Pat's Granola

I made some homemade granola this weekend and thought I would share. The recipe comes from my mother-in-law Pat McClish and is quite tasty. I started making granola after reading that boxed cereal is really not very good for you. Apparently it must endure quite the unnatural process to become a puff, flake, or what have you. I am not saying I won't ever eat cereal again or anything, just wanted to make an effort to minimize the amounts since up until December, I ate it almost every morning of my life.

Pat's Granola

1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar

1 c water

4 tsp vanilla

8 C oats

Assorted nuts and dried fruit to taste (I like pecans, walnuts, slivered almonds, cranberries and dried cherries) I just keep adding until I feel like there are enough there...for me that is is A LOT

Measure out 8 C of oats and nuts to taste and put in a large bowl.

Then, mix brown sugar and water on stove until just begins to boil....stir often. Once it gets to the almost boiled state, remove from heat and let it cool. This is important as if you add to the oats when hot you get oatmeal...I found this out the hard way.

Preheat oven to 275

Add vanilla to sugar mixture when cool, then pour onto oat/nut mixture and stir until oats and nuts are coated

Pour onto 2 greased cake pans or cookie sheets with sides and spread all around

(I do not have pic of this...turns out I am not a great food blogger)

Instead I take pictures of my cooking helper...not that he really helps me cook...that would be gross but he does keep me company.

Bake at 275 for 45 mins. stirring every 15 mins. Your house will have a lovely smell as this is happening.

Remove from oven and cool...add dried fruit and enjoy!

I like mine on yogurt and this lasts me almost a month so it is economical too:)

Nathalie

Snowed in....

I figured I would join the thousand other Dallas area bloggers out there and discuss the recent, record breaking snow storm we've had. Now I grew up in Colorado, and have never considered the light dusting of snow once a year in Texas anything special. However, this storm puts some of our Colorado snows to shame. It snowed all day yesterday and when we got home from work there was at least 6 inches of snow on our lawn. Andrew and I played in it for an hour like two little kids. We threw snowballs, wrestled with the dogs...it was great fun.

This morning was another adventure entirely....

First, I awoke when it was still dark out feeling a little colder than usual. I turned to check the time and the clock was black. Still half asleep I got up to use the bathroom and realized when the light wouldn't come on our power was out! Not to worry I thought...our heater is gas.... I got back in bed. An hour later we were up...still no power. Andrew then informed me that our heater does indeed need electricity to run even though it is gas. Darn! I elected to take a shower since hot water was a luxury we still had. It wasn't until I got out that I realized my hair dryer would not be working without electricity. Shoot I thought...not only will I now be colder with a wet head, but my hair is going to look terrible today! With nothing I could do about it I brushed it out, put on about 4 shirts, extra socks and a scarf and thought what to do next. Andrew and I had both brought work home with us, but without power we could not get online to access it. Too bad right? So...our next thought was breakfast. Hot coffee and pancakes sounded perfect, but how can one cook on an electric stove without electricity? Not to worry...said Andrew..he would make pancakes on the grill! Thank goodness grill manufacturers include skillets on grills these days for emergencies such as this! And....those pancakes were SOOOO good! Coffee on the other hand I passed on, while Andrew made himself some instant (warmed the tea kettle on the grill). My man is resourceful! It was such a fun little morning! We ended up going into work after breakfast since the roads were clear and our house was so cold. Hopefully the power is back on soon! Enjoy the pictures....

Nathalie

Salad Salad Everywhere!

Andrew and I just returned home this week from a 10 day trip to Colorado and West Texas to visit both families for the holidays. It was a lovely time full of family, friends, and the oh so delicious food! Some of our indulgences included: cookies, pies, tamales, enchiladas, cinnamon rolls, sandwiches with bacon on top to name a few. Everything was delightful and at no point was I responsible for planning or shopping for the meal...I just got to help prepare it (my favorite step)! We took our running gear with intentions of getting some exercise, but the weather proved too cold (at least it is the excuse of choice) to go.

All that to say, as we pulled out of the driveway of my in-laws, we vowed to eat nothing but salad and fresh food when we returned home. Our bodies were craving raw veggies and that feeling you get when your pants fit correctly. I bought lots of leafy greens at the store and have planned salad for every night this week. Last night we had Taco Salad and I am enjoying the leftovers today at lunch (see above). The thing is...I am sick of salad now! Turns out it only took a couple of days to feel pretty much back to normal and now I want some real food again. I guess my philosophy on it has always been...eat whatever you want...just watch the portion size. The only problem with that is Andrew does not share my beliefs on this and wants to continue to eat ALL healthy stuff . So I am choosing very healthy menus for us. I am all for healthy too, but I also like to give into the carb or sweets cravings. I will keep you posted on how things progress on this. Now if you will excuse me...I need to Google "healthy quick dinners". Hopefully I can find something with some flavor.

Thanksgiving Cooking Life Lessons

So Andrew's long time friend Wil asked us over to his annual Thanksgiving party last night. Wil makes the turkey and asks other people to bring the side dishes. Andrew told him that we would come and bring the cornbread dressing and a pumpkin pie. Wil said that was great since there were going to be over 25 people there. I was excited to make my mom's cornbread dressing recipe. It starts with homemade from scratch cornbread, bacon cooked until crispy then chopped and added to crumbled cornbread, onions, apples, pecans, celery, and cranberries for some color and sweetness. It is something I grew up loving to make with my mom and loving to eat at the holidays. It brings back all kinds of warm memories and I am trying to perfect it so that one day I can make it as good as she does. It also makes a lot in a batch, so perfect for a large party. I made the dressing last year for the Thanksgiving and it was a wild success.

Since the party was on Sunday night, I got up early Saturday morning and chopped everything, baked the cornbread....Andrew cooked the bacon for me and helped by walking June during the cooking process since she was her usual early morning self and was beginning to get underfoot. The batch turned out great and Andrew thought it was better than the batch I made last year. I let it sit overnight and re-warmed before the party. This made it taste even better as the flavors were able to soak into one another. I even put it in t his lovely dish we got for our wedding and was so proud of the presentation.

So we get to the party and what do I see?! This HUGE aluminum pan full of Stovetop cornbread dressing! It was as big as my batch if not bigger. I could totally tell it was from a box, but still knew it would be in competition with my homemade, from scratch, trying to do it as good as my mom's, dressing. I asked Wil if he knew I was bringing cornbread dressing, and he was like....yeah. Well...I don't think he meant to, but he placed my dressing on the opposite side of the kitchen away from the meat, and the Stovetop directly next to the meat! I think you can guess what happened....NO ONE ate my dressing! I mean me and Andrew did, but that was a small dent into the huge batch I made for the assumable hungry for my dressing 25 people that Wil told me to cook for. It hurt...I was offended and also appalled that these people could eat from a box dressing when there was some on the other side of the kitchen with fresh apples and toasted pecans! Andrew called me out and asked if the situation was bringing out pride in my heart....and I agreed that it was pride. But still....come on people!

We left with our beautiful dish full of dressing, and it made me think about my motives in cooking. Is it to be esteemed the best cook in the room...to earn favor from others? Or do I cook because I enjoy it and out of service to my family and others? I think it is a combination for me honestly. I do love it and enjoy the smells and feelings associated with cooking. However, I do need to check my heart at times and repent for the ugliness that comes out when an expectation is not met. I pray that I could be truly serving others in cooking and that my heart could be pure and content in cooking for the joy of cooking (no pun intended).

I asked my mother-in-law if I could bring my dressing to her Thanksgiving table since there is so much left and it freezes very easily. We will see what she has planned...I hope it will not go to waste:)