Harvey Pie

Last night we made our first pumpkin pie of the season. I think this is the first pie that Harvey has helped with. Unfortunately we forgot to add the flour to the filling and it was a little soupy. When we (I) poured the mixture into the shell, H exclaimed "ROCKET SOUP"! FYI Rocket Soup is the name of the Little Einstein video he's been watching lately. I actually approve of it because the music is by Dvorak and they actually show the treble staff and music notation on the tv screen. The notes light up as they are played - it is very cool! Later in the day when Joe and I weren't paying attention, H was left up to his own devices; he created a snowstorm using nearly an entire container of baby powder. When I entered his room to discover a fleet of snow-covered trains, trucks and cars, he pointed to the mess and said, "Snow."

Le Granola

We're back! We're almost unpacked. We survived the 8 hour flight avec Monsieur Harv
We are all very confused about sleeping schedules. Welcome to our world of 6 am reveille, 6 hour afternoon naps, dinner at midnight. I am afraid to visit anyone for fear that we will be the WORST houseguests with this messed up schedule!
This morning I made granola. The recipe was given to me by Cindy (pictured here with Harvey a LONG time ago, circa 18 months old wearing the onesie: "if you think i'm cute, you should see my dad"
I am printing the recipe here for Katie and MJ!

Cindy’s Granola
12-9-07

This is the best stuff ever! It isn’t cheap to make, but it tastes better than anything you can find in the stores and it is a lot of fun to play with the various optional ingredients. It keeps for over a month in the fridge and goes a long way to satisfy the morning appetite. Granola is also great for taking on trips.

Nonstick pans are ideal. I only have one nonstick 9x13 pan, so I substitute an 8x8 pan for the second pan with no problem. I store the granola in recycled quart-size yogurt containers or recycled plastic soup containers from Chinese take out (which are great because the lid is locked on tight). The dried fruit is added towards the end of the cooking to prevent drying it out and causing it to become hard.

Equipment
1 large mixing bowl, (5 ½ quarts).
1 medium mixing bowl with pour spout (2 quarts).
2 9x13 baking pans.

Microplane long handle zester

Essential proportions
7 cups rolled oats, about 1 ½ pounds (not instant)
1/3 cup powedered milk
1 cup wheat germ (untoasted)
½ cup honey
½ cup canola oil

Optional ingredients (use more or less of any of the following or substitute others)
½ cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
½-1 cup almonds, coarse chopped
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
1-2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Cardamom
Nutmeg (1/2 clove) – I usually grate it using one of my most favorite kitchen gadgets: the Microplane (which is amazing for citrus zest, coconut and parmesan)
½ teaspoon allspice
1 cup dried fruit
1 teaspoon each of Vanilla, Almond and Orange extract (or any other essences)

Preheat oven to 250° F
Mix all dry ingredients except the dried fruit in
large bowl. Combine honey, oil and extracts in small bowl (put oil in the
measuring cup first. It allows the honey to slide out of the measuring cup
easily)
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Combine like a salad
using wooden spoon. Keep breaking up the balls on the side of the bowl
until the texture is pretty uniform (no big clumps should remain). This
will take several minutes. Hang in there! The mixture will be just
barely moist.
Pour granola into pans.
Bake for 1¼ hour, stirring
every 10-15 min.
Remove pans from oven and stir in dried fruit.
Return
pans to oven and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Serve with yogurt and fresh fruit such as pomegranate and pineapple.
It is not necessary to refrigerate, but it keeps longer in the fridge.
Enjoy!

Keeping Warm Thoughts...

I realized tonight, that our faithful blog-readers didn't get a fair dose of Texas this year. Given that we were supposed to be in SA both this week and next, I am going to treat us all to an impromptu cyber visit to the Lone Star State. This is my first time around with One True Media and I can't figure out how to do the music, so feel free to hum the Oscar Peterson tune of your choice (may he rest in peace, dear soul), I picked Bye Bye Blackbird.

I also couldn't figure out how to do the captions. Below are highlights of our Texas vacation in August 2007:

Scene 1: Lunch at Blanca's with Baby
Scene 2: Playdate with Rosemary and a trip down sepia-toned memory lane
Scene 3: Harvey practices for his next gig
Scene 4: Genevieve takes Harvey to the Childrens' Museum. Harvey bakes a pie with a little help...
Scene 5: Tasty peach pie
Scene 6: Joe's gig at the Continental with Elana and friends
Scene 7: H puts on shoes, getting ready to go home
Scene 8: Back in PA - we had a "grape" time! (sorry, bad pun, but aren't those grapes divine? I do declare that they look rather biblical)

By the way, I am on heavy doses of Percodan and Advil to manage sugery pain. This has caused cloudiness of my brain function and increased daytime sleepiness - hence the 3:30 AM posting and inability to figure out how to keep up with the latest blogger technology. PS Thanks KKH for the idea to do this. I LOVED yours!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com