Morning Granola

Breakfast always has bittersweet connotations for me. I love the idea of breakfast, but am not really a fan of breakfast food. I think a lot of it stems from the 2 years I cooked breakfast almost every weekend for one hundred people at a retreat center. Since then, eggs, pancakes, biscuits, you-name-it have never really appealed to me.

Jonathan is a big cereal fan, but since yummy cereal is hard to come by in Istanbul, homemade granola has become a staple in our house.

Prep time is quick, but make sure you have a couple of hours to bake and stir the granola.

Here's my usual recipe, inspired from my favorite cookbook, More with Less:

Mix in large bowl:
6 C. plain oatmeal
2 C. whole wheat flour
1. C. coconut flakes
2 C. nuts (try any combination. I prefer walnuts because they taste great after being baked.)
1/2 C. wheat germ (to be healthy!)
1/2 C. flax seed (also healthy!)
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Heat in Saucepan:
1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 C. water
1 C. honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar
1 T. vanilla

3 C. dried fruit (dates, raisins, mangos, apricots, apples, whatever! I usually use 2 or 3 different fruits)

When slightly warmed, mix the wet ingredients in well with the dry ingredients. If you need to, add a bit more water to make sure the dry ingredients are completely coated.

Put half of the mix on a greased cookie sheet and cook at 300 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. I wait until it's fairly golden brown before I take it out of the oven. Jonathan likes his granola extra crunchy and I've found it's crunchiest when I let it cool on the cookie sheet.

When cooled, add the fruit and store in an airtight container.

Like I Don't Already Have Enough To Do

A few years ago, I made a list of things I want to do in life. Since then, I've done a few of them, forgotten quite a few, and still have some on the list.

One of the things on my list was to take a picture a day for a year. After running across a couple other blogs that were devoted to this, my motivation was renewed. But, with a little modification.

A dear friend of mine and I have decided to share the blog and each post a picture every day. Joy lives in Colorado and has an incredible eye for art and photography. I live in Istanbul, and though I'm not a natural, I still think it would be a lot of fun to try out.

So, check it out if you want to see a bit more of Colorado, Turkey, or anywhere in between.

www.resplendentawakening.blogspot.com

We couldn't come up with a title, so Joy thought of an adjective, I thought of a noun, and we put them together!