1 Mother 2 Another

I spent the holidays in a frenzy of baking
– it’s just one of my loves – so all the
“regular” food I usually do from scratch sort of fell
by the wayside. Breakfast cookies, breakfast bars, and granola all
disappeared from our pantry without being replenished right away.
Cora and Maddie both enjoy granola for breakfast so they’d
complained a few times, and finally yesterday I got myself
organized enough to make another batch.


Is it just my girls? Because they’re eating the stuff by the
handfuls as it comes off the tray, still warm. Their favorite is
the tropical granola: I make it with ginger and mango, but any
tropical fruit will do. It finished baking right before dinner and
the girls kept stealing handfuls off the tray as it sat there to
cool.

Then about twenty minutes after dinner was
over, Maddie sidled up to me. “Mommy, I’m still hungry
– can I have something else to eat?”


“What are you thinking about, hon?” I asked – the
best way to figure out if she’s thirsty, really hungry, or
just craving a dessert.


“Well,” she said with studied casualness, “I
don’t know. Let’s see what we’ve got. Oh, look
– the granola! Well, I guess since it’s out I could
have some of that.”


Of course, as soon as Cora saw Maddie eating a bowl of yogurt and
granola she ran over for her own. Predicting this would happen,
I’d started a fresh batch of yogurt that morning, and it
beeped its readiness right after the girls began digging in to
their bowls. Seven minutes later, Maddie was licking her bowl clean
and asking for another.


“Bad news, hon – we don’t have any more
yogurt,” I said. “Yes, we do, Mommy, we just made
some!” “Yes, we did, but it went in the fridge ten
minutes ago – it’s still warm! It’ll be warm and
runny still. Is that ok?” I asked skeptically.


Apparently it was.


Both girls at two full bowls of the yogurt, heavy on the granola
topping, and neither seemed to mind that the yogurt had just
finished cooking. The granola canister is at least one-quarter
empty, and I’ve got a pretty good guess what they’ll
ask for tomorrow.


I’m thinking it’ll be time to make more yogurt and
granola tomorrow.


For everyone who loves granola, here’s the recipe I made up
for the hungry girls – lower in fat and sugar than most, but
by no means diet.



Tropical Granola

3 ½ cups oats, preferably whole

1/3 cup rice krispies or rice puffs or a nut, like slivered almonds

½ stick butter, melted

½ cup honey

2. powdered ginger

¼ t. salt

1 cup dried fruit, like dried mango or pineapple or bananas –
preferably with no added sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Combine oats and crispies in a bowl.

In a small bowl, combine honey, butter, ginger, and salt and blend
well. Drizzle over oat mixture and mix well.

Spread on a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring every
five. Remove from oven, immediately add fruit. Cool completely on
sheet and store in an airtight container, preferably out of reach
of your daughters.