homemade granola

I've been trying to get back into the habit of making a big batch of granola every two weeks or so, since it's the perfect breakfast for lazy days and one of my favorite snacks. Making it from scratch is much cheaper than buying it, I get to swap in blueberries for nasty raisins, and it's not just oats coated in sugar disguised as health food. This recipe is really easy to follow and the wet:dry ingredient ratio is spot on. I like my granola more on the crunchy and nutty side, so I make a few tweaks, which I include marked with an *.


Homemade Granola
(adapted from Ina Garten, original recipe found here, via Food Network)
Ingredients
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups sliced almonds (*1 cup almonds and 1 cup walnuts)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (*melted coconut oil)
1/2 cup good honey
1 1/2 cups small diced dried apricots (*1 cup)
1 cup small diced dried figs (*dried unsweetened mango, diced)
1 cup dried cherries (*dried blueberries)
1 cup dried cranberries (*I leave this out, or swap it for more nuts so it's less fruity)
1 cup roasted, unsalted cashews (*1 1/2 cups)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Pour onto a 13 by 18 by 1-inch sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even, golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Add the dried fruit and cashews. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.

Photos by Parker Fitzgerald (2)

I am working on organizing my iPhoto library (an agonizing task), and I came across some pictures I meant to share but forgot. These were taken by Parker Fitzgerald last year (look at how little Jacob is!), you can see the first set here.



(we had a long laugh at this picture!)




Check out Parker's work here and follow him on Twitter here!

House Work

The work on our house continues. One day it will be all done and I'll be able to focus on things like "Where do I hang this vintage embroidered floral art?" or something like that, but for now it's mostly about making sure I'm quick enough to take that drywall saw out of Jacob's hand before he hurts himself.

In the past few months:

We tiled the kitchen! Goodbye subfloor covered in leveler, hello white tile! Josh and a friend laid the tile, Josh and I grouted at midnight while Jacob slept, and I sealed the grout in steps while Jacob napped. Our kitchen is now almost done, we just need a few finishing touches (like painting the door and putting up crown molding). I can't wait to share more, it's been a long and crazy road for this kitchen!


We had the original floors in the living room refinished and installed new floors in the dining room. It was just painted subfloor with rugs on it before, and now we have nice wood floors!


Josh has been working with a friend to build our bathroom downstairs. The bathroom was already in when we bought the house, but like everything else it was horrid and in disgusting condition. We gutted it completely- down to tearing out the walls and siding when we found powderpost beetles (fun!) and had to also tear up the subfloors. For a couple of months, we had to teeter on floor joists to get to the laundry room, with the exposed ground and dirt underneath. Needless to say, I am SO EXCITED that we now have a nearly complete bathroom!


This weekend Josh focused on building out this wall in our living room. This house is full of the weirdest angles, and for some reason this wall has funny angles cut into it. We will be building up a solid wall instead of the stair pickets so we have more wall space. Since the front door opens right into our living room, we need all the wall space we can have to hang coat hooks and other stuff on. There is also a tiny triangular landing on the top of the stairs, and it's such a waste of space. We will be squaring it off and turning it into a little office for Josh. We will also then be able to install stair treads and finish installing floors on the landing.


Phew! This house remodeling business has been fun, hard, frustrating, and exciting. We are really looking forward to having a finished and decorated home to live in, but this experience will be one we will never forget! You can see all the craziness of gutting and remodeling a house (while living in it) right here!

Oh, and on the topic of house stuff: have you ever dismantled your dishwasher and cleaned it completely out? Do it if you like clean dishes and being grossed out.

(you can see all the craziness of gutting and remodeling a house while living in it right here!)

come on, warmth

We are ready for warm weather and sunny days over here! February is a tough month for me, I start to strongly feel the effects of being cooped up all winter and I start to get a little crazy. I can't wait to feel the warm sun on my skin and be outside all day long with my boy.

When I have a kid, I'll never:

"I'll never have a bunch of obnoxiously colored toys in our house." Ha! Thanks for keeping Jacob busy and learning, toys.
"I'll never let him watch any cartoons at all until he is a few years old." Ha! Thanks, Curious George, for keeping my baby quietly entertained next to me when he wakes up much too early and I just need ten more minutes of sleep.
Oh, motherhood- you're good at making me laugh at myself.

Jacob's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jacob's first birthday at our home on a sunny day. We wanted the focus to be on our boy and the love that surrounds him- so we kept everything simple, homemade, and relaxed. It was a perfect day.





Josh has declared a birthday tradition of burning our Christmas tree at Jacob's birthday party. Because no kid's party is complete without a giant fire, right?




(my kid is NOT into being held still. don't even try it.)

I built a tent for Jacob and I think he loves it! More on that next time...


I owe a big, huge "THANK YOU" to my family, Sarah, and Vanessa for spending a whole lot of time helping me give my boy a great day! You are all incredible!

The ReBuilding Center

The ReBuilding Center is one of our favorite places in Portland. Josh and I can spend hours looking through old door knobs (me) and reclaimed lumber (Josh). We went in hopes of finding old tile we could use in our bathroom we are getting close to finishing. No such luck, but I did find a really amazing $4.00 score!




(beautiful reclaimed lumber. Jacob watched men use pliers and hammers to remove the rusty nails.)



(do you need a foot door?)

(ps: It's a great place to donate any material you have pulled out of your home, too! Shower surrounds, cabinets, sinks- you name it, they'll give it a shot at another life!
Also, if you watch the show Grimm, you may recognize this as the junk shop in a recent episode!)