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So Christmas is in one week. ONE WEEK. Did that just blow your mind, or am I the only one? I really feel like it's like, September. What on earth? Anyway. Let's pretend that you are in need of a last minute gift. Which I'm sure you're not, because you're way more prepared than I am. Or let's pretend that you need an activity to do with your kiddos because it's freezing outside and if you have to answer one more question about elves or reindeer or what a virgin has to do with Jesus your head will explode into a million tiny pieces. Ahem. I have a solution that will solve both these scenarios. Two birds with one stone and such. You make granola. You make granola, and everyone is occupied for at least 30 minutes, and your house smells lovely, and you're rewarded with a yummy snack that you may or may not eat by yourself in your closet while your kids watch Caillou's Christmas. Here's how it's going to go down: Recipe adapted from Cookiesandcups.com *1/2 cup butter (one stick) melted *1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp brown sugar (weird, I know, but follow directions!) *1/2 cup honey *4 cups corn flakes, crushed (also weird. Go with it.) *5 cups old fashioned oats *1 cup raisins *2 cups sweetened flaked coconut *1 cup nuts (I like almonds) *1 tsp salt (don't be stingy here. Salt = taste bud happiness) *1 beaten egg white 1. Preheat your oven to 300. Melt the butter in the microwave in a small bowl and then add the brown sugar and honey. It will look a little funny, like it's not all mixed. But that's okay. 
Hint: spray your honey measuring cup with non-stick spray before you measure, and all the honey will come out easily. 
Another hint: this local honey is THE BEST HONEY IN ALL OF THE LAND AMEN. You can get it at Hentze Farm out in Junction City. But Hentze closes on Christmas Eve, and doesn't reopen until June 1. So hurry! Get thee to Hentze! Important: don't throw away the butter wrapper. Trust me on this. Also: Don't put that bowl in the dirty pile - you can reuse it to beat the egg white. 2. Fill a big Ziploc baggie not quite half full with corn flakes. That usually equals out to be four cups-ish when they're all crunched up. Squish as much air out of the bag as you can, and enlist your children to beat the tar out of the bag in order to crush the flakes. 
End goal should look like this: 
3. In your biggest bowl, dump the corn flakes, oats, raisins, coconut, nuts, and salt. Stir it up 
4. Pour the butter mixture into the bowl and stir and stir and stir. It will look like nothing's happening, and you will ask yourself if there is possibly enough liquid to cover all the dry stuff. Don't ask these questions. Just keep stirring. It won't look very different. See? 
6. Line a 15x11 baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil, and then dump the contents of the bowl onto the baking sheet. 
7. Here comes that butter wrapper! Use it to press the mixture down evenly into the baking sheet. No dirty hands! Gold star for you! Now you can throw it away. 
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes and do not, under any circumstances, stir it. When it's done, pull it out of the oven and let it sit for at least 6 hours. This helps it to get crunchy and irresistible. Cover it with a towel or something so that you don't have to stare at it's golden goodness all day. 9. Eat it. It will keep in a container for two weeks, no problem. But good luck getting it to last that long. At our house, we eat it with milk (like a bowl of cereal), or dry by the handful, or over yogurt. It also works as a yummy streusel topping for muffins or banana bread or whatever. The end. You're welcome for the super high quality cell phone pictures. This is really a great recipe to make with littles. There are lots of chances to measure and dump and stir, which is so fun. Also, baking with littles is a wonderful time to discuss math concepts such as more, less, and equal. Dumping ingredients into the bowl offers great counting practice, and kitchen time is always helpful for new vocabulary words. I like to go over the recipe one last time before we put it in the oven and ask my little if we added everything - "Did we put in the oats? The salt? The honey? The elephant?" He thinks it's hilarious every time, and I'm reassured that my preschooler still thinks I'm funny. Whew. Now if you want to (reluctantly) give some granola away as a gift, here's a pretty way to do it: Go to St. Vincent de Paul and buy a mason jar. They're 49 cents. Once I was at the Seneca location and the guy tried to charge me 99 cents. That did not go over well. Bonus points if you find a wide mouth jar. You'll have to buy new bands and lids, which you can get at Bi-Mart or Freddy's or pretty much anywhere. Put the granola inside the jar (after you wash it for pity's sake, ewww) and if you're fancy, put a bow on it. Voila! A gift that anyone with a mouth will be thankful for. 
