Chunky Granola

This Chunky Granola recipe was actually my first post on the blog, but since no one was following me at the time, I thought it would be good to re-post. My family and friends love this stuff. I've adapted it from the More-with-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre. I've been making it for years, and I've given out the recipe a number of times. It's the perfect after-school snack, late-night snack, keep-you-going-during-work snack, etc.. It really doesn't take much time at all to make, and you get a nice big batch of healthy goodness for your efforts! It's a pretty easy recipe, but in case you've never made granola before, I've explained it step-by-step with photos.

Here is what you need:

• 4 Cups of old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 Cup of wheat germ
• 1 Cup of coconut
• 1 Cup of peanuts
• 1/2 Cup of flaxseed meal*
• 1 Cup of local honey
• 1/2 Cup of canola oil
• 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon

*If you don't have flaxseed meal on hand, feel free to substitute something else (like raisins); or, leave it out altogether.


First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then mix the first 5 ingredients in a big bowl:

Next, heat the oil, honey, and cinnamon in a small saucepan on the stove. Measure the honey in the same cup after you've measured and poured the oil so it doesn't stick to the measuring cup. Heat on high and bring to a boil, sitrring constantly:

As soon as it boils, pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir:

Once everything is combined, spread into a greased, 12x17" sheet pan, or two smaller pans. (Be sure to cover your pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.)

Spread it out thin, but you don't want to see any of the pan showing through the granola. If you're using a large pan like I did, it may not cover the whole pan. Next, throw it in your oven to bake. Bake at 325 degrees for 9 - 10 minutes. Then turn the pan around and bake for another 9 - 10 minutes - (I do this for even baking - most ovens bake hotter on one side.).... TOTAL baking time approximately 18 - 20 minutes.

Let the baked granola cool for about a 1/2 hour. Then break into chunks and store in an airtight container. When all the big chunks are gone, the small pieces make an excellent cereal.

Add some fruit, yogurt, coffee, and you've got a perfectly healthy breakfast. Enjoy!

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Game Day Popcorn

A quick and easy snack for game day, movie night, a teen sleep-over party, or a casual get-together with friends....this is a home-made seasoning recipe I came up with to use on our air-popped popcorn. I prefer to use real butter and season my own popcorn rather than use the microwave stuff. It's just my preference - I happen to have an old air-popper, and the kids enjoy using it. It's quick, and more economical to make your own seasoning, plus I think the flavor is much better. So here's what you need:

• 10 c. freshly-popped, air-popped popcorn (or a very plain/natural variety of microwave popcorn)
• 6 tbsp. melted butter
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Drizzle the melted butter over the popcorn and toss lightly to coat. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle over buttered popcorn and toss/stir thoroughly to coat. Serve immediately. Serves: 8 - 10

As pictured at the top of the page, a neat serving idea is to use the sports pages of your newspaper to make cones (tape at the bottom), and serve the popcorn in the cones.... it keeps the butter from making your hands greasy.

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Whole Wheat Orange Mini-Muffins

When my kids saw me making these this morning, they asked if I was going to put them up on the blog. I told them I was planning to, and they said, "Good, people need to know about these!" I know - they don't look like much... just pale, simple, little muffins. But don't let their appearance deceive you. They are moist, flavorful, and addicting! I adapted this recipe from the More-with-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre. The original recipe made a bread, and you can bake it that way if you like. (Bake at same temp., but extend baking time to an hour.) We prefer the muffins because they bake up moister and quicker than the bread.

I also added wheat germ to the recipe to add extra nutrition. And I want to mention a few things about baking with whole wheat flour. First, make sure it is fresh. Whole wheat flour goes bad more quickly than all-purpose flour. If you've had whole wheat flour sitting in your pantry for longer than 6 months, I'd replace it. If you're unsure of whether or not it's still good, smell it. If it's bad, you'll know - it will smell stale and rancid. You can extend the life of whole wheat flour a bit by storing it in your fridge, but it takes up a lot of space, so I don't do that. Another thing to consider is using white wheat flour in your baking. It has all the nutrition of typical whole wheat flour, but it is lighter, less grainy.... the end product turns out better, I think. You can buy white wheat flour in regular supermarkets now. (It used to be available only in health food stores). King Arthur is the brand that I typically find in the stores. Okay, so here's what you need:

• 1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour (white wheat preferred)
• 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. of grated orange zest OR 1/2 tsp. orange extract (And if you don't have either, don't worry about it, they'll still turn out fine.)
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 4 mini-muffin pans with cooking spray.

Combine in a large mixing bowl: the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Next, add to the same bowl: the orange zest (or extract), orange juice, milk, oil, and egg.

Stir until the batter is smooth and everything is combined:

Spoon into greased, mini-muffin pans. You should be able to fill at least 3-1/2 mini-muffin pans, which would give you 42 muffins (or you could use standard-size muffins pans and get 22 to 24). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes, (for standard-sized muffins, bake for 15 - 17 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Do not over bake - these muffins do not brown. (High-acidic batters don't brown......... well, unless you burn them.)

Now, before you clean up and put everything away, let me make a suggestion.... Grab a couple of Ziploc bags, and make your own muffin mix for those times when you are in a hurry. It won't take long. Just measure out the dry ingredients: the wheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and put into each bag. That's only 6 ingredients; it will take you about 5 minutes. Write on each bag, "Whole Wheat Orange Muffin Mix", and if you want to make it even easier on yourself, tape a little note onto the outside of the bag that lists what you should add to make the batter. Store the bags in the fridge.

Congratulations, you just saved yourself time and money. Why buy boxed muffin mixes when you can do it yourself? And you know exactly what ingredients you have in that bag.

So let those little muffins cool a bit, then serve. Try drizzling them with honey. Serve them with fruit for a healthy breakfast or snack. I serve them with coffee or tea when I have company.  Enjoy!

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This post is linked to The Country Homemaker Blog Hop at Dolly is Cooking