The Best Granola Recipe Ever!

Finally, here it is (sorry it took so long Stacy!)

OK, so I usually double this recipe because it's so darn good. It's great mixed with plain yogurt or in a bowl with milk, or just grab it by the handful for snacking.

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup peanuts or toasted almonds (I use sliced almonds)

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup coconut (I use sweetened, but you can also use unsweetened)

1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/4 cup cooking oil (not olive oil)

1/2 cup honey (I add a little extra, I don't really measure any of this, I mostly eyeball it)

Mix the oats, nuts and grains in a large bowl.

Measure the oil and add tto the mixture

Measure the honey and add to the mixture

Stir until everything is evenly coated and pour into a baking or roasting pan

Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring and or turning the granola every ten minutes, until golden brown.

After cooking, return it to the mixing bowl, and stir in the fruit (You can use any kind of dried fruit, raisins, apples, pineapples, etc)

Store in an airtight container (if it lasts that long) Yummy!

My New Venture!

I've found a new passion, Jewelry! I'm selling Silpada Jewelry now as a way to earn some extra money. I was introduced to Silpada Designs Jewelry last October and fell in love with ALL of the pieces. These are a few of the pieces that I've earned by selling as an independant Silpada Designs Representative. I'm looking forward to earning more jewelry and having a little more cash so I can do some of the things that I like to do (like visit with my grandchildren, which in Nate's case, involves a lengthy flight).

I want to invite everyone to host a party, a Girl's Night Out! and have fun with friends trying on beautiful jewelry. As a hostess, you can earn free jewelry yourself. There's no hard sell, just some nibbles, a glass of wine, and fun playing dress up. Notice the long quartz necklace, I wear it when I'm volunteering at Hearst Castle, it looks like it could have been made in the 1930's, but also looks great with my every day clothes. I'm really having fun with this. If you like what you see please contact me through my web site www.mysilpada.com/barbara.helmer

I would love to come to your house or business and let you and your friends have fun trying on jewelry, while enjoying some girl time!

Evenings at Hearst Castle

This is the life! Here we are at Hearst Castle, dressed to the nines and ready for the butler to call us in for dinner. The year is 1933, WR (or Willie, as Marion calls him) Hearst and Marion have invited us to the ranch in San Simeon for a week of fun, sun and frolic! How do we know them and how can you be invited also? Maybe I'll tell you another time.

There is never a lack of anything to do at the ranch, WR provides horses for day rides (but ride with one of his guides, if WR goes it's an all day affair-the last time I went on a ride with him, I was saddle sore and couldn't walk straight legged for days!), there is a tennis court, and it's lighted so one can play at night!, and two, count 'em, pools! (heated, of course, have you ever heard of such a thing?). I didn't think of bringing a bathing suit along, but no matter, suits are provided and kept in the dressing room area near that giant pool that WR calls the Neptune Pool. He thinks of everything!Cocktails at 7 pm and Dinner at 9, notice that we are expected to dress for dinner, but not too dressy, we just can't stay in dungarees if we've been riding. Luckily the house has a hair dresser on staff if we need a little help after all of that activity. The difficult part is trying to stay awake for the evening movie, if one hasn't had a nap. Last nights movie was one of Marion's new ones, Polly of the Circus, with Clark Gable (lucky girl!). She's adorable in it, and such a cut-up! You can't go wrong with Clark in your movie!

Today I took a ride down to the beach, you can see it from the house, but it's quite an ordeal and bumpy ride to get there. Cook made us a picnic lunch to take along. About five of us went for the day, we did go into the ocean, but the water is a bit cold! We went searching for shells and found some interesting ones. What a lovely day! The weather is pleasant in the daytime and cools off at night.

There are beautiful gardens to explore, never mind my photos, I'm stiil trying to learn to use my new brownie. At this time of year flowers are blooming and the air is fragrant with the scent of roses, jasmine, you name it.

Mother and I are staying in this house, I think WR calls it Casa del Sol. It's a bit formal, but still comfortable. WR has done a beautiful job of decorating all of these rooms in all of the houses. How many you ask? I'm not counting...I got lost in Casa Grande one night and had to pick up a phone (they are all over the house for this reason, thank goodness!). If the operator hadn't been able to direct me to the Assembly room, I would still be lost!

This is the view from our sitting room, our bedrooms look out on this view also. We've seen some spectacular sunsets, I'm sure that's where the name of the house came from.

One more day and night left here at the ranch, but Marion has planned a costume party for our last night here. The theme is Wild West, and the staff is bring loads of costumes from the movie studios for us to choose from. This is going to be wild! WR has even thought of providing entertainment for the evening. Roy Rogers and his beautiful wife, Dale Evans have been up at the ranch all week, and the Sons of the Pioneers have arrived at the ranch. I'm looking forward to hearing them sing, we're all in dancing moods!

Our visit is coming to an end, but I know I'll be back. I will have so many nice memories to cherish. Maybe we'll see you at the ranch sometime!

OK, so I took this picture today with my cell phone and no glasses on, but you can tell what it's all about. Sometimes on the weekend, I can think of all kinds of excuses to stay in my pajamas and curl up on the couch and not do anything but watch tv all day. But my conscience (Copper) sits right next to me and motivates me to get myself moving. So my conscience and I took a walk downtown (by the mission, isn't SLO a great place to be!) and went to the creek so he could have a swim. Today was the day to be in San Luis! The weather was warm and beautiful and it was a perfect day to stop at Foster's Freeze on our way home and get a chocolate dipped ice cream. I haven't had one in years, and had only walked a few blocks before I realized that they are messy! Soft ice cream melts so fast! It was fun but all over my hand.

Even though my day started so late, I got an incredible amount of "stuff" done. After our walk, I cleaned up my deck, planted cilantro and sunflower seeds, gots loads and loads of laundry done, and now I've got some granola cooking in my oven. MMM... My friend Amy at work helped me eat the last batch, and it was that good that I have to make another double batch. I'll post the recipe later.

I realized tonight that the only drawback to living alone is being unable to open some jars, so I have to throw them away, I'll try not to buy anything in a jar anymore, except that when I go places and someone is selling homemade anything (jams, jellys, sauces) I like to purchase some. My favorites have been preserves sold at the flea market on Oahu. Really good...

So how does this all start with a photo of a dog and end up with preserves? You'd have to live inside my head...but there's alot going on already.