Saturday, December 2, 2006

Snow day!

Well, it's official. Winter has arrived in Chicagoland! Yesterday was a snow day, so no preschool for the big boys. They spent the afternoon outside, happily shoveling the walk and knocking icicles off of the bottom of the mini-van. Oh, to be 4 ½ again!

I love just being at home when it’s cold and snowy. And if I can’t curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee, a rare event in my life these days, I’m in the kitchen baking. Here’s a favorite wintertime recipe. Enjoy!

Cranberry-Almond Granola
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4 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.

In a small saucepan warm the oil and honey. Carefully stir in the vanilla (be careful because it bubbles up).

Pour liquid over oat mixture. Stir gently with a wooden spoon; finish mixing by hand if needed.

Spread granola in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake 40 minutes stirring carefully every 10 minutes. (I would probably bake a few less minutes next time)

Cool on pan on a rack.

Stir in cranberries.

Store in airtight container. Will keep 1 week at room temperature or 3 months in freezer.

4 comments:

Lara said...

Mmm... Sounds good. Funny thing is I just picked up dried cranberries the other day thinking,"I'm sure I'll find something to make with these". And I did. Thanks for sharing.

amm

Llama Momma said...

Glad to help! The boys love to eat this for breakfast mixed with vanilla yogurt. And your house will smell wonderful!!

Anonymous said...

Momma Llama, or is it Llama Momma, anyway , you seem like the person who can help me. I have a small problem, I ran out of matches and want to light a candle, you know one of those sweet, holiday smelling candles, but again no matches. You are making homemade granola and all, so I am sure you can help me. I haven't had a chance to go to the store and buy matches, although I when was at lunch with a friend today I should have picked some up at the restaurant, but that is another story all together! So, what I have done the last couple of times that I lit my holiday candle was to light the tip of a pencil on fire and use that. Do you think that is a wise idea or am I releasing some dangerous toxic fumes into my home. If that is the case I can't smell the toxins because of the holiday candle. What do you think?

Llama Momma said...

It's definitely Llama Momma...and I think you need to start your own blog, my friend! ;-)