Back to school granola

Granola is a breakfast staple in our household. We make it by the bucket load and eat it almost every morning on yogurt. With the kids going back to school tomorrow morning I figured I'd better get a new batch made up pronto. It seems fitting that my next post after yogurt making should be about granola doesn't it? This is not a recipe since every batch of granola I make is different but here's my method and what I put in this particular batch.

I started with a lot of large flake oats. My receipt from the Bulk Barn says I used 4 kilos. I dumped them all into a huge pot that I reserve for this type of thing. It's aluminum so I don't like to cook in it but it's great for mixing and stirring really large batches of things.

This is where it starts to get fun and the kids love to jump in and help. I basically put the packages of seeds, nuts and extras on the counter and they get to open and dump as much in as they want. In this batch of granola we added 1/2 kilo of sunflower seeds, 1/4 kilo of ground flax seeds, 1/3 kilo of pumpkin seeds (hulled), a scoop full of psyllium husk, 1/2 kilo of cashew pieces, and 1/2 kilo of almonds. I got whole almonds and chopped them coarsely with my Pampered Chef food chopper. I also had some coconut in the pantry that I added at the last minute.

Now the kids all roll up their sleeves and start mixing. I's like one of those big rice tables they have at some preschools except with all kinds of fun surprises in there. A tactile field day! While the kids are rooting, stirring, and occasionally sampling I'm working at the stove. In a large pot I combined 3 cups of water, 2 cups of canola oil (I plan to use coconut oil next time), about 2 cups of honey, a cup of black strap molasses, a cup of maple syrup and a few tablespoons of vanilla and brought it all up to a boil. I think heating it up like this is more important if you're using brown or cane sugars that need to be dissolved but I find the flavours get combined better and it mixes into the oats better when it's warm. The kids have to back off now while I combine the hot sugars with the oats and nuts. I like to get in up to my elbows with this too.

I baked the granola on cookie sheets at 350*F for 15 minutes. If you have a baking stone keep it on the lower rack of your oven to help even out the temperature. I find that if my stone is in there I don't have to stir the granola at all during cooking time. If you don't have a stone make sure to stir at least once during baking so that you don't end up with scorched edges. You want to bake it until it's no longer wet but it can still be a little bit moist from steam. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.

My oldest son asked me why we don't add the dried fruit to the mix before baking it all. I used to bake the fruit in with the granola but I had too many instances of the raisins getting scorched before the rest of the mixture was ready because the fruit sugars caramelized too quickly so now I add the dried fruit after it's all cooked and cooled down again. This batch has golden raisins, dates and dried cranberries. I'm also going to let the kids add a kilo of yogurt chips for fun. Mix it all together and there you have it, enough granola to last us until Halloween. 

Makin' Yogurt

Tonight I am making yogurt. I tried a few months ago to make yogurt with mediocre success. I didn't have a digital read thermometer back then and I think that will make a big difference this time around. I got the Pampered Chef one and I really like it (although hubby tells me it takes too long to read the temperature). I did some research and found that a lot of people find powdered milk renders a better product than fresh milk so I'm trying that. 

Ingredients:

5 cups water
225 grams instant skim milk powder
1 1/4 cup half and half cream
1/2 cup 2% Liberty yogurt (plain) for starter

Method:

In a large saucepan, heat water to 190*F. While you're waiting, measure out your milk powder and reconstitute with about1/2 cup warm water. Use a good whisk to make sure there are no lumps. Once the water is up to temperature pour in the milk powder and the half and half, stirring well. Bring the temperature back up to about 180*F and hold it around that temperature for half an hour. You don't need to keep it at exactly 180* just around there. I brought it up to that and then reduced the heat to #3 on my stove and then took off to drink a cup of tea and eat some popcorn. Take the pan off of the stove and allow it to cool to about 110*F. Add the plain yogurt, stirring well to eliminate any lumps.Pour into clean glass mason jars and place in the oven with the light on to maintain a warm temperature. Go to bed. In the morning you should have yogurt although you will want to chill it in the fridge to help it thicken up.

Once you've made your first batch of yogurt you can use your own yogurt to make future batches but be sure to open a fresh jar so that you don't risk putting in contaminated bacteria.

Gumdrop Jewels

Another of Grandma's hand written recipes that I know she used to make fairly often. I think these would make a great treat for the kids to take to school to share with their friends at Christmas time or on Halloween.

2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups honey-flavoured puffed wheat cereal
1 cup cut-up gumdrops

1. Measure flour, baking powder, soda and salt into sifter.
2. Cream butter with brown sugar until fluffy and light in a large bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift in flour mixture blending well to make a stiff dough.
4. Fold in cereal and gumdrops. Drop by teaspoons, 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake in moderate oven (350*F) 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on cookie sheets 5 minutes. Remove with spatula to wire rack. Cool completely. Store in tin.

Cheesy Onion Burger Buns

I don't know if Grandma ever made these buns. The recipe comes from a very old booklet from Fleischmann's that was free by mail order. I plan to try these some time soon.

1 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp margarine
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 3/4-6 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onions


Measure 1 cup warm water into a large bowl. Stir in 2 tsp sugar and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, then stir well.
Meantime, combine 1 1/2 cups water and margarine in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until liquid is warm and margarine melts. Stir in 3 tbsp sugar and salt. Add liquid to dissolved yeast. Add 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in cheese, onions and an additional 4 cups (about) flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk about 1 hour.
Punch dough down; turn out onto lightly floured board. divide dough into 20 equal pieces. Form each piece into a smooth ball; place balls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
Bake in hot oven (400*F) about 15 to 20 minutes, or until done. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.

Grandma's Cabbage Filled Buns

These buns are something our family has been making at Christmas time for as long as I can remember. Grandma says she learned how to make them from "the German ladies in town."

Fry together one small head of cabbage (cut up) 1 large onion, 1 lb of hamburger. Add salt + pepper to taste and a little oil. When fried brown, cool. Roll out bread or bun dough (which ever you are making) very thin + cut in about 4 inch squares, fill with fried mixture. Fold dough over + pinch shut (bring each of the four corners to the middle). Place fold down on well greased cookie pan, let rise about 15 to 20 minutes. Bake in oven about 375* for about 20-25 minutes. This should make about 1 dozen. 

Grandma's Lemon Loaf

This recipe was hand written in purple pencil crayon on a piece of loose scrap paper. I'm pretty sure it's one of grandma's older recipes because she seems to have been practising her signature "Mrs. B.R. Christenson" in the margins of the page. I'm typing the recipes as written for the effect. As with any experienced cook there are probably some assumptions made about the cook's knowledge of what order to add ingredients and what to do with them. Enjoy.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 lemon rind
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1tsp baking powder

Nuts optional
Loaf pan 45 minutes*
Frost with 1/4 cup sugar mixed with juice of lemon + pour over while hot.

*I'm assuming oven temp is 350*F

Treasure trove of recipes

My grandmother turned 90 last week. What an amazing woman she is! The entire family went out to Alberta to celebrate with her and while we were there she gave me a box of her old recipes. As I flipped through the little crumbling notebooks and saw her faded hand writing I knew I wanted to share some of these treasures with others and find a way to preserve as many of them as possible. That was the main reason I decided to revive this blog. I may post recipes before I have tried them myself but I hope to try as many of them as I can and I'll update any posts with photos as I make them.