Easy Homemade Granola

We’ve all done it, keep meaning to make something homemade to save money but never getting around to it.  Then thinking about it all over again as you scoop the expensive stuff into a bag at the shop.  My husband enjoys having granola on his yoghurt in the mornings.  For at least a year I’ve been meaning to give it a try but something always distracted me.

The other week https://frugalhausfrau.com posted about making granola.  She made it look so easy and delicious I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer!  And quite frankly, with two teenagers in the house, any way I can save on the food bill is a good thing.

My husband loves raisins/sultanas and currants so I thought I would keep it simple with the addition of almonds.

Homemade granola 1 2018

Preheat the oven to 300F/150C.

In a bowl add a cup of oats, a handful of almonds (chopped), a pinch of salt, a tablespoon or so of brown sugar, half a teaspoon each of cinnamon and ground nutmeg.  Mix well.

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Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, add this and a teaspoon of vanilla to the bowl.  Mix thoroughly.  Taste to see if you need to adjust the seasoning.

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Spread out evenly on parchment paper over a baking sheet.  Bake 30-40 minutes.  This is a wide range because you don’t want to bring out a burnt taste to the granola and every oven is different.  Stir the granola twice during the baking.  Once it’s a light golden colour it should be done.

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Once it’s baked, let it cool before adding the raisins/sultanas and currants.  I added a healthy handful of each.  If you find the raisins are on the sweet side you can back off on the sugar to keep it balanced.

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I enjoyed it over yoghurt but this is great as an on the go snack or over ice cream.  As we ended up with nearly 3 cups of mixed granola store it in an airtight container.  This is so easy and the variations are endless, there isn’t any reason to buy it anymore!

Pear Frangipane and Getting In My Own Way…

This was three days in the making.  Yes, three days.  Not because this an elaborate recipe, there are several steps, but because I was my own worse enemy this weekend.  Normally this is a few hours of work but I started it on Friday and finally finished it yesterday afternoon.

My husband and I were struggling with a summer cold on Friday.  So we were dragging.  But I figured I’d be ambitious and bake a frangipane.  My sister had made this a few times before and it’s delicious.  I finally remembered to buy pears and they were ripe and ready to go.  I got the butter and the flour in the freezer then went to get out the food processor and dropped a pasta attachment on my toe.  Fortunately it only dropped a few inches because that solid steel really hurt!  So off I went to elevate it and ice it. That day was done.

Saturday just got away from us.  We were finding storage solutions for our son’s room so he can organise the crazy amount of Lego he has acquired.  Shopping takes a lot out of you so that day was shot!  Yesterday was the day to make this happen.

This is the recipe I used.

For the pastry you will need:  9T butter, 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/3 cup of water.  Cut the butter in 1/2″ slices and place in the freezer for 1/2 an hour.  Chill the water in the fridge.

Frangipane 1 2014

In a food processor pulse the butter, flour, and salt together until the flour and butter are incorporated in a crumbly mixture.

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Slowly add the water while pulsing the food processor.  Stop pulsing when all the water has been added.  You want the pastry to feel dry still.  Tip it onto the counter.

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Press the pastry in a kneading fashion to bring the pastry together.  This will take a few minutes.

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Roll out the pastry until it is about 1/2″ thick and cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.  It can be chilled for up to 24 hours.

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For the Frangipane you will need: 1 cup of almonds, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 T of flour, 1 egg, 5 T butter, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp of almond extract, pinch of salt.

In the food processor pulse the almonds and sugar together until you get a fine meal.

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Add in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until blended.  I put in the butter in one lump and it took awhile to blend so I recommend cutting the butter first into small pieces.

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For the pears you will need: 3-4 Bartlett pears, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 T flour, pinch of salt, zest of one lemon, 1T of lemon juice.

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As my pears were really ripe this part was very messy.  But peel and slice the pears.  In a bowl add the sugar, salt, flour, and lemon zest.  Mix well then add the pears and lemon juice.  Set aside.

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Pre heat the oven to 425F/220C.

Roll out the pastry to about 16″.  If the pastry is too hard let it warm up a bit.  In the centre add the frangipane.

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Layer the pears over the frangipane and fold the pastry over the top.

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Beat one egg and add about a tablespoon of water to the egg.  Brush this over the pastry and sprinkle with sugar.

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Lower the temp to 400F/205C.  Bake for 40 minutes.

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Let it cool before serving.  Serve it with whipped cream.

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It was a long weekend but this was a great treat to end it.  My husband made a fabulous cheese souffle for dinner so we had an excellent meal all round!

I noticed halfway of writing this post that I was back to the new style but it gave me the chance to go back to classic.  Luckily I copied what I wrote before I switched back because when you do that it erases any work you have done.  I’d like it to stick to classic!

 

Picnic Perfect Chicken Salad

Sunday we had a wonderful crazy day of celebrating 5 family birthdays with a family get together at the lake.  The only thing wrong with the day was that my husband is travelling for a couple of weeks so he couldn’t be with us.  The kids had fun swimming.  I thought they were nuts given how cold the water was!  But hey, they had a blast so who am I to argue.  It took them a long time to actually get in though.

We planned a potluck and I wanted a light dish without mayo as it was going to be warm.  I came across an idea to use slices of apple instead of using crackers with chicken salad.  The chicken salad they had was mayo based so I used my own but I loved the serving idea of fruit.

I marinated chicken breast in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper then grilled the chicken.

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Let the chicken completely cool.  Chop up the chicken into small pieces and toss with olive oil and lemon juice.

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Finely chop a shallot and add a few teaspoons of fresh thyme.

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I got all excited when I saw the co-op was selling individual celery stalks.  I only need two so it was perfect!  Thinly slice the celery and mix in with the chicken and then season with salt and pepper.  I made this the day before which allowed the flavours to meld together.  Slice the apples and top with the salad and then add a nut of your choice.

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Easy, delicious, and fun!  And perfect for a picnic.  🙂