Homemade Granola

While spending the summer at the Word Of Life Inn, I began an addiction to granola.  Almost every single morning, I would have a banana and a bowl of blueberry yogurt with granola sprinkled on top.  (Who am I kidding?  I had a half bowl of yogurt with a half bowl of granola.)  I LOVED that granola!!!

When I arrived back in NC, I brought a bag of the 'Inn granola' home with me.  It was soon gone.  I went to the store and bought some granola.  I even bought really good granola with no 'icky stuff' in it at the Whole Food store in their bulk bin. 
IT DID NOT COMPARE.

Since I had TONS of fresh, organic, blueberries that my uncle had picked for me, I HAD TO HAVE GRANOLA! 

Fresh or frozen blueberries with french vanilla yogurt and homemade granola is one of my favorites... remember this picture?

I present to you my Homemade Granola:

Ingredients:

4 cups of quick oats

1/2 cup of sliced almonds

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 cup of ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/3 cup of canola oil

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix well.

Put all wet ingredients into a small pot (except for the vanilla).

Stir while you bring to a boil.

After this mixture boils, remove it from the heat.

ADD THE VANILLA NOW. 

Stir it into the liquid mixture.

Drizzle this liquid over top of the dry mixture.

STIR STIR STIR STIR...  AND STIR SOME MORE.

Cover a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. 

Spread your granola evenly over the parchment paper.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

If you are cooking on a pan other than stoneware, you might want to stir this mixture half way through cooking to make sure it cooks evenly. 

I use my favorite Pampered Chef bar pan. 

But, you do NOT 'need' a special pan. 

This can be cooked in a glass or stainless steel. 

(Stay away from aluminum, or 'non stick' coated cookware.)

Make sure it is completely cooled then, store it in any type of air tight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Enjoy with blueberries and french vanilla yogurt,

or just as one of those 'eat-with-your-fingers' type of snacks.

FYI:  Next time I am going to try replacing the oil with applesauce.  Also, you could add any type of dry fruit to this mix.

What's going on?

Are any of you asking this question?  I'm about to fill you in.

We have moved back to North Carolina!

We are currently living with my parents who graciously have allowed us to take up residence in their spare bedroom. 

Michael is searching the job market and trying to find a job. 

We have finally started our homeschool.

And all because of one little encounter with a reader at a local Starbucks last night, this blog will continue on.  It humbles me to know the Lord would use my ramblings to touch someone's life.

Graduation

Praise the Lord!

Thank you for all your prayers and support through this first year at the

Word of Life Bible Institute.

Road Trip

We took a short road trip with the Vikas to Lake Placid. 

On our way to Lake Placid, we always love to stop at Chapel Pond. 

Here are some pictures from our day.

All of the kids - being kids.

The Vika family - they also have two older children who are serving at WOL Hungary this summer.

Mr. & Mrs. Vika

Stefan

Tamara

Hannah

Cari

Friends Forever

After our stop at Chapel Pond, we traveled north to Lake Placid.  We had some pizza and then it started to rain. 

The kids wanted to make themselves look like statues. 

Here are all the kid statues.

Statue Stefan

Statue Tamara

Statue Hannah

Statue Cari

We are going to miss you, Vika family!!!

More Love

Although this is an old picture, I had to share it with you all. 

After my last post, I was thinking about all the times I stumble upon simple

 "I love you"s from my husband. 

I remembered this one and remembered that I had taken a picture of it. 

What warms my soul the most about this "I love you" was that he didn't just write, "I love you".  He made sure to include my babies with the " , we". 

My husband is the best!