Cousins and cooking

April's house has been, and continues to be, one of my kids favorite places to go! The boys can run and play in a space larger than our student-sized town home and they have a ball playing with their cousins. They play cougars, house, make up magic shows, treasure hunts, do puzzles, color, play in the backyard and all the other stuff you do with cousins. Usually, April and I make some kind of treat and then at some point the fun comes to an end and we head home. Friday was no exception, as the kids had a great time playing while April and I made a huge batch of granola! Tanner and Miriam were big helpers! I love April's granola recipe because it's not too sweet! I feel like when I'm nursing I eat all the time and this is a great snack to have around. Here's the recipe if you're interested in a delicious little snack!

Granola
10 c old fashioned rolled oats
2c whole wheat flour
2c wheat germ
2c coconut
1.5- 2c chopped pecans and sliced almonds
**we also added craisins

mix above ingredients in large bowl
4T vanilla
1/2c water
2c honey
1c (or less) oil

mix wet ingredients in separate bowl, add to dry ingredients and combine well. Spread in shallow pans. Stir gently every 15 minutes or so while baking. Bake at 250 until deep golden and almost dry, (a little less than 2 hours). Remove, let cool. Store tightly covered (in the refrigerator if you have room).
Put milk over it and eat as cereal, top it with yogurt and fruit, eat it plain, add raisins or whatever sounds good to you.

My other filling and delicious snack is this bran muffin recipe that I seem to make in huge quantities after having babies. I also add nuts and craisins to them!


Almost Fat Free Bran Muffins
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 ½ c. Kellogg’s All Bran
2 c. nonfat milk
4 egg whites
¼ c. vegetable oil
¼ c. applesauce

Preheat oven to 400°. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Mix bran with milk until bran is moistened; let stand 5 minutes. Add egg, oil and applesauce, beating until blended; add flour mixture, stirring just until combines. Do not over mix. Fill greased muffin pan 2/3 full. Bake about 15 min.