crunchy like...

I'm celebrating almost, almost being done with the semester with a cleaning spree and some granola. I've finished up with nearly all of my grades (hooray!), and I realized that I needed some time away from the computer, attacking the dust monsters for both my own sanity and the sake of my home. At the end of the day, the kitchen looks fabulous; the laundry is done; and I've got some homemade granola in the oven.

The granola that I'm making is a variation on a recipe that I found at 101 Cookbooks - a favorite food blog of mine. Originally, I had intended to make the recipe posted on Angel Food: Cooking Cheap Without Sacrifice. The blogger is a former Hound; we both graduated from Moravian College and ran in the same literary circles. She found me on Facebook (or I found her... I don't remember which), and we reconnected. I have to say that reading her status updates are sometimes the highlight of my day. She's funny and smart, and I've been wondering why we weren't better friends in undergrad. Her recipe is fantastic, too. I can tell by reading it. But, it requires a bit too much work for this hour. It's late, and I'm tired. So, I pared down the 101 Cookbooks recipe instead.

Here's what I did... 

• I took rolled oats, almonds, and sesame seeds, and I mixed them all together in a big white bowl that was my Nana's. 
  
• Then, I took about a third of a cup of honey, and I mixed it with 2 1/1 tablespoons of vegetable oil. I heated it up in the Le Creuset cookware that my mother-in-law gave to us by way of her neighbor who needed to update her cookware to match her new kitchen color scheme. Lucky us.
  
• I mixed this honey mixture with the dry mixture. I put it in a baking dish, set the oven to 300 degrees, and am stirring occasionally.
  
• My plan now - once it's all cooked - is to combine the heated mixture with some golden raisins and some very tart dried cranberries from Whole Foods.
  

I'm hoping that this recipe turns out better than the last one that I tried from the same site. The Cakes of the Mondays was not successful the first or second time that I attempted it. The granola, however, seems more difficult to mess up... hopefully.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Watched Made of Honor.