I first had this granola at Lisa and Alex's house, but the recipe was given to us by Katherine, and it says "Megan's Granola" at the top. So thanks to Megan for putting this recipe into circulation, whether or not she is in fact the inventor.
Aside--Megan is also the person who invented (or popularized?) the marvelous "Preggers Punch." Preggers Punch is just some strong fruit juice--cherry, pomegranate, cherry-pomegranate-blueberry--mixed with strong ginger beer, some ice, maybe a lime. And if you happen to be, as they say, expecting, you can drink it at parties where everyone else is drinking alcohol. And it's not just for those who are, you know, in a family way. I think Preggers Punch is Jeff's favorite drink in the world, and he's not in the least, ahem, enceinte. Believe me. I should know (leer, wink). Come to think of it, Preggers Punch would probably also be good spiked, if it turns out that you really do need alcohol to have fun.
But back to granola. Here's the recipe:
Megan's Granola
3 cups oats
3/4 shredded coconut*
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup**
1/4 c. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
fruit and nuts, such as:
1 1/2 c. sliced almonds
1 c. craisins
1 c. golden raisins
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix oats, coconut,*** and brown sugar. In a separate bowl combine the oil, salt, and syrup.**** Combine both mixtures and pour onto sheet pan.
Cook for about an hour (we usually cook it less). Stir at 15 min. intervals, making sure the mixture is spread out on the pan to ensure even browning.
Transfer to bowl and add fruit and nuts.
Store in attractive glass jars.*****
I've always made a double batch of this granola--if you have to babysit it every 15 minutes you might as well make a lot at once, and it keeps well in the aforementioned attractive glass jars.
*we don't use coconut because Jeff despises it. Me, I think coconut is the best thing ever. Coconut is sweetness and light. So put it in your granola, please, for me.
**really, I'm not a snob. But maple syrup means maple syrup, OK?
***if you're so lucky as to be able to include coconut
****this is the best part. The oil and syrup make a mysteriously thick and gooey substance when you mix them together. And it's kind of delicious if you're brave enough to admit to yourself that you think a gooey mixture of oil, salt, and syrup tastes good.
*****or, if you're like us, in old spaghetti sauce jars. But you should use the ones that don't still smell like spaghetti sauce, if possible.
Now, the other thing I have to tell you about. This is really only of interest to knitters, just to warn you.
I recently finished a hat I'd been working on, desultorily, since...well, for a long time. It involved two parts: an outer lace layer, and a solid lining to make it warm. And both parts, when they were done, looked a wee bit small. At Christmas I nearly gave up on the hat and gave it to Eliza, who's 2. But I believe in the power of blocking--that is, getting the thing wet and pinning it out until it dries, so that it keeps the stretched-out shape. It works with wool things, though not the ones you accidentally put through the dryer, because those have probably felted, and that's different. Anyway, I got out my box of T-pins, which are made specially for this purpose, and blocked my hat by pinning it to an old box. This is what it looked like.
See how it says "Chicago Recycles" in the upper right corner there? That's kind of funny, because Chicago totally doesn't. At least, they don't recycle anything from my building. The best I can do is reuse my bag to back my blocking.All seemed to be going well, until I took out the pins...
and they left rust stains!
This was devastating: I'd been working on this thing forever, and it was ruined just like that. So that's why I have to give you all this warning about deceptive T-pins.
The whole point of T-pins is that they're not supposed to rust when stuck in wet fabric overnight--which is, again, their job. I'm not sure what happened here. These may have been from a box of T-pins I bought at a fabric store, not a knitting store, so possibly there's a difference between "quilter's" and "knitter's" pins? But from now on I'm going to test all my T-pins by sticking them in wet stuff for a long time before I use them on anything I care about.
There's a more or less happy ending, though. I called up my friend The Internet and found out that lemon and salt can help with rust stains, and after much dabbing the spots were diminished enough to be not very noticeable. So that's my last piece of advice for today: rust stains-->lemon and salt.
More sage advice from this well-adorned head next time!
