ingredients are pretty much the same...water, flour, yeast and salt...

3 cups lukewarm water

2 packets of yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt

6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached all purpose flour

 

 

 

 

 

First the water, salt and yeast go in the mixer.

 

 

 

Then the flour is added all at once.

 

 

 

Mix it until everything is moist without any dry patches. Only took my mixer about 90 seconds.



 

Then allow to rise for 2-5 hours lightly covered. After rising the dough can go into the fridge or be baked.

 

 

 

To bake at this point you sprinkle the dough with flour and using a serrated knife cut off a grapefuit sized piece. Then after flouring your hands you form the dough into a ball by stretching the dough down to bottom so that the top is smooth and the bottom is a gathring of the edges. The loaf then needs to rest for 40 minutes.

 

 

 







 

 

20 minutes into this rest time, the baking stone and a steam pan go into the oven and preheat for 20 minutes with the oven preheating to 450 degrees.

 

 

 

 After 20 minutes, even if the oven isn't up to 450 degrees, add hot water to the steam pan and place the bread on the stone. Bake for 30 minutes.

 

 

 

And you have bread!!!

 

 

 

 

After tryng both methods of the no-knead bread, I think I prefer the Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day for the time factor. When I bake the rest of the dough (tomorrow?) I am going to try the baking method I used with the other recipe using the cast iron dutch oven and see how that compares. Over all I am very happy with how both methods turned out and an looking forward to trying more recipes out of the Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book.