A Brief Ode to Making Granola

How satisfying is making your own granola? Let me count the ways:

1. Homemade granola is SO much cheaper than store bought.
2. You can put whatever you want in it.
3. If you find the right recipe (I love this one, because it's simple and quick -- the trick is to bake it for a shorter time at a higher temperature and stir often, although I found 375 too high and lowered it to 350), you will never buy granola again.
4. You just feel great with a big container of homemade granola on the shelf.
5. Did I mention how much cheaper it is than store bought?

For some reason, making granola makes me feel self-sufficient, like I'm ready to abandon supermarkets and raise chickens for eggs (K has forbidden this until I'm old enough to be truly eccentric, probably at least 60). Also, using the recipe linked above, the whole thing takes about 45 minutes, including washing the bowl and the baking sheet. It feels like picking cucumbers and eggplant from a garden, but it uses up a lot less space. And for two bucks worth of oats and some other stuff I had in the larder, I made probably $10 worth of granola at least, especially that new Bear Naked stuff that costs a fortune.

Ah, granola!

It's Peach Heaven for the Kale Lady

Well, not just peaches; nectarines too. We picked 40 pounds of nectarines and peaches last week, and the past seven days have been a riot of stone fruit. I have to admit it's tough to think about preserving when it's 95 degrees and 80% humidity outside, but I've been trying to limit my activities to early morning and late at night when it's a little cooler. I must admit, canning 4 jars of roasted tomato/peach/chipotle salsa before 9am does give one a real feeling of accomplishment for the day. The week has been a frenzy of matutinal and nocturnal cooking -- so far I have made:

The salsa
Peach/nectarine/raspberry pie (x2)
Nectarine crumble
Nectarine/peach leather
Peach filling/topping (5 jars)
Nectarine chutney (4 jars)

We also still have some whole fruit, which is being eaten by various members of the Kale family in its untreated state, and I don't think more than 4 or 5 pieces of fruit ended up so bad that I couldn't salvage at least for one of the above projects. Of course, now that I've worked my way through all of this, I'm scheming about our next picking trip and what I should make next. I'm disappointed that I missed the very end of cherry season -- the day before we went picking, there was a huge thunderstorm that lasted hours and washed out the remaining cherries. Oh well, next year.

I was reading my guilty blog pleasure, No Impact Man, today (so sanctimonious, yet so enjoyable...), and he had a number of tips for using your time more effectively, and he linked to a site that's all about productivity, Life Remix. What struck me was how epic these ideas seemed -- throw away your cell phone! Toss out your tv! Totally reorganize your sleep schedule! Most of the time, it's little things that can make you more productive, things like making smoothie pops for the kids while they're eating their breakfast, or taking public transport so I can read or knit on the train, or bringing a pillow and blanket to work so I can take a quick afternoon nap without waking up freezing cold in the AC (this only works if you have an office with a door you can close) or cooking in the evenings after the kids are in bed etc etc. Dramatic solutions aren't sustainable in any context -- and sometimes being productive is pissing time away in useless pursuits. Balance is all, I think (of course, this from someone who spends her nights plotting what next to pick, can, or knit....).