I love granola! Granola bars, granola cereal, granola people, I like them all! Today I decided to make my own granola instead of buying a box at the grocery store. Making it was so easy and awesome, I had to share!

2 and 1/2 Cups of old fashioned oats
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspoon table salt
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 Cup honey
1/4 Cup brown sugar packed
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup of salted mixed nuts
1 Cup of raisins or dried fruit of your choice

Mix the salt and cinnamin into the oats stir until mixed.
Whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl until totally combined, add to the oat and spices mixture. Stir it until all of the oats are covered and no more liquid remains.
Spoon and spread the covered oats onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper (This will save you sticky cleaning later.)
Bake the oats in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes, stir and flip with a spatula one time in the middle of the 15 minutes.
Sprinkle the mixed nuts on top of the oats and put in the oven for 5 more minutes.
Sprinkle the raisins or dried fruit on top of the oats and nuts.
Quickly Spatula off the granola mixture off the parchment paper and put it into a air tight container, (let it cool before you cover it.)

That is all there is to it! Eat and repeat!
Now I know what I am bringing along on my canoeing trip!

My daughter turned five in the middle of June and she asks me daily how many days until she gets to go to Kindergarten, today the answer was 40. Only 40 days! No matter how excited she is to start school it saddens me to think this will be the last free time in her life where we get to go on vacation without worrying about school breaks, homework, parent meetings, or how many days she is gone from school.

This summer we have been out of town at cabins or trips every weekend except one since Memorial Day and the weekend we were home we had a wedding to attend. We are very fortunate to have so many places we can go to be on lakes and have a mini vacation each weekend. The downside to being out of town so much is I have to maintain the house, the garden, the pool, the lawn, unpack, do laundry, re-pack, grocery shop, fill up the truck with gas, and get all of the errands and important things finished during the week. I still want my kids to have fun on weekdays, so we fit in a daily trip to parks, zoo’s, museums, water parks, beaches and play dates when we are at home.

I am savoring every one of these weekends and weekday experiences hoping that my daughter is creating memories and learning experiences that she will take with her into her school days. I know I will still have each summer to share with her when she is in school, but my days as a stay at home mom are numbered with only one kid at home, so these fun summer days are so precious to me.

There may only be 40 days left of summer before my daughter is in kindergarten but that is 39 more days of fun with my little girl before she is a big kid in kindergarten. Enjoy your summers with your toddlers, they grow up unbelievably fast!

When I find out that my friends are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, I always tell them one thing, journal what you do every day for a week, so you know how you spent your days before kids. I have tried but I honestly can’t remember what I did with all of my free time when I worked 9-10 hours per day and thought I was soooo busy before kids.

When I was a full time working mom I envied the stay-at-home moms because I thought it would be so much easier. Now that I am a professional mom, there are occasional days where I would love to work full time again. When I worked full time I had daily adult time, lunch and break time to make personal phone calls or exercise and had time to myself with my thoughts. I was able to use my break times to run errands like pick up dry cleaning, go to the post office, run to Target, or get tabs for the car without having two kids to control while you try to communicate to the person behind the counter who is irritated that I have kids with me who are fighting over who gets to hold my purse.

I honestly thought that I would have so much more time to get stuff done if I did not work outside the home full time. I remember telling my sister that I would always have a clean house as a professional mom, have time to make home cooked meals nightly, never have a dirty laundry pile, and I also remember her laughing at me and saying you will see, the more you are home, the messier your house gets.

I adore my kids and love that I am able to be a stay at home mom be able to teach them and show them new sights, and bring them so many places I would not have time to go while working. I love being the primary person to teach them our families values every day and not have to worry about their safety or the lack of attention they are getting while I am at work.

In an I attempt to write this quick post i have cut up an apple, wiped a butt, did the potty training cheer, broke up two disagreements, read a book, kissed away tears and typed one handed while the other arm held my little guy. I wish the younger me understood the extra energy that is needed to be a good mom, how an attentive mom is always on and present and how exhausted a mom can be at the end of each day. If I would have understood how much work it is to be an attentive mom, I would have been a been a much better friend to my friends with kids.

Whether you are a good stay at home mom or a good mom working outside of the house you have my respect! I am sure you understand how different your life is with kids than it was without.

Below is a copy of an article from the column Tell Me About It published in the Washington Post by Carolyn Hax, that I thought was funny and insightful. Enjoy! (Click on the image for bigger view.)

I was watching a show one day about unhealthy trans fats in peanut butter. The partially hydrogenated oils that make the peanut butter never separate is unhealthy because it contains trans fats in small amounts. Trans fats are unhealthy because they raise your bad cholesterol, and lower your healthy cholesterol leading to potential artery blockages. Based on the serving size of peanut butter the trans fats might be labeled zero because it is less than .5 g of fat but there is always trace amounts. Trace amounts over a lifetime is not what I want to put in my kids bodies.

My kids love pb&j sandwiches and I have caught my daughter eating peanut butter with a spoon from the jar she loves it so much. I decided I should try to get healthier peanut butter for my family. I tried a few brands without partially hydrogenated oils and I was not overly impressed. They were boring, I decided to try making my own. I found a few recipes I thought sounded good and took parts from each to make this version.

This is a chunky peanut butter recipe with a shelf life of 4 weeks because there are no preservatives.
It is so good, I have a hard time wanting to waste it on toast, it is a treat in itself. My kids love this chunky peanut butter.

1 1/2 cups of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts
3 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt

3 tablespoons of salted butter
4 tablespoons of peanut oil

In a food processor chop the peanuts to a chunky, chopped peanut size, not too small to make them grainy and not too big that you can’t spread them.
Put the chopped peanuts in a stand mixer.
If you use salted peanuts, half the kosher salt.
Put the honey, brown sugar and salt in the stand mixer.
Using the food processor again, combine the salted butter and oil, process the two together for about 15 seconds until they are completely blended and creamy looking.
Using a rubber spatula scoop the creamy oil mixture into the stand mixer.
Mix the ingredients on low in the stand mixture until they are well blended and creamy, use the spatula to scrape the sides in the middle.
Place the blended peanut butter into a sealed container. It will separate, stir it up before you spread it.

Today was a rainy and cool day that kept us from playing outside during the day. There is something about rainy days that makes me want to bake but I wanted to bake something for my kids that was not just chocolate and white flour ingredients. I decided to try to bake a recipe for Oatmeal Raisin cookies with whole wheat flour, rolled oats and raisins.

If you have ever stopped at Great Harvest Bread Company and tried one of their cookies you know how good they are and you don’t feel totally guilty because they are made with natural ingredients and whole grains. I searched and found an adapted recipe for Great Harvest Bread Companies Chocolate Chip cookies that I edited to make Oatmeal Raisin cookies.
They are fantastic! Mmmmmmmm!

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Brown Sugar, Packed
1 Cup Butter, Softened
2 Cups Rolled Oats
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Tablespoons Molasses
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon Milk
2 Cups Raisins (I used Golden Raisins)

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

Combine Brown Sugar, Molasses, Vanilla, Eggs, Milk in a stand mixer.
Combine Dry Ingredients and add to Brown Sugar Mixture and blend
Add Raisins and mix until well blended.

Bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, remove and finish cooling on cooling rack. Makes 4 dozen normal sized cookies or if you want giant cookies, use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to measure 24 giant cookies.