Make It How You Like It Granola

After hours of searching for the perfect granola recipe, I finally gave up!! Armed with several I liked, I decided to create a new one. I call it Make It How You Like It Granola, because that's just what I did! And, oh how yummy!!! And, for those of you who really don't like to follow a recipe, like me, you will love this. For those of you who need more direction, you will love this! Also, Eli loved helping make this- scooping, pouring, stirring- all the things he's really good at doing :) And, he loves to help eat it!

For the recipe:

First, choose 6 cups of nuts and/or seeds: pecans, pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) raw sunflower seeds, almonds (whole or slivered), walnuts, flax seeds. For mine, I chose 2 cups of slivered almonds, 2 cups walnuts (which I chopped in my food processor), 1 cup pepitas and 1 cup sunflower seeds. If you choose whole walnuts, almonds, and/or pecans, coarsely chop them in a food processor.

Next, choose 5-7 cups of the following- oats, unsweetened coconut, almond meal, flaxmeal. I choose 2 cups of oats and 3 cups of coconut. If I were choosing 7 cups of almond meal and flaxmeal, I would use whole almonds/flax seeds and chop them finer than coarse but not as fine as fine in a food processor. I like my granola to be a bit chunky.

Add 1 t cinnamon and 1 t salt.

Add the wet ingredients: 1/2 cup raw honey, 3 tsp vanilla, 1 cup oil- I used coconut oil in a liquid state. I'm sure safflower oil would be good too, or any other better grade oil.

Optional 1/2- 1 cup dried fruit- I used cranberries.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix everything together. Spread mixture on baking sheet (either on 2 or do in batches). Bake for 10 mins and stir. Do this 1 or 2 more times. I like to cook mine for 30 min. You're looking for a nice light golden color. It will darken just a little when it cools, it will also dry as it cools. Once cool/dry, store.

                                                                    Before baking

                                                      Packaged for Christmas Presents!

Pickled Beets

We've had a variety of things going on here at Peace of Earth~ gardening, raising cornish cross meat chickens, and pulling together a home school curriculum for Eli, who will be 4 at the end of August!

In the garden, we have peas and beans coming up. The Brussel Sprouts are looking great, as are the Eggplants. I don't think we've every had eggplant plants look so good! We also have the herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squashes all planted and hoping for some more kale, lettuce and spinach. For some reason, we haven't had much luck with the greens so far this year.

Last night, I pickled 4 pints of beets. Well, really, 3.5. I was hoping for more but at least I had 3- one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas and one for Easter- and then the half is in the fridge right now. I will do a fall crop and fingers crossed, will have more.

As I was working on the beets last night, I was thinking about my grandmother (who has passed). I also thought about my dad (who passed away this last fall). I learned how to can beets from my dad, who learned from his mother. I could feel both of them with me as I peeled the beets. In case you don't know, canning beets is a lot of work! I now realize just how much love went into each jar from year's past. A dinner at my grandmother's always included a jar of canned/pickled beets.

Here is the recipe passed down to me:

Pick beets- cut tops off, but leave the root (this is very important, according to my dad)
Rinse- I got most of the dirt off, but they will be cooked and peeled, so don't worry about getting them perfectly clean.
Cook- boil like potatoes. They are done when you can put a fork into them, tender, like you would for potatoes.
Rinse- I pour mine into a large colander in the sink and run cold water over them. They are still warm when I peel them.
Peel- The peeling comes right off- I also cut the tops and bottoms.
Fill jars- I do mine in pint jars

At this point, if you're going to follow the directions for canning in the Ball Blue Book and use the hot water method, get your water started, then prepare the following mixture for canning.

Heat together and boil for 10 min. the following:
For 4 pints

2 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
1t. whole cloves
1t whole allspice
1T Cinnamon

Pour over beets, place lids/rings on jars and then continue with canning directions from your Ball Blue Book. They do have directions for pickled beets, which I did. *Bring water to a simmer, place jars in, bring to a rolling boil and maintain for 30 min. Turn off, let jars cool down in pot (I left mine in for a couple of hours), then place on towels on the counter and cover with a towel. Check for seal within 24 hours. *PLEASE read the directions from the Ball Blue Book!! This is just a brief summary so you know what you're getting yourself into!

Feeding Children

Original Post March 19

Now that my son is 2 1/2, I keep receiving children newsletters with articles about how to feed a picky eater. In one mainstream magazine, they even offered suggestions on how to get your child to eat different foods. These different foods included avocado, sushi, hummus or falafel, curry, and some other things which I can’t remember. What I do remember is the complete disbelief that a child wouldn’t have already been introduced to these foods! Eli eats everything on the list of what is considered different. It’s his normal. I also read various mother boards. There’s always a post about how “my child will only eat pizza and spaghettios” and wanting advise on how to get them to eat something else. I always want to scream HOW ABOUT NOT FEEDING YOUR CHILD PIZZA AND SPAGHETTIOS! If they don’t know it exists, then they won’t want it!
I bought one bag of chicken nuggets and hated feeding them to my son so much, I threw the bag away and have never bought another bag. Guess what, he hasn’t starved and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t feel deprived from not eating dinosaur shaped nuggets. Now, I only feed him what I feel good about feeding him. Making homemade food, from scratch, doesn’t have to be hard or take a lot of time. In fact, with a little prep, I can whip up a delicious meal in about the same amount of time it takes for chicken nuggets to cook. Some meals take a little longer, but for those, I make extra so we have leftovers.
So, what was for lunch today? I thawed out some pesto, cooked some veggie pasta, steamed some veggies (frozen blend of broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots), warmed up left over chicken, threw it all together, Eli helped sprinkled parmesan cheese over it. Eli ate it up! The entire meal took about 10 min. to put together. And there’s leftovers for tomorrow.
Now, there are foods he doesn’t like and I honor that. There are foods I don’t like, it’s okay. Since he was about 8 months old, he has had some version of what we were eating. We have always offered a wide variety of tastes, flavors, and food for him to try. We also cook foods in a variety of ways for him to try. While he won’t eat just plain steamed veggies (which I find to be very bland as well), add some pesto, or put them in a soup (usually with garbanzo beans and seasonings) and he will eat them right up. One way I introduce fresh greens, like spinach or kale, is to make him a green smoothie- which is basically a fruit smoothie with greens. He loves them!
Some kids are going to naturally be picky eaters. But I am a firm believer in offering a variety of real, whole based foods, early on, restricting processed food, and not making food a power struggle. Mealtime really can be a fun time, even with a toddler!

For more delicious meal ideas, visit http://weelicious.com. It’s one of my favorite sites and the crock pot oatmeal is WONDERFUL!