Homemade Granola/Cereal

So, I've searched around on this for a few weeks and finally came up with my own recipe. It turned out pretty good, but don't cook it any longer than 45 minutes or it WILL burn, even if it doesn't look done yet.. :( not with standing, the extra toasty flavour didn't do too much to damage it. :)

Here is the recipe I made:

Dry Ingredients;
3c oats; 1/2 c bran;
1/2 c ground flax (I ground flax seeds in coffee grinder),
 1/2 c sunflower seeds,
1/2 c chopped almonds (don't use the coffee grinder - turns to a flour, try a food processor or blender and pulse, watching closely)
2 tsp cinnamon (I will use more next time)
1 tsp cloves (I will use more next time)
1 tsp ginger (I will use more next time)
1/2 tsp coffee (for mocha flavour)
1 tblsp cocoa powder (for antioxidants, and flavour if you like it)
1/4 c brown sugar (I almost didn't put this in, and I actually could have had more, trying to be careful of this kinda stuff in my diet tho...)

Wet ingredients
1/8 c honey
1/8 c agave
1 tblsp vanilla
1/3c EVOO
1/3c almond milk
1tsp salt (I know, it's not wet)
2 tblsp butter

Fruit suggestions (use about a cup total):
dried cranberries
dried cherries
raisins
dried blueberries
apricots
I only used about 1/2 c raisins  - sugar...

Simmer wet ingredients for a few minutes, then mix with dry until all coated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes til well toasted in a cookie sheet. I put a sheet of parchment paper on it and I was glad I did, it barely all fit and made it easier to stir.

Remove and cool, stir occasionally (I forgot, it survived)

Add fruit, store in air tight containers.

Let me know if you tried it and how you like it! I'm going to use some when I make my dog food  - for the first time - after I am positive the ingredients won't hurt him. I set some aside for him before I put the raisins in because I know they shouldn't have grapes. Will post when I make the dog food, with or without the granola...

Happy trails to you! :)

So, I am on a quest to make soap without, well, soap

I know, soap without lye does not soap make. Okay, fine. But there has got to be another way to clean, without using soap, that's effective. I mean, come on. Really. We went from soap, to now hand sanitizer, and the germs are just getting bigger and badder - why not, start over? Simplify. I'm determined to figure it out.

I am determined to find a way to use as little resources as necessary, buy as few things as possible, especially for personal care with all those darn chemicals in it. Crazy! Who needs that?? That stuff has come about in the last 100 years or less and how many people do you know that have died of cancer? Ugh, never mind, not going there.

Okay, so the first thing I made was, well, soap. I used the glycerin soap we already had, about 2 or 3 bars, chopped 'em up, even tho the directions said to grate them. I should have. But doesn't matter,  I'm not using something already and rehashing it (or properly - re-batching it) to make something new. I want to make it uniquely my own.

Anyway, I melted down that soap in a mixture of other stuff like brown sugar, olive oil and I don't know honey or whatever and then poured it into containers to use as a scrub. So, the scrub was awesome!!!! Then later, I remixed it with other stuff, some spices and herbs, cinnamon stick and poured it into tin cans, which apparently you shouldn't do if there's lye in the mix somehow. Which there is lye in any soap you buy, unless it has soapnuts in it. I'll talk about that later. In another post maybe.

It turned out, fine, but doesn't hold together well. And, I should have taken it out of the molds after about 48 hours and let it "age" a few weeks, but, well, I needed soap because I used up all the soap bars we had... This newer batch that I let age some is holding up better.

So, next I made this coffee scrub, which was AWESOME and smelled great!!! Mixed with olive oil and stuff, and then I made some shampoo. Thinking, baking soda is the ingredient I need to make it clean stuff, like hair. I think I put the whole kitchen sink into that shampoo. I made it with leftover coffee and a bunch of other stuff like, well, it doesn't matter what. I won't be making it again. Less is more.

So, back to the drawing board for me.

Oh yeah, the shampoo turned out great! I added stuff to it to reduce or eliminate dandruff, greasy hair and to help fine, limp hair, don't even need hairspray per se... but after about a week, the contents were under pressure and almost lost an eye trying to open it, so now I point it away.

Will start to post recipes maybe as things start to work out better, but for now, just sharing my experiences to help people on the same journey know what to avoid!!!

First lesson learned, LESS is MORE! :) Only a few ingredients in these products will go a long way! :)