the start of a good life

Now, I guess I could say this falls under the ‘chronic pain/ health’ section of SGL’s focus but really, that’s just stretching it. This granola is GOOD folks. I’ll give you the recipe as I have it from redbook mag, october 2015, tore it out of my mom’s copy before she tossed it! (I looked on their website but couldn’t find it, so guess i’ll risk just typing it out here!!!)

Carla’s Fruit-and-Nut Granola

3 cups old-fashioned Oats

3/4 cup slivered Almonds

1/2 cup raw Sunflower Seeds

1/2 cup raw Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

~Heat oven to 325degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet, mix very well. Spread out on baking sheet and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Stirring every 15 or so minutes to get evenly brown.

Now, as to how I do it. First off, in case you don’t read much past this original recipe, I DO NOT recommend baking it for the full 40/45 minutes. I’ve never had mine, when following these amounts, in past 35.  And that was pretty brown/crunchy/had a slight burnt taste to it. Keep a close eye on it.

SO. the changes I’ve made.

4 cups oats

1 3/4 cup mixed nuts (typically unsalted but don’t have to be)

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup -slightly less- maple syrup

1/2 cup – slightly less- olive oil

~ My OH and I were going through the granola FAST so I started trying to get it to stretch further.  the liquid measurements are iffy, I typically pour both oil and syrup in one measuring cup and go from there. For baking this, I set the timer every 15 minutes to stir/keep an eye on the color. The last time I actually did 4 1/2 cups of oatmeal and it was in the oven almost an hr.

I get everything but the oil from costco to help save on cost. I also saved an empty mixed nut container from costco to store the granola in. Less waste =happy Laura

Here’s where I learned to make my own Almond Milk! Although, reading it, I haven’t been adding enough water the last few times…. The ratio is really based on taste – we don’t like weak/watery almond milk so I do tend to make it a little ‘stronger’.

There’s just something so fun about eating a bowl of yumminess that you made the granola AND milk!

Have fun,

Laura

p.s. writing this reminds me I need to make more, we are out!

I’d been happily reading through fantastic blogs, several of them series’ when it hit me-

SMACK!

I have a series post that I need to write! Whoops! So, here it is, I haven’t read a LOT this month due to, well, life, getting in the way. (yes life includes this one wanting to play fetch all the time. and EAt. and then play fetch. and then Eat. then play hide and seek. and then EAt…well you get the idea. Thank goodness she likes naps still…)

That Certain Spark by Cathy Marie Hake -When twins Drs. Enoch and Taylor Bestman arrive in Gooding, Texas, the town is eager to welcome their new veterinarian and doctor. But when they find out the doctor is actually a woman, the whole town is up in arms. One of the men against it is Karl Van der Vort, local blacksmith. He doesn’t like her unladylike occupation, although he can’t deny her skills after becoming her first patient.

–A true christian romance that I typically read in just a few days, this is a light read that you can kind of predict the ending but Hake throws in some curveballs throughout that keep it interesting! I love Taylor’s spunk and how protective Karl is of her right from the start. 

Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury – Cory Briggs knows he is blessed to have Megan Gunn as his foster mom, but when she tries to adopt him, he is adamant about one thing. Aaron Hill, star quarterback of the 49ers is his dad. Aaron has all he’s ever dreamed about but he’s about to have his life changed forever. Derrick Anderson knows this is his last season playing football, but there is one more thing he has to do…

– i know, i know , a ‘football book’? ( i really hope you read that in the whiny voice of the sick little boy at the beginning of Princess Bride ‘ is this a kissing book?’) but this is one I’ve been reading for years. The characters are such that I would love to go to coffee with Megan and to hang out at the Anderson’s house. =)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’engle  – This is the adventures of Meg, her brother Charles Wallace and Calvin O’Keefe’s adventures. They take a wild flight with unearthly strangers to find Meg’s missing father – way too long ago he disappeared while working for the government on a secret project involving the tesseract. The tesseract is a wrinkle in time, and while many don’t believe it exists, it does.

–  I ended up borrowing this one from a friend, and read it in about two days! While it was a little different and you could tell it was written for a younger audience, it was still a great read. I look forward to reading the second book in the series. You travel to different planets – and meet different species – with the children, and while it’s fantastical, it was fun.

Maire by Linda Windsor– In Ireland in the fifth century the light of Christ was spreading – thanks in huge part to the druids who started seeking truth. During this time of change, two warriors stand against evil. Rowan of Emrys, a leader of his tribe and repentant warrior and Maire, warrior queen of Gleannmara. As these two leaders form an unlikely and unplanned bond, they face the evil druid, Morlach  who is determined to have Maire and Gleannmara and Rowan’s older brother who sold him into slavery as a boy.

~Ahh, Ireland. One day I will go there! But for now, I read novels. And this one is a four-star story! I have been reading this one yearly for, well, years and years and years. As a warning for younger readers, there is talk about marital rights and pleasures. As usual for me, it is very mild but present throughout the novel. 

