No Sugar Added Granola

I made a new kind of granola last week. It is sweetened only with pineapple and banannas. It could use some stevia but really isn’t bad with a few raisins. My goal was for a very crunchy, mildly sweet granola that clumped when cooked. I succeeded! Here’s the recipe:

5 cups thick cut rolled oats
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup whole almonds (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (to encourage clumping)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (to encourage clumping)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash salt
1 cup canned crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
2 ripe bananas (not previously frozen)
1/2 cup coconut oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl combine first 8 ingredients and mix well. In a blender add pineapple, bananas and soft coconut oil. (Next time I will add 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract or 6-8 packets stevia blend.) Mix until smooth and whipped. Pour pineapple mixture over oat mixture and stir until completely moistened.

This is how it looked just before baking.

Spread in a single layer onto two large greased cookie sheets. I fisted some of the mixture to encourage clumping.

Bake for 15 minutes, then stir and switch racks for the cookie sheets. Repeat 3 more times. For the last 15 minutes, turn the oven off and let it cool down naturally with the granola still inside. Watch for over browning the last 15 minutes. Set the pans out to cool. When completely cool, mixture will be nice and crisp.

Makes 10 cups of granola
Nutrition–per 1/3 cup: Calories: 168 Protein: 4.6 Fat: 9.8g Carbs: 25 g including 5.2 grams of fiber and only 1.7 sugar grams

Today

We started our homeschool today and so far I’ve only lost my patience a handful of times, sigh.  A sign that I am still overwhelmed even with 2 kiddoes in school.  On the bright side, I think I will be able to teach those 2 well and the baby and 3 year old are being fairly cooperative.  Brandon is sticking to my side like glue during Dub’s lessons and I expect he will pick up quite a bit by listening in.  (Ooh, did I tell my blog friends that I am sending 2 children to private church school this year?  It was a terribly hard choice but the right one.  I’m so happy about it and it’s fodder for a new post..with darling first day of school photos.)

Today I am also working on planning for our clothing needs for fall and winter.  This is my favorite part of homemaking!  (Besides cooking–and eating, lol.)  I’m writing all of how we do frugal clothes in a brand new ebook complete with imbedded video (if all goes well) and hope to release it  the week of Labor Day.  There will be a special introductory sale the first day that  you’ll want to take advantage of.  Now…the pressure’s on for me to finish in time!

Clothing plannin is especially fun becuase we have a spring baby!  That means that the older brother clothes are the wrong season for him during the baby months (though will work fine once he is in size 24 months.)  And I get to hunt for baby bargains :). Our baby is also a pottying EC baby (EC=Elimination Communication.) Which means his clothing needs are slightly different than the average baby.  Onesies don’t work well here since we leave him diaper cover free at home, and the flaps get damp if we have a miss (potty accident.)  For summer, I just used a t-shirt and diaper with a hand knitted soaker cover when we slip out. I cut the flaps off a few onesies to extend his wardrobe, but didn’t love doing that. 

I noticed Children’s Place has some non-onesie baby shirts starting in size 6-9 months.  With the coupon code (A7E2011) good today only for 20% off plus free shipping, the shirts are only $4.80 each.  I’m not into dressing my kiddoes like punk rockers or in clothing with skulls, so the choies were limited.  I found 3 shirts that will work great and plan to sew some envelope top shirts from thermal knit (all stash) later.  But since I’ll be drafting the pattern for these…I’m happy to order a few shirts to get by until I have time.

Though I’m using cloth diapers now, I’m ready to have underwear for the babe now since it is easier with pottying.  I found this super cute pattern on etsy for underwear style training pants that come in wee babe sizes (starting at 6-9 months) and  big boy sizes too (up to 12 years).  By sewing these from stash fabrics, I’ll save $12-15 a pair!  The pattern looks fantastic–very professional and easy to understand with some great tips.  I was excited that all my boys said they’d wear underwear like that (the pattern has an optional soaker that can be left out for big boys or girls) if I used camo fabric, lol.  This is not a paid endorsement of the pattern, just a happy customer.  I’ll let you know more how I like it once I stitch a few pairs up.

Underwear Style Training Pants PDF Sewing Pattern

Anyhoo, that’s my day today.  I’m slapping myself that I haven’t put a newsletter out in 4 weeks.  I need to write those ahead since the end of the week is always so busy!

Local Deals and Time to Plan for September

If you haven’t done it already, this is a great day to start planning your meals for September.  For tips on meal planning click here.   You can download blank 2011 calendars for meal planning here.

If you live near Kansas City, Hy-Vee has some amazing deals right now.  At the Noland and 40Hwy store, I just grabbed 2-10 lb bags of chicken quarters for $.39 a lb!  I have one entire bag in my slow cooker with garlic salt, onion powder and paprika.  When it’s cooked, I’ll debone and add BBQ sauce for yummy pulled chicken sandwiches.

I also grabbed whole chickens for $.49 each, hot dogs for $.69  a package, and turkey breast tenderloins for $1.69 a lb.  Their seedless watermelons are also on sale for $3.69 each and they are the big ones.  If you have cheerio coupons add them to their $1.88 a box sale for a really good deal.

Party Pictures

The banner decoration.  I used this tutorial for cutting out the pieces.  It was so fast!  I did stitch and turn the triangles, leaving the top open, then sealed it all with the bias tape.  I’m hoping the banner will last awhile so took the time to finish the edges.  The letters were cut out of felt and ironed on with wonder under.  (I traced the letters backwards on wonder under.  Then ironed to a sheet of felt.  Then cut out the letters, then peeled the paper backing and ironed on to the triangles.  Since I’m not going to wash it, I didn’t take the time to stitch them on.)

