Life Goes On-

The cold is still hanging on, but so I am.  I plan to "out-stubborn" it.  Once when I was working, we were having a training on customer service.  The "big dog" from the State office in Montgomery who was teaching the class knew me probably better than I realized.  At one point he described me as "tenacious."  I turned to my seatmate/co-worker and said "He just called me stubborn."  Of course, it was and is true.  Tenacity is the good form of stubborn.  The "Free Dictionary" says " te·na·cious (tə-nā′shəs) adj. 1. a. Extremely persistent in adhering to or doing something; stubborn or relentless"  Yes that is me to a tenacious "T."

After being gone for a month, I realized that my pantry is near bare.  Normally, I eat homemade yogurt with homemade granola for breakfast.  Once I started making it, the bought stuff is much harder to enjoy.
So, I started to make a batch of granola- but one of the key ingredients is oats---and I only had a cup and a half.  Off to the store to resupply.  (If I had been clever, I would have bought something to make for supper also. )

After stirring my ingredients together, I lined two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  I spread the raw granola over the parchment and put it in the pre-heated oven.

This is my creative work for today.   I did make one change from my usual recipe.  I added three tablespoons of peanut butter to the warmed liquid and stirred until it emulsified.  If you don't know, I am diabetic and peanut butter is a diabetic's best friend - so I use it when I can to add to a recipe.

Here is a link to where I got my -not a recipe - for granola.  I do lower the temperature to 275 as it works better for me.  My choices for dry ingredients other than the oats in this are:  peanuts, walnuts and unsweetened coconut.  I seasoned it with cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger and allspice. I did not add salt as the peanuts are salted already.  For the liquid sweetener, I use molasses and a syrup that does NOT contain High Fructose Corn Sweetener. (that stuff is bad mojo!)  The molasses adds a depth to the flavor that I don't get with honey or other syrups, but you can use whichever you choose if you are making it.   I also use some oil - in this it is corn oil, but I have used coconut oil, grapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
I can tell you that right now, my house smells yummy!

Another option is to add some cocoa to the dry ingredients and make chocolate granola.  The fact that you can customize the ingredients to suit your taste is a real plus to the "not a recipe" way of making granola.

Have you ever made granola?  If not, did I tempt you to try it?  It is surprisingly easy.  And it also freezes nicely.

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