Homemade Granola

Yes, I realize it's been awhile. Again.
But I am now a proud mother of two beautiful children. I couldn't be happier. I also couldn't be busier! I have two children under the age of two, and I hardly have time to comb my hair in between changing diapers, making bottles, washing bottles, and doing endless loads of laundry. I can finally sympathize with parents, it is amazing the amount of clothes the children go through!
My newborn is now two months and one week old, and I am beginning to feel like I can breathe for a moment. Not sleep, but at least breathe.

I wanted to share this basic granola recipe. It's exactly that, the basic. Once you've got this recipe down you can vary it in so many ways! First, it uses ingredients that you most likely already have in your kitchen. Those are my kind of recipes.
Whenever I make this, I always make a double batch. I love this recipe because the granola doesn't turn out hard but it has enough crunch to satisfy me, and it's soft enough I can add it to my toddler's yogurt. Here are the ingredients you will need:

4 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup maple syrup (I use organic)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Begin by combining the syrup, olive oil, and salt in a small sauce pan and heat until warmed through (only a few minutes). Do not boil!
Combine the syrup mixture and oats in a large bowl, coating the oats. Spread the oats onto a half sheet baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees, for 20 minutes. Every 5 to 6 minutes remove pan from oven and stir the oats. Respread them out and return to the oven. Repeat until the oats are just golden brown. When you remove the pan from the oven the last time, some of the oats will still feel a little soft. But as it cools they will harden. Once cooled, store in a air tight container for up to 4 weeks.

Here are some ideas for variations:

•  1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp cinnamon for added sweetness (your house will smell delicious)
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup dried fruit (such as raisins, cranberries, bananas)
• 1/2 cup seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
• 1 Tbsp honey for sweetness

There are many uses for this granola also. Serve 1/2 cup granola on vanilla yogurt with sliced fruit. This is how I serve it for myself and my toddler. You can also add it on top of your favorite ice cream, or sprinkle it on homemade muffins for a topping or mix in to batter. 

Hope you enjoy!

A feeling of defeat

When I first created this blog, I had intentions of posting before and after pictures of projects, interesting plants that I'd found in the garden, and writing about new recipes I've found. Those intentions are still there, but unfortunately they just aren't getting done.

The projects we've accomplished on our new home aren't things that I'd like to take pictures of. Who wants to see a picture of a brand new furnace and air conditioner? Right now I greatly appreciate having a working air conditioner, since we live in Minnesota where the humidity level can get quite tropical some days. I also don't think anyone would be interested in pictures of brand new screens for our windows that were missing, or had been apparently thrown away by our previous owners. However, we've hit a snag with one window, where the wood frame bows out just enough on the top that the screen refuses to slide in.

I have a small room in our lower level that I will be creating a writing/craft room. I can't wait to get started on that. However, there is so much water damage to the lower level that at the moment it's unusable, and looks like a storage container.

I also have an enormous counter in the laundry area with so much wall space above that it is just screaming at us for shelving and cabinets. I have so many ideas of going completely old farmhouse style in the laundry area. Which also has water damage on the walls preventing us from being able to use the area much more than actually doing laundry.

All this water damage has one solution, to get a landscaping company out to regrade around the house. Once that's done we can get a contractor out to assess the damage, and fix the damaged areas. Easy, right?

NO.

Contractors are ridiculously busy and don't have time to call inquiring clients back. Well, I shouldn't say that since I did get an appointment set up with one for the end of October. Landscaping companies seem to be in the same boat.

Yes, I'm using my second blog post to whine and complain. I like to think I'm an upbeat person that looks at the silver lining of things. But after 4 months of building problems with little resolutions, I need to whine and complain.

Soon our luck will turn around. I know there will come a point where we will be able to sit down at the end of the day, put our feet up and not stress out over the mountain of home issues. This WILL be our children's home that they grow up in and create many memories here. This WILL be the home that my husband and I grow old in.

I wave my white flag. Today I can only feel defeat. I'll give myself a few hours to feel sorry for myself. Tomorrow I will, as the saying goes, put my big girl panties on and deal with it.

A little overgrown

One week before Easter we moved into a house that we feel has great potential. It's a four level split level home that was built in 1987. The house has had two previous owners, and the first owner of the house was a gardener. The backyard is lined with gardens and trees  but still has a large grass area for kids to play. It has been brought to our attention that the owners before us tended to neglect anything outdoors, and it is evident in the gardens. Some might look at this as an overwhelming challenge, but to me this is a score! Ripping out weeds and getting dirty sounds just about perfect.

These pictures of the gardens were taken in early May when the weather was cooler and not much had come up in the gardens. This first picture is of the garden in the back corner of the lot, under 3 large pine trees.

This garden didn't look too bad to me by just looking at it. However, once we got our hands on a couple of rakes we realized that last fall there hadn't been any kind of clean up done to the gardens. You can see the chain link fence lining the back of the lot, and intricately woven into it is a vine. I now believe the vine is made of some kind of natural heavy duty velcro. It had crawled into the garden and began wrapping up on the trees. Through a lot of yanking and cutting, we did free the garden of the vine, and the trees can rest easy without being strangled.

The next garden is in the other corner of the lot.

Just by looking at this garden I knew without a doubt this would be my victory. Once I get this garden cleared I'd feel like the queen of my own yard. The vine once again has woven into the garden, tree sprouts had been allowed to grow for a few years, grass was invading on the wrong side of the rocks, and the dirt wasn't visible through the thick layer of dead leaves.

I haven't had my victory yet. As of right now the garden has left us with sore backs and scratched up arms. Hidden behind the tree is a large wild rose bush. I believe it has small daggers for thorns. The vine is super glued to the ground, and the grass is rooted in the cracks of the rocks lining the garden. 

It has been over two weeks since I've taken these pictures, and the plants have exploded in size. Tomorrow I will finish this garden and will have finished, clean gardens to pride upon. You never know, I might make it to a garden center before July!