Please let me know if you try this! The Essentials Time Frame: hands on work time - 30 minutes-ish. Bake time - 20-25 minutes. Rest time - 6 hours. Where: your kitchen! But you should probably buy the ingredients at the store. Public service announcement: all the dry stuff is cheapest in the bulk section of Winco! Mess Factor: the stirring can get a little out of control, so help your littles to stir slowly. Also, eating it is super messy, so I suggest sending your little outside when it's time to eat, unless you want your floor to look like this: 
Oh gosh, it's so cold, I'm kidding about sending them outside. Sort of.
Happy Adventuring! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Megan Defferding is the mom to two super fun boys who love to find great stuff to do all around Lane County! Check out her blog series, Happy Adventuring, every Wednesday on GoMomGo.
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We have learned that some of the best toys ever aren't actually toys at all! 
In a little cupboard, I keep a collection of cool containers that I've rescued from the recycling bin. I also have both sets of grandparents on alert for any cool stuff they can find. These are infinitely useful for all sorts of fun pretend play. We use them in our sensory bins or just on their own. Stuff that opens and closes is really fun - it can be filled up and emptied, and lids that twist or snap are great fine motor practice. Speaking of lids... Lids are one of the most versatile and easy to collect items in our cupboard. While I was snapping these pictures, my three year old used the lids as tires, cupcakes, lattes (not sure where he got that one...ha!), as well as money to "pay" for everything. The three lids with the holes cut in them fit on top of old, clean yogurt or sour cream (or whatever) tubs. Then your kiddo can practice fitting lids, pipe cleaners, pom poms, rice, beans...whatever you can think of, through the holes. 
I've also picked up a few "tools" that get used over and over again. The spray bottle, teaspoon (we have a whole measuring spoon set but they get used so often for so many different things that they're sort of spread all over the house), and ice cream scoop are all from The Dollar Tree. Funnels are another really awesome tool that comes from the kitchen section of that store, but I couldn't find any of ours. The clear measuring cup with a spout and tea strainer were from a garage sale, and the tweezers were a gift. I always keep my eyes open at thrift stores for cool stuff to add to our cupboard. Pitchers and trays or cookie sheets are super useful. 
One last thing - here's my cupboard full of sensory stuff. Not pretty, but functional! I hope this encourages you to carve out a corner to store these sort of cheap and creative "toys"! Happy Adventuring! 
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Megan Defferding is the mom to two super fun boys who love to find great stuff to do all around Lane County! Check out her blog series, Happy Adventuring, every Wednesday.  Hello there! So this week instead of sharing something fun that we've done out in the community, I thought I'd share a fun thing that we spend a lot of time playing with at home. Now, first, just a disclaimer: none of this is super fancy. I like to keep things simple. This is just stuff that is affordable, semi-educational, and that keeps my 3 year old entertained. :)
A few years ago I picked up this sensory table for $10 at the itty-bitty consignment sale (do you guys go? I only buy things for my kids twice a year, and it's at their sale!). It has been worth every single penny. We use it nearly daily. If you can find something like this, snap it up. Sometimes I will fill up the whole table, and sometimes not - either way, throw some tools in there and he's good to go. Stuff I keep on hand to play with in the sensory table: Beans - all sorts, black beans make great "dirt" for construction play Noodles - lots of shapes and sizes *Noodles and beans are cheapest in the Winco bulk section* Cheap Cereal - especially stuff I've bought for recipes that need only a cup or two - stuff like off-brand Fruit Loops, Rice Krispies, etc. Birdseed - super fun Water beads- found in the floral section of Walmart Cooked Spaghetti Noodles- sometimes I dye them Shaving Cream -from the Dollar Tree Jello Oobleck -cornstarch and water Water and Ice Cubes- I often add food coloring to ice cube trays before I freeze them Here's another way we used the table recently: I found a giant bag of plastic cookie cutters at St Vincent de Paul for $3. I filled the table up with some warm soapy water and let him go to town. He sorted them by color, put them in categories (transportation, holidays, animals, etc) and just generally played.
One last idea: On days that it's too yucky to head outside, we fill up a tub and play inside. This one is filled with colored noodles. Find a great tutorial on how to dye pasta here.  The Essentials:
Parking: Your garage or street or wherever you like to Food: Up to you or snack on the beans & cereal :) Resting/nursing spots: Your own couch, the best! Cost: The cost of a table or tub (I'll be sharing a homemade Sensory table on the blog soon) & stuff to fill it up, water (free!), cereal (a little more). Time Frame: minimum 30 minutes, maximum all day! I'd love to hear what you guys put in your tables, or if you've never tried something like this, I'd love to know what you think! Happy Adventuring! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Megan Defferding is the mom to two super fun boys who love to find great stuff to do all around Lane County! Check out her blog series, Happy Adventuring, every Wednesday. |
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