A Traditional Farm Life - Homemade Granola

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!   You can imagine my surprise this afternoon to peek around the corner and see two giggling girls “galloping” down the narrow hallway at The Buggy Stop.  Our four-year-old was “driving” her 10-year-old sister down the hall holding onto her apron strings as the “lines.” 

The brief blur of billowing skirts along with their unbridled joy for the fun of the moment was a snapshot of their childhood I hope I shall never forget.

Interestingly, the subject of childhood memories has come up here more than once lately.  We’ve had some interesting family discussions this week as our older children reminisce and compare their early years to that of the current crop of youngsters. 

They are of the opinion that their younger siblings have it much easier than they did.  While they are probably not the first older children in a large family to think this over the years, it is a thought that bears serious consideration. 

Certainly our parenting philosophy has not changed, but it is probably safe to allow that some of our application has evolved over the years as our family has grown and circumstances inevitably change.

One of these conversations about “old times” brought out the fact it had been a long time since we had homemade granola for breakfast.  Come to think of it, I was pretty sure I had not made granola in the eleven months we’ve lived here in Enterprise.  There were many years where homemade granola was the only cold cereal regularly on the Hamilton’s breakfast table.

We would buy quick oats in a 50 lb. bag from a bulk food store near Hutchinson.  Raw sunflower seeds were also very affordable there, and if finances allowed, we could afford to splurge on some raisins.

I would melt butter, add some brown sugar, homemade pancake syrup, salt, and vanilla, whisk it together and toss it with the quick oats and sunflower seeds until coated.  It was then toasted in the oven, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.  The trick was to take it out when just dry and golden brown but not overly brown and burned. 

We would make yogurt by the gallon with the milk from our first milk cow, “Clarabelle,” and mix it with our homemade granola for breakfast.  Yummy!

Alas, current circumstances have prevented our having a milk cow, and our cold breakfast cereal has been coming in cardboard boxes from the store.  The novelty of cardboard cereal from a box has worn off, and ironically the children have been longing for what was once so commonplace and boring for breakfast.

When I looked up the granola recipe in the breakfast section of my 3-ring binder of family recipes, I was surprised to discover the recipe I once had memorized years ago did not look right to me now.  Where did my old friend go?  I may never know, but after all, my memory is not what it used to be . . .

I turned to a recipe given to us by an Amish Mennonite friend back in the Hutchinson area.  She gave us some of her granola as a gift years ago, and everyone loved it.  I begged the recipe at the time and filed it away.  This morning I pulled it out and soon the kitchen was fragrant with the spicy smell of sweetened, toasting oats once again.

It’s a good thing granola recipes are forgiving.  If you don’t like sunflower seeds, substitute sliced almonds.  Can’t stand cinnamon or coconut?  Leave them out, if you please.  As long as you have oats tossed with syrup and toasted, you’ll have granola.

I didn’t happen to have coconut, flaxseed meal, or even sunflower seeds on hand this morning.  Fortunately, I did at least have a few dried out raisins tucked away in a corner of the pantry out of the kid’s reach! 

Homemade Granola

12 cups (42 oz. canister) oatmeal,

quick or old-fashioned, or any

combination of both

1-1/2 cups shredded coconut, optional

1 cup ground flaxseed meal, optional

3/4 cup raw or roasted, salted

sunflower seeds, optional

1-1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup peanut butter

1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 to 2 cups raisins, as desired

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Place oatmeal, coconut, flaxseed meal, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl; mix well.

3.  Melt butter in a saucepan, add remaining ingredients, and whisk over low heat until peanut butter is melted and syrup is smooth.

5.  Pour syrup over oatmeal mixture in large bowl and stir until evenly coated.  Spread evenly 1/2” deep into 4 (9x12”) pans, 2 large cookie sheets, or whatever rimmed pans you have handy..

6.  Place pans in oven on both racks and bake 15-20 minutes.  Rotate pans from top to bottom rack.  Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake 15 minutes more.  Stir carefully to avoid completely breaking up clumps.  Continue baking, checking and stirring every 15 minutes until granola is dry and light golden brown. 

7.  Remove from oven and add raisins; stir in.  Allow to completely cool before transferring to an airtight container.  May store at room temperature.

Yield:  12 to 14 cups granola.

Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.

Fall Apple Day Festival - Fort RIley

Fall After-Hours Chamber Mixer

Fall After-Hours Chamber Mixer

Please join us, for this amazing Fall Kick-Off Chamber MIxer and special Ribbon Cutting Event!  You'll be able to tour the new Farm Bureau Financial Services facility,  enjoy delicious refreshments catered by MaryHelene Garbarino, as well as mix and mingle with other Chamber members and community partners.  You wont want to miss this fabulous time!

Here's the Mixer Scoop:
Tuesday, September 22nd
5:30 PM...Stop by after work!
Jeff Newell, Farm Bureau Financial Services
{805 Bridge Street, Clay Center}
 

Wanna Host Next Months After-Hour Chamber Mixer??  You'll have the opportunity to show off your business and network with other chamber and community members.  Please contact me at 785.632.5674 or stop by the chamber office at 517 Court Street, to schedule the next After-Hours Chamber Mixer!

A Traditional Farm Life - Never Fail Pie Crust

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!  There are three watermelon plants emerging from the newly worked soil at the foot of the steps off our back deck.  If I were writing in May this would not be unusual, but it is already the second week of September.

My oldest daughter recently pulled out the weeds and hoed up this small area in hopes of planting some fall flowers.  She scattered the seed, and we are patiently waiting to see what comes up.  With the rain showers we’ve had recently, we just might have a chance.

