Aunt Grace's Granola

Today Noel shares her aunt Grace's recipe for home made granola that she has posted on her website, Apron Free Cooking.  Last week I bought ingredients for a granola recipe that uses pure Ohio maple syrup, but so far have not had the time to actually make a batch. Noel's aunt Grace's recipe calls for honey, again a locally produced ingredient. Both pure Ohio maple syrup and local honey are available at The Farmers Wife store and at NorthSide Farmers Market (located at Galion KFC).

I've never made granola before, so I am looking forward to giving it a try PLUS saving money :)

Marcheta *frugalista

With warmer weather approaching, many folks I know are thinking about exercising and getting into shape. One simple change that will help towards the goal of feeling better is to give up the fast food breakfast in exchange for a bowl of granola.

Not only can this change help your physical wellness, it might also help your financial wellness. The last time I checked a fast food breakfast was about $3 or $4. You can make your own granola for a lot less than $3 per serving.

My Aunt Grace recently shared her granola recipe with me. It’s wonderful in its simplicity. You’ll love the versatility of the simple granola, too. A simple recipe is easy to modify!

Aunt Grace’s Granola

6 cups old fashioned oats1 cup chopped pecans1/2 cup honey1/2 cup oil1 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a very large mixing bowl, combine oats, pecans, honey and oil. Stir well to incorporate all ingredients. Place mixture into an oiled 9 x 13 dish, and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from 9 x 13 pan and put back into mixing bowl immediately (dish still hot – may overcook oatmeal), and cool. Once the granola is cooled mix in 1 cup chopped dates.


Make it a Meal: Place a half cup of granola over your morning yogurt. Serve as cereal with slice fresh fruit and milk. Sprinkle over your salad to add some crunch to the greens.


Approximate Nutritional Information: Servings Per Recipe: 24, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 262, Total Fat: 11g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 1mg, Total Carbs: 37g, Protein: 7g.

Variations: You may substitute any dried fruit in place of the dates. Raisins are easy to find and always a good choice. Dried cranberries or blueberries are also available in most groceries. If you want to really change up the flavors, create a tropical granola by adding some coconut flakes, dried pineapple and apricot. Another way to change the flavor of your granola is to replace the pecans with chopped walnuts or peanuts.

Granola is full of fiber, which is vital for digestion, as you know if you watch TV commercials. I think a better source for information might be a reputable nutritionist or other health professional, but I do believe in all things in moderation. However, I do know that a small bowl of granola with a little milk or yogurt has got to be healthier than a fried breakfast.

If you’re looking to make some lifestyle changes in nutrition and exercise arenas, then start with some small changes. Aunt Grace’s Granola is easy to make, simple to store (up to a month in airtight container), and provides a tasty breakfast.

You’ll be doing your budget a favor as well, since the cost of this oatmeal is pennies per bowl. The other great thing about having a container of granola sitting on the counter…it’s easy to fix a bowl to eat while your checking your morning emails!

Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! This recipe is similar to ones printed in her cookbook Apron Free Cooking which is available on the website www.apronfreecooking.com.

Full Steam Ahead!

The days that the maple sap has been gathered are long work days for Sue and Bob. This part of the story shows step-by-step the long process of boiling down 2% sugar content sap into 67% sugar content pure maple syrup.

 

 Part Two, Dedication and Vigilance

 

 

When the Nelsons have enough sugar water gathered, it is time to fire up the wood-fueled evaporator and begin the long process of turning 2% sugar water into 67% sugar content maple syrup. The sugar water (sap) is held in two large holding tanks inside the cozy sugar house.  A clear hose drains the sap into the first chamber of the evaporator. From this step on, a careful eye has to be kept on the bubbling brew as sweet steam fills the room. 

 

 

Sue Nelson sits perched on a chair, always at the ready to skim off any residue that floats to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

Bob is kept busy feeding wood into the furnace. When the sap has boiled down enough, it flows into the second chamber for further reducing.  Now Sue has two areas to monitor; the sap in the finishing chamber could easily scorch, ruining the whole batch. When the sap bubbles too vigorously or too high, Sue drops in a small pat of butter to calm it down. 

 

 

The finishing chamber has a gage on the side. Bob’s chair is near this gage. When the needle points to the number seven on the gage, the sugar water has finally been reduced enough to be called “syrup”.  But the Nelson’s do not stop at this stage. For them, the “finishing” pan is really the middle step.