Here’s the tic tac toe game Mom made from cardboard, duct tape, and stitckers. 

I made 12 red and 12 pink strawberry bean bags.  They were cut in 7″ diameter half circles.  I ran gathering stitches around the circle before folding in half and stitching up the side.  I filled them with beans too dry to cook up anymore, pulled the gathering stitches to seal the top and hot glued wool felt leaves over the hole.  These were so fast to make and the kids will be playing with them awhile. 

One relay race was to blow a matchbox car to the finish line with a party blower.  This was super hard since I bought cheap blowers that wouldn’t blow straight.  Not a game I would try again, but it was a hoot to watch the first few kids.  After awhile they got frustrated and bored waiting for their turn.

The first game was toss the strawberry in the pie pan.  There were 2 teams of 6 kiddoes and each player had 2 berries to toss. 

Strawberry Shortcake was there :). 

Even the boys had fun 🙂

Heather made a wish..Shh don’t tell.

Received lots of nice gifts.  Yay for the chance to practice writing.

Afterward we played pinata, but my camera ran out of batteriess.  I’ll have to snag some pictures from my Mom.  But until then, here’s her super cute pinata.  Notice the authentic Strawberry shape is very balloon like :).

Happy Birthday Heather!

Saving on Children’s Birthday Parties

I’m hoping to have pictures up later this evening from Heather’s party.  (As soon as my camera is charged up enough to download.)  I was thinking that I splurged on this party because I saved stress by ordering the plates, cups, napkins, and prefilled treat bags through the mail.  I also ordered 2 dozen helium balloons for decorations which went home with the kids as party favors, but when I thought about it, I realized we saved money in many other ways:

I made the cake myself from a $.50 cake mix and marshmallow fondant.  I invested in sugar gum paste modeling tools, but purchased each item with a 40% off coupon and they will be reuseable on cakes in the future.  So instead of calling it a splurge, I’ll call in an investment since it will continue to save me money in the future. 

I invested in a wig and stockings for my super fun costume, but saved by sewing my dress and hat.  I’ll be able to wear all of it again at a Grocery Shrink promotional event in October and then plan to sell it on ebay.

My mother handmade the pinata out of newspaper, scrap red tissue paper, a balloon and homemade flour and sugar paste for a few cents.  And it was so cute!!!!

I made strawberry bean bags which we used in 4 out of 5 of the party games.  And my mom made an adorable tic tac toe toss game from red duct tape and scrap cardboard.  (She’s pretty amazing.)

I also made a Berry Happy Birthday banner from fabric so it will last for years.  And designed the lettering so the Berry was removeable to adapt the  banner  to other party themes.

We held the party from 1-3 so cake and icecream were expected treats, but a full meal wasn’t necessary.  And we had the party at home–even though the electricity was out! 

We didn’t rent any big air filled games, hire entertainers or live music.  I’m not opposed to it if future finances allow, but the girls enjoyed being together just the same and the birthday girl will still have memories to tuck away forever.

I think my favorite part of the party is when our youngest girl guest, with bright red hair and a quiet and demure personality, walked up to the pinata and cried “HiiiiiYA!” as she swung with all her might.  Brandon still comments occasionally, “HiiiiYa.  That was a good one.”

Heather’s Strawberry Cake

This is my very first fondant and sugar paste cake. I’ll resist the urge to tell you everything that’s wrong with it. I messed up so much! But in the end, I let Heather and Brandon help me finish it by placing on the sugar paste flowers, berries, and leaves and they really had good ideas about how to cover up my mistakes. I hope it still looks this nice for her party tomorrow :). There are so many little fingers in this house that can’t wait for a taste.

Hearty Morning Muffins

These whole grain muffins are full of fruit and vegetables! I’ll give you the original recipe and then in brackets how I plan to modify it.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar [1/2 cup brown sugar plus 6 packets stevia]
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
2 cups shredded carrots
1/3 cup dried apricots, snipped
1/3 cup hulled sunflower seeds
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1 medium banana mashed
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil [1 stick butter, melted, plus 1/2 cup plain yogurt]
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients. Pour batter into 18 greased muffin cups and bake at 375 for 18-22 minutes.

Healthy Banana Cookies

I found this recipe scrawled on a piece of scrap paper. It is gluten free (if you have certified GF oats) and has no added sugar other than that occuring naturally in bananas and dates. I can’t tell you if it’s good yet, but I’d like to try it. I can imagine that I will need to think about it as a healthy snack and not as a “cookie.” By the ingredient list, I can expect this to have a cake like texture without the crisp and chewy texture from traditional sugar and butter cookies.

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup dates or raisins
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup oil (coconut oil would be lovely)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all and let sit for 15 minutes. Drop by spoonfulls on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

I would like to add nuts for a little protein, and then these would be the perfect after workout snack. The healthy carbs are great for muscle recovery. Also, I think a teaspoon of cinnamon would be nice here and help with blood sugar stabilization.

Hearty Oat Loaf

This quick bread rounds out a meal and is an inexpensive way to fill up growing children :). Start the bread before preparing the rest of your meal and everything should get done about the same time.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teasoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cups skim milk
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl beat egg. Add milk and canola oil, mix well. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Pour batter into a greased 8-9″ round cake pan or pie pan. Sprinkle with 2 Tablesspons of additional oats. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 5 mins, remove from pan and cut into wedges to serve with butter and jam.