It just so happens that our back porch stoop was the place our children were recently eating watermelon and spitting the seeds into the weeds. The weeds are now gone, but the seeds found their way into the freshly turned earth and are doing what seeds do when conditions are right—germinate.

Carpe diem.  If I can remember back to my high school English class in the early 90’s, this Latin phrase means something like, “Seize the day.”

While their future is all too uncertain, our little watermelon friends are seizing what my husband and I have referred to over the years as “a carpe diem moment.”

Probably our favorite carpe diem moment happened about twelve years ago when my husband was pastor of a small church plant in Fredericksburg, Texas.  Our oldest son was just getting his sea legs and learning to walk from the couch, to the chair, to the coffee table, etc.  My sister-in-law sent a care package including one of those jumbo-sized boxes of Cheerios—every toddler’s favorite snack food.

The details are now foggy, but we must have opened the care package on the coffee table in the living room, opening up the box of Cheerios as well to give our little guy a treat.

I left the room, leaving the opened Cheerio box on the coffee table.  Upon returning I found the vast majority of the Cheerio box emptied upon the coffee table, and our toddler grabbing fist fulls of Cheerios and stuffing them into his mouth as fast as humanly possible.

Carpe diem!

This afternoon my husband took a trailer of scrap metal to the “back 40” to unload.  The appointed spot was a concrete slab upon which an outbuilding once stood many years ago.  Our two oldest boys recently finished scooping off the years of dirt that had settled on the concrete, and swept it clean to accommodate its new re-purposed future.

As it turns out, this re-claimed spot just happens to adjoin our youngest children’s play area.  We were amused to find the concrete pad had been taken over by a Tonka truck construction crew in the short time since the dirt and weeds had been cleared.  After what seemed like scores of plastic loaders and dump trucks were removed from the premises, the afternoon project was completed.

Our six-year-old son wouldn’t be able to translate the phrase, “carpe diem,” but he sure knows what it means!

It might be a stretch to try to roll carpe diem and pie crusts together in the same sentence, but if you’re ready to “seize the day” and make a pie (like last week’s All-American Apple), you can’t go wrong with this recipe from an old family friend and accomplished cook.

Never Fail Pie Crust

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup lard or shortening

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon white vinegar

5-6 tablespoons cold water

1.  In large bowl, mix together flour and salt; cut in lard or shortening until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

2.  In measuring cup, beat together egg, vinegar, and water with a fork.

3.  Add liquid to flour mixture and toss with fork until flour mixture is moistened and makes a ball when squeezed together.  Add additional cold water if needed a tablespoon at a time.

4.  Divide into 4 equal pieces.  Shape into round balls and then into flattened disks.

5.  Place on disk between floured sheets of waxed paper and roll from center out until crust edges meet the edges of waxed paper.  (Turn over occasionally and remove and reposition waxed paper to remove wrinkles, sprinkling on flour if necessary to avoid sticking.)

6.  Remove top sheet of waxed paper.  Center pie pan over exposed crust and invert; remove second sheet of waxed paper.  Gently ease crust into pie pan. 

7.  For a single crust pie, trim off extra crust, leaving 1/2” hanging over the edge of the pan; fold under and crimp edge.  For a double crust pie, trim off bottom crust using edge of pie pan as a guide.  Fill as desired, roll out top crust and place over filling.  Trim edges leaving 1/2” hanging over edge of pie pan.  Tuck this extra under the bottom crust to seal contain juices; crimp to finish the seal.  Cut vents to allow steam to escape and proceed as your recipe directs.

Yield:  4 single or 2 double crusts.

Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.

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Eisenhower's Space Race Revealed

Ike 125 Series: History Professor to Discuss Eisenhower and the Space Race

The fourth program in the Ike 125 lecture series commemorating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Dwight David Eisenhower will be presented by Yanek Mieczkowski, history professor at Dowling College. The title of his program is "Understanding Ike: Four Key Eisenhower Traits and Their Role in the Space Race."

Yanek Mieczkowski -image from Gerald Ford Foundation Website

Mieczkowski will present the program both in Kansas City and Abilene. The Kansas City event opens with a reception at 6 p.m. and the program at 6:30 on Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Plaza Branch - Kansas City Public Library. In Abilene, Mieczkowski will speak on Friday, Sept. 18 at noon for a Brown Bag Lunch program, including light hors d'oeuvres, at the Eisenhower Presidential Library Visitors Center Auditorium. 

In a critical Cold War moment Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency suddenly changed when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. Mieczkowski, author of Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment, will examine the early history of America's space program, reassessing Eisenhower's leadership. He will explain how Ike approved breakthrough satellites, supported a new civilian space agency, signed a landmark science education law and fostered improved relations with scientists.

Copies of Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment, will be available in the Presidential Gift Shop, and a book signing will follow the program.

Ike 125 is made possible by the generous support of the W.T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee. The Ike 125 series examines the legacy of the greatest soldier-statesman of the 20th century - from his unquestionably brilliant wartime command to two terms as U.S. President that are viewed with increasing favor by historians and political scientists. It was a time of momentous change, bringing historic civil rights legislation, the Interstate Highway System, space exploration, and a prudent foreign policy that gave the country eight years of peace and prosperity. The series lends fresh analysis and new views of the plain-spoken Kansan who became a model of leadership.

The last programs in the six-month series will be held Oct. 13-14. Additional details of the Ike 125 series may be found on www.eisenhower.archives.gov or www.kclibrary.org/events/eisenhower125.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, a nonpartisan federal institution, is part of the Presidential Libraries network operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire.

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