The Granola Goddess

Hello Sweets,

I guess all the productiveness from yesterday made for a sore body today :(  Not to mention the migraine I had was a little ridiculous, lol my poor landlord had to stop by and felt horrible.  I told her it was okay that she stopped by as I knew it was going to be quick, and that I was also going back to bed :p  Thankfully I had leftovers from yesterday, so at least I didn't have to strain to make sure I ate.  Although I haven't eaten any of it yet, but I managed to get a banana and some crackers down so far...yayyy!  I'm going to try eating some soup here soon, so let's think positively lol.

Thankfully I did make something last night after I finished my post :D  Unfortunately I forget that I didn't pick up any eggs yet, so I couldn't make any muffins.  So obviously that made figuring out another recipe a bit of a challenge, until I made a snack that is.  Probably one of my favorite snacks right now is yogurt and granola, it makes me happy lol.  So that got me thinking, why haven't I made my own granola yet?  Clearly I had no good reason, so that made my decision to make some that much easier.  I looked at some recipes to determine whether or not I had everything I needed, and although I didn't have some things I had some other interesting substitutions :)

Canuckette's Granola

Ingredients

6C rolled oats

1/4C dark brown sugar

1/2C olive oil

1/3C honey

2tsp vanilla

1/4C coconut flakes

1/2C raisins

1/2C dried cherries

1C pecans, chopped

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix rolled oats and brown sugar together. 

                          

2)  In a separate bowl; whisk together the oil, honey, and vanilla. 

3)  Pour over dry mixture, stirring well to coat thoroughly.

 

4)  Add in chopped nuts (and seeds if you want) at this point.

 

5)  Spread on a sprayed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.  Stir frequently (every 5 mins) to ensure even baking.  It should be golden brown when done.

 

6)  Add dried fruit and coconut once it's done cooking.

7)  Let cool on baking sheet, then break up any large pieces.  Store in an airtight container.  Stores for 3 weeks.

Not only did my house smell amazing, but it tastes great too!

Not only do you know exactly what goes into it, but it tastes a million times better because it's fresh.  You can also personalize it for everyone in your family :)  Don't like coconut, leave it out!  Big fan of flax seed, add it in!  You could even add in chocolate chips to it if you're a chocoholic.  What ever you do make it your own, that way you'll enjoy eating it.

First thing I'm doing tomorrow is getting some eggs, lol let's face it I'm going to need them.  As long as I do that the sky's the limit tomorrow!  Now to make that limitless list, a little shorter ;)  For the rest of tonight I'll be relaxing and talking to the love of my life, and if my migraine will permit it maybe a little painting too!  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Canuckette's crazy bake off!!!

Hello Sweets,

Oh man oh man am I baking exhausted, lol.  After a double batch of my original pecan pie muffins, one batch of the new pecan pie muffins, and one batch of pecan dream (originally walnut, but my love likes pecans more), even an avid baker like myself can find that quite exhausting.  Let me paint you a little bit of a more fun picture of what I was doing.  Imagine if you would: me spinning around like a tornado from station to station, and to the oven for about 3 hours straight, lol, funny eh (see what I did there :p)?  The only downside was that during the prep of the pecan dreams, I forgot to take some of the in between photos :( bad bad Jennifer!

So the reason I tried a new pecan pie muffin recipe was because my go to recipe only had 5 ingredients, and this new one has much more, and a different approach all together.  Sometimes it's fun to try new recipes, whether they are just a different variation of one of your favorite recipes, or a completely new recipe, like the second one I will be sharing with you guys tonight; passed down to me via my auntie Peggy (shout out), whom it was given to by my grandma Oburni for Pecan Dreams :)

I know it seems a little crazy baking three different things in the same evening, but I am a little crazy, for anyone who knows me, knows it's true.  I'm pretty sure trying a new pecan pie muffin recipe when I already have a phenomenal one is a little crazy, but alas, I am venturing down this crazy road, won't you join me?

Pecan Pie Muffins (via Southern Living)

Ingredients

1C firmly packed light brown sugar

1C pecans, chopped

1/2C all-purpose flour

1/2Tsp baking powder

1/4Tsp salt

1/2C butter, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1Tsp vanilla extract

vegetable cooking spray

1/2C pecans, finely chopped

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 425F.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of the mixture.  

2)  Stir together butter and next 2 ingredients; add to brown sugar mixture, and stir just until moistened.

3)  Coat 2 (12 cup) miniature muffin pans (I used a regular one and yielded 18) well with cooking spray.  Place 1Tsp of the finely chopped pecans in each muffin cup; spoon batter over pecans, filling almost to top.  Place muffin pans on an aluminum foil-lined jelly roll pan.

4)  Bake at 425F for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 2 minutes.  Run a knife around edge of each cup to loosen muffins (I didn't need to do this as I used an ample amount of cooking spray), and remove from pans. 

They look, smell, and taste delicious of course, lol, I did make them after all!  But alas, during my tornado baking spree I don't have a final pic, but later in this post there will be a group shot of all the goodies!

So this next recipe was sent to me from my auntie Peggy, she is probably one of my biggest supporters of my blog, and was very excited to try it, since it was passed down through the family.  :)  Now as I said earlier, it did call for walnuts, but here in Texas, pecans are the way to go, so that is my only adjustment since they have the same texture and structure.  On to the dream!

Pecan Dreams (via my auntie)

Ingredients:

2Tbs butter

5Tbs all-purpose flour

1/8Tsp baking soda

1C pecans, coarsely chopped

2 eggs

3/4Tsp vanilla extract

1/4Tsp lemon extract

1C brown sugar, packed

forgot the eggs lol lame

Directions:

1)  Melt butter in an 8" square pan.

2)  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together; stir in walnuts.

3)  Beat eggs and extracts; add brown sugar gradually, blend until thick.  Blend in dry ingredients.

4)  Turn into pan over the melted butter, do not stir.

finally a picture! pre oven

5)  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, when finished a toothpick placed in the center will come out clean.

Yummy cookie like treats....I mean dreams :p

6)  Loosen around the edges immediately after cooking.  Then cut and enjoy!

mmmmm yummers!!

Ahh so yes this was a lot of work, and my shoulders and neck are currently in protest, but it's the one thing that can pick up my mood when having a bad day, so I trucked on through, and I even got a shoulder massage after from my man :)

Don't forget you can find the original pecan pie muffin recipe here!

Above is my conquest in the kitchen tonight, not a bad haul :)  I think I will be the favorite "foodie" at NASCAR race weekend starting tomorrow.  So please bare with me if my posts are spaced a little further apart as I will not be at my computer for large portions of the day, but I'll try to do some recap posts on what we did, ate, and saw.  I'll even snap a few pictures of our tailgating crew.  They are all super nice and friendly...actually pretty much all NASCAR attendees are.  I hope you enjoy the recipes I provided tonight. Let me know what you think of them.  Also, I would love to hear some of your family recipes that have been passed down, because they are to savory to pass up :)  Until then......

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo