Crunchy Granola ** Improved for 2009 **

Now Cholesterol Lowering too!

I'm constantly changing how I make things - improving each time I hope.  My original Granola was big on taste and less about health, the second version was better. Now for 2009, this recipe is the best tasting, most healthy and helps lower cholesterol.

Yummy Granola

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of wheatgerm
• 1/4 cup of dried cranberries
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinammon

• 1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of oil
• Splash of water

Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 100c/220f.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine the honey, water and oil and pop into the microwave for 1 minute - don't worry too much about the exact measurements but you should have about 3/4 of a cup of liquid. The mixture is much easier to handle when it's warm and the honey is a lot less sticky.

Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir well until everything is well coated.

Spread out evenly on a baking tray and pop into the oven for 60 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool before storing in an air-tight jar; as it cools it will get crunchy. It should hold for quite a while but I'll bet it doesn't last that long.

Enjoy with natural yoghurt.


Variations:
Use 1/4 cup of apple juice instead of the water and reduce the honey to 1/4 cup.
Add 1/2 cup of mixed seeds [sunflower, flax, sesame, poppy]
Try different fruit, delicious too!

Crunchy or fine?
If you want large nuggets of granola, then follow the steps above when cooking but however if you prefer a finer granola with smaller/less nuggets then remove from the oven every 15 minutes and give it a stir through to break the mixture up.

TOP TIP!
For extra crunchy, don't stir at all during cooking; turn the oven off after 45 minutes but leave the granola in the oven to cool overnight.  As the oven cools slowly the granola will crunch up much nioce than allowing it to cool on the counter top.

Irish Pancakes

Pancake Tuesday / Irish Style

The before lent starts and you have to use up all those eggs... hence having an egg for easter!  Pancakes are great fun to make for all the family and there's no end of expertimenting you can do once you have the basic batter ready to go.

Traditional Irish Pancakes tend to be less think than US sytle pancakes but not quite as thin as French Crepes.   They are rolled rather than stacked!



Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 oz unsalted butter
• Additional butter for frying
• granulated sugar
• lemon juice

Directions:

1. Beat the milk and eggs together in a bowl. In another bowl, sift the flour and salt together; add half the milk and egg mixture, stirring constantly.
2. Melt the butter and whisk it in. Whisk in the rest of the remaining milk and egg mixture.
3. Allow the batter to stand at least two hours.
4. Melt 1 tbs butter in frying pan, add 1/4 cup batter and tip until the pan is evenly coated. Keep the pan moving as you cook to prevent sticking. When the underside is golden brown, flip the pancake and cook the other side.

Slide onto an oven proof platter; sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice and then, roll up.

Keep warm in a 300 degree oven until ready to serve.


The Sugar and Lemon Juice is a tried and tested option but feel fee to experiment with:-

• Syrups
• Golden syrup
• Maple syrup
• Honey
  
• Fruit
• Bananna
• Strawberry
• Fruit Jam/Preserve
  
•  Chocolate
• Nutella
• Flake
• Toffee / Caramel sauce
• Ice Cream

or try something more savoury like Cheese and crispy bacon!

After all that, why not have a Pancake Race....

GingerBread Man / House

A seasonal favorite... and not just for Christmas

You can have great fun with your family making gingerbread men (women, children and pets too) and of course a gingerbread house.

If you are making a house, do a plan before hand so you don't end up with four sides and no roof!







Ingredients:
For the dough:-

• 200g butter
  
• 200g dark muscavado sugar
  
• 7 table spoons golden syrup
  
• 600g plan flour
  
• 2 tea spoons bread soda
  
• 4 tea spoons ground ginger
  
• 2 tea spoons ground cinnamon
  

For the icing:-

• 2 egg whites
  
• 500g icing sugar
  

To decorate:-

• Selection of sweets and jellies - M&Ms are good for color.  An essential part of the decorations in at least a few children let loose to decorate as they see fit.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 180c.  Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a heavy pan.  Remove from the heat and while it is cooling (only slightly) mix together the flour, bread soda and spices in a separate bowl.  Stir all together to make a dough.  Roll out onto sheet of greaseproof paper to a thickness of about 5mm.

If you are making a house, follow your plan and cut out the sides and roof - cut out your doors and windows. Place the gingerbread shapes on a tray into the freezer for about five minutes - this helps them keep their shape as they cook.

For the Ginger Bread Man / Woman / Children - cut out the shapes and place flat a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Cook for between 15 and 20 minutes until it has turned darker brown.

Make the icing by whisking the egg white and sugar together until firm.  Once completely coled, decorate your cookies with icing, sweets and jellies.

For the house, use the icing to glue the walls together and to keep the roof on.  Dab the sweets with icing to make them stick to the walls.

Eat & enjoy.