Homemade Granola

Thank you, Margaret, for being the first to post on what, I hope, becomes a group blog.

I'm posting a granola recipe that I've been making for about a year now. It's a modified version of the Joy of Cooking recipe. I have it with yogurt several times a week. (Hopefully soon I will be able to say, "I have it with homemade yogurt several times a week.") It's easy to make and lasts quite awhile. Please don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients, as I easily am. A lot of the ingredients can be found in the bulk section at Fred's so you don't have to get more than you need for one batch. I put a (b) next to them to further prove my point :)

Granola

About 9 cups

Preheat the oven to 300F. Scatter over a large rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven about 15 minutes, stirring frequently:

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (b)

Mix in a large bowl:

1½ cups wheat germ
¼ cup dry milk powder (optional)
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds (b)
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ - 1 cup shredded or flaked sweetened coconut (b)
½ cup sesame seeds (b)
1 cup hulled sunflower seeds (b)

Heat in a small saucepan over low heat for 5 minutes:

½ cup canola oil
½ cup honey
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir the honey mixture into the wheat germ mixture. Combine with the toasted oats. Spread in a thin layer on the baking sheet (use 2 pans if necessary) and toast, stirring frequently, 45 minutes, or until all the ingredients are toasted. Let cool, then stir in dried cranberries, or other dried fruit, if desired. Store in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Yogurt making

Jillian asked me to write about how I make my own yogurt. I've been doing this for a little over a year now, after being inspired by my friend Sophie. She'd noticed that these nifty little yogurt "incubators" were on sale for about $20 at Fred Meyer. I eat yogurt every day as my morning snack at my desk at work, so I thought it might be a good idea to try it out, mostly to save money. Here's what the incubator looks like.

It came with 6 of these little 6 oz. glass jars, all with plastic lids. (FYI - the jars are fragile! I broke one the first time I made yogurt and have been using a little glass jar that artichokes came in to fill the spot ever since...) It was a lot of trial and error at first. The directions that came with the yogurt maker (brand is called Deni) were pretty basic.

1. Pour 1 qt. milk (whole, 2%, 1%, or powdered) into a saucepan. Heat milk until it boils, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove saucepan from heat and allow milk to cool to room temperature. Pour into pitcher.

3. Add 1/2 cup natural yogurt into the milk. Stir until well blended. Do not add any flavorings or sweeteners before completing the yogurt making process.

4. Pour the mixed liquid equally into the glass jars and place into the yogurt maker.

5. Cover, plug in, turn the control knob to the desired cooking time.

6. For the first batch, try setting the cooking time to 10 hours. For future batches, set the timer longer for a thicker consistency or shorter for a thinner consistency.

Well, I tried that, and the first time I slightly burned the milk, but decided to try it anyway to see if the yogurt would still come out. It did not. There was a small layer of thick ooze at the bottom of the jars and above that was yellowy water. Plus it smelled like burnt milk. Yuck. So my first lesson was to constantly stir the milk while boiling. Also, I try to take it off the stove just before it gets to boiling, and that still seems to work. Here's a photo of another yogurt disaster:

I think the problem that time was that I left it in the incubator for too long. But the result was kind of fascinating!

In any case, here's what I do, and what has worked for me over dozens of batches.

Use powdered milk, but be generous on the amount of powder to make 1 quart - I usually put in about 1 3/4 cups of the powder for 3 3/4 cups water.

Stir constantly while boiling the milk.

Let the milk stand for 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours. Some yogurt recipes say to get it to room tempterature, others say to use a thermometer. I just use my finger and try to make sure it's not still hot. Warm seems to be okay.

Wisk in the starter yogurt really well.

Pour into the incubator and let it sit in there for 12-14 hours. Lately 12 seems to be working pretty well. 10 was definitely too short. I think probably because I use skim milk.

Voila, that's it! I mix in jam or jelly before eating.

Staring From Scratch

Over the past year I have been slowly teaching myself to cook from scratch. So far the progress has been minimal, but fun. The motivation first came from reading articles on eating locally and the Slow Food movement. Then I started eyeing Pollan and Kingsolver's books at Title Wave. Then I actually picked them up and read them. Thinking eventually led to action and I signed up for a CSA, frequented the farmer's market, and started taking a closer look at the contents in my shopping cart. I began picking up containers in the grocery store and wondering how they came to be. I started counting and studying ingredients and then going home to the Joy of Cooking to compare. As my body started responding positively to these small changes to my eating habits, my desire to learn more has continued to increase. 

So far my attempts have been modest and simple. Pesto and pasta for example. Pesto has 5 ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to make. Fresh pasta has 3 ingredients. It takes a while to make but most of that time is spent waiting for the pasta to dry and can be spent on other noble pursuits, like napping. When the pasta is finally dry and cooked, add some shredded parmesan to the top and - yummy! But see, the cheese... Not so simple. Therefore, store bought. And that is where the you come in my fellow food loving friends. 

I propose a food co-op of sorts. A group where planting, cooking, baking, and storing skills are shared with each other or learned together. And where the results are often shared and/or eaten together as well :) 

I am well aware that my recently found desire to grow, gather and hunt (by hunt I mean fish) follows a growing trend in our country. A trend I am very happy about and would like to follow with the enthusiasm that I had for French rolled jean cuffs in 6th grade. And while I enjoy a peaceful night of solitary cooking now and then, I really want to grow, gather, hunt, cook, bake, and eat/drink with friends. 

My thoughts so far include gatherings where skills can be shared by those who have them with those who don't; gatherings where new skills are learned together; ethnic food nights where a region is chosen, menu is created, ingredients gathered, then cooked together and, of course, eaten together; fishing trips and berry picking trips could also be regular activities when in season. 

And by skills I mean complicated (to me anyway) sounding activities like canning vegetables, smoking salmon, canning salmon, making jams and jellies, making cheese... Oh, and yeast scares me even though I really want to learn how to make bread. Quite the dilemma that one is.  

I'm new to blogging, but I hope this will be a way to organize gatherings, share recipes and tips, create links to other cooking sites and recommend books. I will try to figure out how to make it so that as we form our little co-op members can add posts. 

Happy eating and hope to see you soon :)