Dragonhaven by Robin Mckinley – Being a young boy growing up in a dragon museum sounds like it’d be the best thing ever, but Jake knows the truth. The tourists and the government make it a difficult, if unique, world. Dragons are extinct, and Smokehill is one of the few places in the world that is designed to protect them. But when Jake finds an orphaned dragonlet and tucks it in his shirt to save it, he sets in motion a series of events that he never would have dreamed of.

–Having loved all other Mckinley books that I’ve come across, I took a chance and bought this one straight off the shelf ( instead of getting it from the library first!). I was so excited to read it, I passed on starting The Count of Monte Cristo! Sadly, while I loved the story line and the unique plot, I didn’t love the style of writing Mckinley used. I was interested enough to finish the story, but now that Im in the epilogue, I don’t know if I’ll get through it. I’m bummed about it but I did fall in love with Lois and Gulp!

~I’m having a hard time with my photo editor but since i’m days late posting this, i’m going to send it out in the world of, well, 0’s and 1’s and hope that you’ll all forgive me, i’ll try and get a cover photo before this weekend!

What have you been reading? Any inspirational or writing books you’d recommend?

~Laura

Writing Prompt:  write about the time the rain wouldn’t stop.

As I set the table, I looked around the sitting room and sighed. When had it grown so dark? The light filtering through the windows was pale and weak, the corners that usually were bathed in soft sunshine were dark and impenetrable. Even with the silver shined to a brilliant sheen, there was nothing to bounce off it to make it sparkle. After making sure everything was spaced just like Mother had taught me, I wandered to the window and pulled my sweater closer about me.  Clouds hung heavy in the sky, blocking all hope of a clear sky for the afternoon. They were thick and foreboding and I tried to shake the sense that something awful was about to happen. I was often told that I let my emotions rule me too much. Finally hearing the front door shut, I hurried from the window and stood by the small table.

“My, you are a dear. The table looks lovely.”

I helped Mother with her coat and hat and we sat down to tea.

“This weather reminds me of a time when I was just four years old. It had been a dry year, until one day, clouds rolled in and hovered over us. They started out as happy little white ones but as the days went on, they became larger and darker until I was sure they would reach out and snatch me up if I stayed outdoors. Father tried to tell me they were only clouds.”  Mother chuckled and glanced out the window. “But then one night I heard this tapping on the windows. And then on the roof. I hid under my bed and held my breath. The clouds you know.”

“You thought they were coming to get you?”

“Oh yes. I fell asleep under there and woke to the same tap-tap. It didn’t seem so scary in the light of the morning so I crawled out and found my Mother looking out our big window. We stood there and watched the rain for so long, Mother smiling just a little and I was just mesmerized with the way the drops rolled down the glass. We did that every morning. It rained so long people started complaining about it. But still it rained and rained. Those clouds never changed, either. They stayed the same dark, menacing things they had been right before it started. All that summer it rained. And then into the fall. I had started to forget the feel of the sun on my face or how hot rocks get in the afternoon heat of summer. Pretty soon, people stopped complaining about it.”

Setting my teacup down, I interrupted, “They stopped? But it was still raining!”

“Exactly, my pet. It had been raining for so very long that they had forgotten that it didn’t used to. It went on for years this way. The rivers never flooded, the ground never got too muddy. But still, it rained.”

I sat fascinated as my Mother wrapped her long fingers around the teacup, her low voice continuing, “I was twenty four the day it all changed. A stranger showed up at the weekly market and remarked on the strange weather. Naturally he was told that it had been raining for quite some time. Shocked, he looked around and stated that he’d been traveling for days and only when he topped the last hill had the rain started. And then he told us of the sunshine. And the flowers and butterflies. I was intrigued and listened with all my being. I hurried home to tell Mother and Father but they laughed at what I said. The stranger moved on the next day but I never forgot his words and the things he had described. I knew I had to go to that hill and see it for myself.” Mother sighed. “I don’t know if you can imagine a place where it never stops raining. Day in and day out, night after night in a steady stream it came down. Like everyone else, I had gotten so used to it that I didn’t question it. But that stranger changed everything. I asked my parents to take me to that hill. But they forbid it. I didn’t know what was outside our town, they told me. I tried pleading, begging, demanding. Everything I had stopped doing when I first saw the sadness in my Mother’s eyes at my behavior. They still refused me. So, early one morning, I wrapped a few of my things into my pack and snuck out my bedroom window. No one got up early, what with the gray skies and forever rain, so I didn’t have much of a problem getting out of town. By the time I got to the base of the hill, I was winded, thoroughly soaked and thinking about going back home. But I plodded on, the longing to see the stranger’s sun stronger than the pull of home. And just like he said, at the top of the hill, the rain stopped.”

I stared at Mother, wanting to prod her, make her tell me what she saw but I couldn’t breathe, much less talk.

“In a perfectly straight line, the rain ended and bright grass covered everything in front of me. The morning sun was just over the horizon and I could feel it on my face, caressing me. I wanted to run and shout with excitement. This. This was the world I loved. I stayed standing in the rain for a moment more and then took a deep breath and left it.”

“Left the rain?”

“Yes, I left the forever rain.”

Thanks for stopping by!

~Laura