This Week’s Recipe List and Homemade Granola

What a weekend!I had to speak at a Dairy Goat Convention, and was gone from Friday afternoon, until Saturday evening. It was a long drive, and well worth the stress of confinement with the 2 yr old and reluctant 11 yr old. I was able to visit with folks that I only see once a year though.  Sometimes, it seems like the weekends are busier than the weekdays. With our family schedule, this is saying a lot.

Here are my upcoming meals for the week. If any sound particularly good, let me know and I can post the recipes. Otherwise, they will just get posted as I go along. These meals are a result of shopping for 2 weeks(this is the second week) and using what is in the pantry. I do plan on buying one gallon of whole milk, due to the quantity of dairy based things on the menu, but that is a rarity. Anyhow, here you go:

Pizza
Macaroni and cheese
Biscuits and Gravy
Shepard’s Pie
Lasagna
Beef Pot Pie with Puff Pastry topping
Sandwich Nite(this will be Friday, we usually go with sandwiches and lots of fun things from the grocery store on this night)

Nothing too fancy, but a nice variety of favorites. The only issue I have from last week’s groceries, are the mushrooms. I transferred them into a paper towel lined dish, with another papertowel on top-then sealed. I will have to use them up tomorrow. I used half in tonight’s pizza and they can go in any of the other things, except the gravy for biscuits-Since it is Crazy Boyscout Monday, I will need to use the crockpot. That narrows it down to Lasagna or Mac N Cheese. Probably going for Mac n cheese, simply because we had pizza on a Sunday, and two nights in a row of tomato sauce can get to be too much.

I refilled the breakfast foods by making 2 dozen more muffins(chocolate chip this week) and a big recipe of granola. It varies every time I make it, but the basic recipe is this:

Homemade Granola

1 stick of butter
1/2-give or take, of honey
1/2 cup of water

Put these ingredients in a roasting pan and heat in a 325 degree oven until melted and combined.

Add 6 cups of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup of brown sugar(vary this if desired)
1 cup of your crushed banana chips
1/2 cup of lightly ground almonds

Heat for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes

After an hour, remove about 1 tspoon and let cool, to check for crispness.

Once your granola is cook completely, cool in an out of the way place until completely cool.

Now add 1 cup dried fruit(dried cranberries are perfect with the almonds)
1 cup of mini chocolate or carob chips
1/2 cup of coconut.

That’s it!

I bag these in 1/2 cup snack bags. Otherwise, the kids eat it in a day. That’s right, folks…ONE day.

Enjoy!