Blue Moon Granola

Today I made this delicious granola recipe out of my Potluck at Midnight Farm - Celebrating Food, Family and Friends on Martha's Vineyard cookbook by Tamara Weiss. The recipe begins "You only get granola this good once in a blue moon!" - I agree!

Blue Moon Granola
8 C rolled oats
2 C barley flakes
2 C wheat flakes
2 C oat bran or wheat germ (or some of each)
2 C raw sunflower seeds
2 C pecans (optional)
1/2 C oil (canola or safflower)
1/2 C honey
1/2 C maple syrup
1 C dried cranberries
1 C raisins

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine oats, barely and wheat flakes, oat bran, sunflower seeds & pecans in a large bowl and mix. Stir the oil, honey and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over low heat until warm. Pour heated mixture over the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread the granola out in thin layers on large baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes. Stir and bake another 20 minutes. The granola is done when it is golden brown all over.
Use a spatula or large spoon to transfer baked granola to a bowl. Repeat the baking process until all the granola is done. When cool, stir in the cranberries and raisins. Store in quart-size containers. This granola also freezes well.

Because my family doesn't like pecans or raisins very much, I substituted extra oats and cranberries and it turned out fine.

The recipe says this is delicious with plain yogurt flavored with maple syrup and a bit of ground cinnamon. I haven't tried that yet, but I know it's darn good on icecream!

Back to Reality

I'm back from sunny Florida, back to the Wisconsin gray skies, wierd, cold fog, and ice moats throughout the yard. We had a nice time, but it was definitly one of those "good to go, but good to come home" type trips. All of us get a little out of sorts on vacation - we all sleep poorly and miss our home routines. Despite returning to this bleak weather, 5 days in full blown sun was enough for us.

One trick I learned on this trip was to not wear my swimming suit every time to the pool. This allowed me to lounge with a book in a poolside chair while my husband swam with the kids. It was perfect - I got to relax, yet still had my happy dearies around me!

I managed to finish the book I mentioned last post - Made from Scratch - Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich. I very much enjoyed it, having been through many of her newbie farm experiences myself. Here's a little excerpt from the "Chickens, the most exciting lawn accessory since lawn darts" chapter:

"After a few songs, I arrived at the post office. It was a small building you could've mistaken for a storage shed if you drove by too fast (which I did, and had to turn around). When I knocked on the back door, an old man with a basset hound greeted me and handed over the loudest cardboard box ever. I placed it in the backseat of my toasty Subaru and continued down the road to Diana's homestead - Floating Leaf Farm. A steep hill and some twists and turns later, I pulled into the driveway of the cedar-shingled, log cabin-style farmhouse. After all the snow we'd had recently, it would've passed for something on the label of a maple syrup bottle if it weren't for the year-old steer walking down the driveway to join the rest of its gang."

The author has a very nice blog: http://www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In 3 hours I'll be on my way to Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee to catch a flight to Florida. The family is very excited to go and see the grandparents, but I can't help wishing I was boarding a flight to somewhere like Maine, Cape Cod, or any other New England destination.

For the flight, I have a bag loaded with doodads to keep the kids happy - suckers, activity books, multicolor click pens, mini etchasketchs (sp?). For me, I have my Earplanes (ear inserts so my ears don't pop closed) and a new book I'm very excited about titled Made From Scratch - Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenn Woginrich. We'll see if I'm able to even get through the preface on the plane!

lovely little full moon night

Full moon tonight - a perfect day for me to return to my long neglected blog! My mom is doing much better and the spring-like weather we've been having has done wonders for her mood (and mine). I'm sure we'll still get slammed with more winter storms, but days like today remind us that the flowers are getting closer to ending their naps. Yesterday at Walmart I was looking at the gigantic mountain of dirty snow in the parking lot - it must be 12 feet high - and was picturing the greenhouses and tables of blooms that will shortly replace it in the exact same spot.

The moon sure was bright last night - the kids and I turned off all the lights and made moonshadows on the walls. Tonight will be warmer, so I hope to get all of us out on the deck to "bask." If it's not too windy, we might even be able to eat dinner out there in the moonlight. Hmmm, what food goes best with a winter moony night - potato soup and crusty rolls, perhaps? Just pizza? Chocolate cake and wine? I'm going to have to think about this!

From the Farmer's Almanac:
February's Full Moon is called The Snow Moon. Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

Above is a photo of last month's moonrise over a nearby inland Wisconsin lake.