Summer Fun and Homemade Granola

I've spent most of the summer away from home.  Between the Colorado house renovation and spending time with friends and family on some fun trips, the summer is winding down and I'm feeling like fall looks promising for a little slow time.  Notice I didn't say rest, because that would imply that I know how to do that.  Slower fastness, I can do.

Last week we spent time in Colorado working on mom's house.  When I am there, I feel so many emotions.  Sadness, joy, love, homesickness... all of it.  It's hard to explain really.  I feel close to mom and dad.  Even though I feel relief and am energized by the progress of the renovation, I get sad over things like the 3 kinds of carpet, dad's recliner and the old brown paneling.

Here's the kitchen as I've always known it.

 The photo above was taken just after the estate sale in May.

Here is the kitchen at the end of July.

And the kitchen when we left on Sunday.

Small progress, but getting there slowly....

The rest of the house is primarily finished.  The rebuild of the bathrooms and the updating of the kitchen was by far, the largest amount of work in the house. We're hoping to have the tiling of the kitchen counters finished by the end of next week.  We'll wrap up the interior renovation with all new flooring soon. Hopefully.

The renovation has been therapeutic for me.  The physical work that we haven't contracted out has been exhausting but rewarding.  The hammering, sawing and prying has allowed me to cry out some good tears when I've needed to, it's offered comfort when I needed it and given me confidence when I felt like rolling over into the "I don't want to be an adult anymore" fetal position.

In between the construction, there were a couple of days that Noah and I took a break and did some hiking. 

Getting to our hiking spots was familiar. I travelled this road a lot with my dad on our way to fish when I was little. Good memories.

I think I've always really liked the outdoors.  Dennis and I used to try to hike with our kids a lot when they were little. Noah still loves it.

The fresh air was sooo good.  Cleansing for my head. For my soul.

Here's a picture of us at Treasure Falls.  T/F is located at the south end of Wolf Creek pass not to far from Pagosa Springs.

One of the best things about Colorado is spending time with my sister.  She feels like home to me and she makes me good food!  Here's a recipe that we made - Alling House-Made Granola I'll call it.

For this healthy and yummy recipe, you'll need:

3 Cups of Oatmeal (like the Quaker Old Fashioned kind)
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2-3 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Coconut
1/2 Cup Dried Fruit  (raisins, apricots, or any other of your choice)
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Honey (I prefer honey local to my area)
1 Tbsp Vanilla

Makes about 4 Cups of Granola.  Takes about 20 minutes to make.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Start with the oatmeal and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.  Stir.

Then add your raisins and coconut and brown sugar.  (My sister likes to mix fast. She's zippy that way. Sorry my pictures aren't quite step by step.)

Give another good stir.

Next add the canola oil.  The oil acts like a binder to get it all to stick.

Now add your honey, honey.

And lastly... but not leastly... the vanilla.  Give another stir.

Fold your granola mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes stirring halfway through baking.

[PRETEND WE HAVE A PICTURE HERE.  A PICTURE OF CHOPPED WALNUTS PILED ON THE GRANOLA.]

This is where Sally got ahead of me.  Again.  Take your baking sheet out of the oven and add the chopped nuts.  Stir it up (you know you like to) and pop the baking sheet back into the oven.  Bake for another 10 minutes, again stirring every 5 minutes.

Pull your granola out of the oven and smell it.  A big whiff.  It's that good.

TIP: Sally recommends you remove your granola from the hot pan pronto after baking to keep it from cooking on the baking sheet. It browns pretty quickly.

The granola is great as a snack on its own, but I like to throw it on top of low fat Greek yogurt with a smidge of honey and a whole lot of fresh fruit.

Pretend this is a smidge of honey.

Delish...

Have you ever fasted for any particular reason?  I'm considering it.  I'll tell you why in my next post.

Charlene