Granola

When you read this, I will be on vacation (actually formerly-known as furlough, directed leave without pay).  Yay!  Its a much-needed vacation (furlough is still a vacation since there should be no work issues), and I don't even want to think how quickly the next 2 weeks will go by.  Since I will be at home, I plan on having leisurely days. . .breakfast when I get up, lounging around in PJs, and not being a slave to the alarm clock.  Normally, I have a bowl of steel cut oats (cooked in the microwave) and a cup of joe, but since I'm on break, I think I'll change things up a bit and have granola and yogurt for breakfast.

I tend to be picky about granola.  I like things crunchy...not a fan of soggy granola.  I also don't like walnuts so many of the commercially-available granola are out. . .too many cheap walnuts.   I like granola with pecans or macadamia nuts.  Sliced almonds are okay too.  For the fruit, I use cranberries, dried mango, and dried pineapple.  If I have it on hand, I'll even chop up some dried apricots to throw in.  I keep the raisins away (raisins are on THAT list, below mustard, but somewhere near peas).  Homemade granola is great because you can choose what you put in it, but the best part is the smell as it bakes.  The aroma of cinnamon always makes me think "holidays".  Mmmmm.

And since Christmas will be here next week, this is a good time to make a batch of granola to keep on hand as a gift for people who surprise you with a gift.  Place cooled granola in an airtight container and tie with a holiday bow.  If you don't need to use it as an emergency gift, you'll have the pleasure of consuming it yourself.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Granola

     4 c rolled oats (old fashioned)

     2 1/2 c nut pieces

     1 1/2 c sweetened flaked coconut

     1/4 tsp salt

     1/2 tsp cinnamon

     1/2 c vegetable oil (scant)

     1/2 c honey

     2 c dried cranberries (or mixture of dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Line a large, shallow baking pan with parchment paper.  Toss together oats, nuts, coconut, salt, and cinnamon, in a large bowl.  Whisk together oil and honey, then stir into oat mixture until well coated.  Spread mixture in prepared baking pan and bake, stirring every 10-20 minutes for 1 hour.  Increase oven heat to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes, stirring midway through.  Remove from oven and stir in cranberries/dried fruit.  Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.  Makes about 10 cups.

Unfortunately, my leisurely morning was hijacked this morning because the workers showed up before 8:00 am to fix my pool.  After 5 years, the liner at the deep end was tearing.  The Help patched it several times, but it got to the point where even the patches were pulling off.  I was telling people not to splash in the deep end.  Actually, I'm not upset at all that the pool people showed up this morning; in fact, I'm grateful that they could work today...its a typical Hilo day...overcast, cold & semi-drizzly.  But having a "new" pool brings baggage.  For the past few weeks, the pool pump and filter have been off.  The pool boy (a.k.a. The Help) saw no reason to condition and treat the water when the repairs were looming, so I was able to benefit from not having that eat into my electrical bill from HELLCO.

I guess I'm going to be turning the pool pump and filter back on later today or tomorrow and starting back up with my electrical consumption, but guess who showed up on Saturday!!!  A crew of nearly a dozen burly men spent 6 hours on my roof making a huge racket.  Because optimum roof real estate was taken by solar water heater panels and pool heater panels, the pv panels had to be places on 4 different roof faces.  30 panels and several arrays later (and several $K poorer). . .waiting for the inspectors to show, and more importantly, waiting for a small bill from HELLCO!  Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me!  I can't wait for tax time to get here. 

