It's Friday night. An evening to let your hair down, head out on the town and let the stresses of the week just melt away. Hmm. You know what I did tonight? I went to Dollar General.
We live in a small town, like 1,000 people. We have a Sonic, a gas station and a Dollar General. When the hum-drum of life starts to get me down, it's just a place I can go. A nice respite.
I'm kidding. I hate going to Dollar General but I wanted to make some granola and thought they might have some things I needed. It's no Whole Foods, but it works. And this may not be the most glamorous of Friday night escapades, but for me, again--it works.
Granola has a lot of healthy stuff in it, but it's usually high in sugar, fat(if nuts are involved) and calories. I tried to make a modified low(er) cal version. This still has 150 calories per 1/2 cup.
Friday Night Granola
Dry Ingredients
4 cups "quick" oats
1/2 cup coconut
10 packets Equal sweetener
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
1 individual applesauce cup
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
Add-ins
1/2 cup dried mixed berries (cherries, golden raisins, cranberries)
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
Directions
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add all the wet ingredients into the well.
3.Toss it all like a big salad until it's well mixed, but not overly so.
4. Spread evenly on 2 cookie sheets and place in a preheated 350°F oven.
5. Most important step, make sure you stir or mix the granola every ten minutes so that you don't end up with any burned pieces. It's kind of a pain but you'll regret it if you don't!
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Let cool, incorporate Add-ins.
8. Store in air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Now I have to be honest about the granola--it wasn't absolutely fantastic. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was the lack of nuts, brown sugar and oil. :) But it was fun to make. Anyone have a more interesting Friday night to speak of?
Oh, I doubt it.
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11 comments:
Does reading 30+ blogs count? I am catching up from missing out all week. I hate getting behind.
I haven't been out on a Friday night in forever!
i like your blog - i live in a big city now - but i have lived in a small town of 2500 - had to go 1 mile to the mail box and 12 miles into town - the big deal was going to the feed store or the video store renting a movie :)
I am watching a movie "The Big Country" from 1958 with Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives and Chuck Connors. It's big, wonderful old fashioned western. I love Gregory Peck.
I spent the day skiing with my children. We had a warm day (30's, sunny & no wind) and really had a lot of fun.
I'm tired now however and I let myself get way too hungry. I've been eating ever since I got home!
That's my Friday (both day and night!)
Hey Keelie,
I really admire you for what you are doing on this blog. I hope you are able to reach your goal ahead of schedule.
Lookin' good as always!
We had an event for Campus Crusade for Christ (our campus ministry) at an ice rink tonight. My boyfriend fell and had to get stitches in his chin. Just got back from the ER and I am WIDE awake now...thanks for posting something to relax me! night!
Your granola sounds fine except for the Equal; I'm allergic to the stuff.
Let's see... does going to bed by 9:30 count as a fun Friday night? :-)
Where do you live? I live in Texas. Anywhere near Houston? My Friday night consisted of getting new running shoes!
Keelie, we had an exciting night in Conway. We decided the highlight of our night would be to cook a "healthy" and creative dinner. So we headed off to the Walmart for a few ingredients. The rest we would wing-it. Our meal consisted of Baked Coconut Shrimp with a Apricot-Pineapple dipping sauce. Our vegetable was Roasted Asparagus. We have already been to Walmart for tonight. We are having Chicken Cordon Bleu, Sauteed Mushrooms, and a potato. How the potato to be cooked is still to be determined. Di and I decided cooking foods that the Rick's would not eat would be our entertainment while babysitting Chad.
You would have enjoyed our meal as well. It was so good!!
Can't wait until tonight's.
Hugs to all!
Friday night I spent my time buying a lot of impulse buys at Michaels. I wanted to tick myself later when I came home with 6 spools of ribbon that I didn't need. Actually wanting to take it back (impulse shopping and I are no good) but would probably be too weird. Besides, it's cute! And each spool is polka dot ribbon.
K, so I so want to make this granola. My hubby eats granola by the box full and I've been wanting to try to make it homemade. Seems like I'd save some $ by doing it that way. Thanks for teh recipe!
Just found your blog and love it! That granola looks fab! Love the container you have it in too!
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