The Recipe plus other stuff

For those of you who lusted after the granola bar recipe...Here it is

 Homemade Granola Bars


1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar substitute
2 tsp baking powder
¼ cup All-Bran or Bran Buds cereal
1 tsp each ground cinnamon and spice
½ tsp each ground ginger and salt
1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
¾ cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/2 cup apple juice (unsweetened)
3 omega-3 eggs
2 tsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a shallow 8 x 12 inch baking dish with parchment paper.

Mix the flour, sugar substitute, baking powder, cereal, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the oats, apricots and sunflower seeds.

Mix the applesauce, apple juice, eggs and oil, and add to the floor mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread it out evenly.

Bake until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool and cut into 16 bars.

The first batch I made I put in a tin box, however I had to throw out the last 2 because they were moldy. I suggest keeping them in the fridge or freezing part of them individually wrapped. They are usually served with a cold glass of skim milk.

 Lately I discovered a treasure in my backyard...a big old sorrel plant. I'd save it 4 or 5 years ago at the end of the season of a certain death. I planted it in my vegetable garden and just watched it grow and grow. I was scared to use it, I didn't know how to prepare it. Last year I ate sorrel soup at a french bistro in Montreal and it was real interesting. So finally this year I tried it at home and loved it. Pictured here is a big Pyrex Turquoise bowl full of freshly picked sorrel....It will become 'Creme d'oseille' sorrel cream.

I have to tip my hat to all women who work outside and inside the home, have kids and try to put nutritious food on the table. This week food has been a real struggle for me. I'm running all over the place.I need to follow the GI diet where everything is made from scratch and it's still new so I'm running out of ideas, I work everyday, take care of the lawn and garden, shopped for a washer and dryer and tonight it's the vet.

I'm so not used to that! I need to marry my 2 lives: Blogging , thrifting and web surfing Miss V. and working Miss V....

I know ,I know it will all settle down in a couple of weeks....I already feel more confortable at work and I laugh a lot with the customers. So that is good!  

 If you want the recipe for the soup, let me know!

Gotta go, gotta cook some steelcut oats and go to the church basement!

That's life!

So every Sunday afternoon after the country line dance class I put a load in the washer. Sunday has become the official wash day.

Later I went to put the clothes in the dryer and I notice the clothes are all wet. Naturally I thought it was a fluke, so I ran the spin cycle again...and the spin cycle doesn't spin! Oh that explains why our clothes are all wet....!"/$%?&*()*&?%

So I spent a good half hour wringing them by hand and it took most of the evening to dry 1 load....

First the dryer doesn't dry really well and then the washer has spinosis. It has been a really good washer; we purchased it in 1992 when we moved in together....so that is 18 years of loyal services. And since I suspect the dryer is going too....

We are going washer and dryer shopping tonight (what a fun way to spend a Monday night!). This morning I had to do a load of whites (we DO need clean underwear) and I noticed that the agitator doesn't agitate !"/$%?&*!"/$%?&!"/$%?!!!

I had to play agitator (that is really good for my tennis elbow...) I hope the store will be able to deliver soon!

On to more pleasant topics....I am on the Glycemic Index diet right now and I have never eaten so much on a diet! I don't feel famished all the time and no signs of hypoglycemia. I must admit that it's not for everyone. You need to cook quite a bit. No problem for me I love cooking and I have some time...

So this morning I made some homemade granola bars GI style.

Here are the wet and dry ingredients and to the left the pan lined with parchemin paper (I just love that stuff, it makes ones life so much easier).

Evryone in the pan!

All baked!!! Now I just need to let it cool and cut in 16 bars. I can bring one with me to work this afternoon!

As you noticed, I'm sure, everything was in Pyrex. Pyrex makes me smile!

Have a great week everyone! ;)

Fun,Fun,Fun and Weight Loss

Boy oh boy what a great weekend we had! I'm still laughing! Saturday we attended a benefit for the Canadian Cancer Society in a country dance bar called the Honky Tonk. Money was raised by selling raffle tickets, entrance fee including a spaghetti dinner and you could pay a sherriff to send someone in jail for 2 minutes. That was really fun! Of course you would try to be covert so the future jailee was unaware....So a lot of hijinxs followed!

One of the raffles was a bird house similar to this....I'm glad I didn't win it.... 

Our dance teacher was really proud that half the money raised from the jail came from her students (we were around 15). Of course between jail sentences we would dance our feet off!

Yesterday SD came to visit. We took her to our dance class-it was really hard to dance with her watching but I kept reminding myself that I danced in front of 150-200 people the night before so....And we went for good old french fries..Do you realize how long it was since I had french fries???

Speaking of which: On January 18th  embarked on a journey to get rid of the bulge. It's been a parade of low fat, low carb, high protein foods....So far I've lost more than 4 of these:

Or you could say I've lost more than one of these....

Let's not talk about Peanut's weight....ok?

It's basically the half way point. Now I'm starting the transition to the GI diet which will give me more options. I was really excited to read I would be able to eat beans and carrots. OMG! I was so giddy when I read that!!!  And the recipes look SOOOOO good! I can't wait to dig in!

Have a great week!