I try not to get down with the events around me, but my heart aches when I think about all the families in Newtown who experienced great sorrow on Friday, December 14.  Having visited Connecticut a few years ago, I remember it as an idyllic place, straight out of a Norman Rockwell scene.  Lives there will never be the same.
Tales of teacher heroism in the face of death illustrate what I already know...teachers are dedicated people with a strong commitment to their students.  How many government bureaucrats would put themselves at risk to save others?  So for those of you assholes negotiating the teachers contract and trying to nickel and dime us, think about the work we do for your children, think about the commitment we show, .and then think about how many kiddie lives were saved because a teacher (Vicki Soto) sacrificed herself for her students.  Nobody is talking about how her students performed on a test; nobody is talking about whether she was a highly qualified or highly effective teacher.  Social media sites are inundated with how she was committed til the end.   Isnt' it obvious. . .what counts is knowing kids came first, that the were safe, not how well they scored on a test!  I hope you will feel ashamed at the way you've treated us, how superficial you've been to let test scores determine teacher pay (really, anyone will tell you, some kids are just smarter than others).  Settle the fucking contract and give us what we deserve!!!

Flexible Fruity Nutty Bars

I'm feeling a little melancholy today.  D1 left for Japan this morning with the Key Club, and D2 is still under the weather with a lingering virus (low fever, listless, grouchy).  I'm still stuck at an assessment workshop.  With 45 minutes for lunch, we pretty much have no choice but to eat lunch at Sky Garden.  I like the Chinese food at Sky Garden, but lunch gets a little tiresome day after day.  Sky Garden offers a buffet lunch also, but the price is steep, and 45 minutes would not allow me nearly enough time to consume my share.  With the vacation looming, I'm going to make a pan of these bars to help lift my spirits.

This is one of those recipes which began as an innocent date bar recipe but has morphed into many other things.  Lets start at the beginning.  When I was pregnant with D2, my ob-gyn visits entailed a detour to Jilly's, a snack shop on the ground floor of the medical building.  Without fail, I'd buy a 2-pack of date bars.  The bars had a buttery shortbread crust and a heavy, cakey, nutty, sweet topping.  I know I didn't taste dates, but it didn't matter because it was good, satisfied my sweet tooth, and sent me down the path towards gestational diabetes.  Imua!

Mom would often buy fresh dates from Costco and tell me to make date bars.  I was happy to oblige, but eventually the dates disappeared.  Left only with a partial tin of glaceed apricots from Williams-Sonoma, I decided to take a risk and experiment with them by replacing the dates with glaceed apricots.  The result was fabulous.  This led me to try other fruits:  dried mango, dried apricots (not the expensive glaceed type), dried peaches.  All were good.  Then I tried substituting macadamia nuts for pecans (I don't eat walnuts).  All good again.

But now I had an even bigger problem on my hands.  The 7"x11" pan I was using provided hardly enough bars to take anywhere.  It barely fed me!  I knew I had to somehow develop a recipe that could be made in a 9"x13" pan, which would definitely be enough for me to eat my fill AND take some to an event.  The crust was easy, but I had to do some tinkering with the brown sugar amount before I got the filling right.  The first few results were sickingly sweet, but I think its perfect now.

Some great fruit-nut combinations are:  apricot-pecan, mango-macadamia, dates-pecan, peach/pineapple-pecan.  The pics on this blog happen to be peach/pineapple-pecan.  Those are tried and true, but feel free to experiment with your own combos.  As a caution to anyone who makes this . . . be prepared to give out the recipe.  Everytime I've taken this somewhere (work potluck) or served it at home (Colleen & Flo), someone ALWAYS asks for the recipe.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Flexible Fruity Nutty Bars

Crust:  1 c butter

           1/2 c sugar

           2 c flour

Mix butter, sugar and flour until crumbly.  Press evenly into a 9 x 13" pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.  While crust is baking, make filling.

Filling:  2/3 c flour

            1 tsp baking powder

            1/2 tsp salt

            4 eggs

            1 1/2 c brown sugar

            1 c chopped dried fruit

            2 tsp vanilla

            1 c chopped nuts

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  Beat eggs and add brown sugar and dried fruit.  Add flour mixture, vanilla, and nuts.  Spread evenly over hot crust.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting into squares or bars.  When completely cool, dust generously with powdered sugar and remove cut pieces from pan.