 

 

 

After draining the syrup from the finishing pan into a large stainless steel pot, Bob puts the pot on a propane burner for further boiling down because he likes nice, thick syrup. He says he wants his syrup to stick to his hotcakes, not run all over his plate. Now Sue has three things to keep her eye on. The syrup is almost done and at a critical stage. Before it can truly be called “syrup” by the Nelson’s standards, it has to register the hot test line  on a hydrometer, which is a special tool used for measuring the sugar content in the syrup.

 

 

Being careful not to burn her hands with the extremely hot syrup,  each time that Sue measures the syrup’s  consistency  she has to fill the hydrometer twice, the first time to heat the tool up so that the second reading is accurate.  The day that I spent with the Nelsons it took about fifteen minutes for the syrup to reach the Nelson’s standard.

 

Tomorrow wraps up our story about Sue and Bob's maple syrup production.

 

Marcheta *appreciative








Full-time Country Woman profile: Sue Nelson

Sue Nelson holds the first bottle of maple syrup
 made by her and her husband, Bob.

Sue Nelson of rural Galion owns and operates Nelsonstrail with her husband, Bob. The Nelsons make top quality maple syrup from their Sugar Maple trees and harvest honey from their many hives of honey bees.

 

Over the next few days I will run the story that I wrote about the Nelsons for The Galion Inquirer here on O.C.J. Follow along  to the Nelson's sugar bush and discover how they turn sugar water into tasty syrup. Caution: the process is not for the faint of heart...the Nelsons typical work day is 15+ hours! 

 

 

 

 

   Sweet steam rised from the Nelson's sugar house,

letting people know that maple syrup is being made.

The Season Begins

 

 We don’t normally think of winter as a time of harvest, but throughout the Northern states and Canada, a harvest that satisfies our sweet tooth is in full swing. It starts with a not-so-gentle tap. It ends a tasty treat. What is it? Why, maple syrup, of course. Here in Ohio the maple syrup season is going strong, thanks to cold nights and warmer daytime temperatures, which keeps the sap (also called “sugar water”) running in sugar maple trees. A grove of Sugar Maple trees is called a “sugar bush”.

 

What began as a leisure pursuit to make maple syrup for themselves, their family, and to give as gifts has turned into a hobby gone wild according to Bob Nelson, of Nelsonstrail Maple Products. Bob and his wife, Sue, turned their interest into a business in 2007 to defray the costs of the new, state-of-the-art evaporator that they purchased to help make the syruping process a little bit less labor intensive. On a cold, rainy day in late February,  I spent an afternoon with the Nelson’s as they boiled down their first run of the season, and believe me, even with fancy equipment, making maple syrup is about as labor intensive as it gets.

The Nelson’s new evaporator, a huge wood-fired appliance that boils the sugar water down into syrup, is made to handle up to 200 taps, and that is exactly how many Bob and Sue drill. Some of the Nelson’s trees can handle three taps and others only one, but most of the trees in the Nelson’s sugar bush have two taps.

 

 

Unlike pipe-lines or buckets that one normally sees when driving by a sugar bush, the Nelson’s use disposable dairy bags. Bob Nelson says that he feels the bags are the most sanitary way for him to collect sap, and it also saves the time that it takes to clean buckets.  Nelson cautions anyone who wants to tap a few trees on their own using old buckets to be very careful because lead was used to seal the seams in galvanized buckets. Newer buckets are safer, and also bucket liners can be purchased for older buckets.

 

Tune in tomorrow to read about what  happens after the maple sap has been collected.

 

Marcheta *serial scribbler



Festivity on Tap



Ohio maple  syrup festivals are in abundance this month and even into April. This weekend Jim and I went to several. Today's maple syrup celebration at the Lutheran Memorial Camp in Morrow County had by far the most festive atmosphere of any that I've ever attended.



Most festivals feature educational displays, wagon rides through the sugar bush, demonstrations of boiling down sap with maple syrup tasting, live entertainment, and maybe even costumed interpreters. The Lutheran Memorial Camp's festival had all that, plus the live entertainment was in the lodge's main dining room, where hot cakes with all the fixing were served. 



 

The Lutheran Memorial Camp's pancake meal included all-you-can-
eat sausage, chunky apple sauce, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee, and tea.
And pure Ohio Maple Syrup, of course!

 Volunteer wait-staff kept the platters of food coming, and I am sure that the cooks were plenty tired by the end of the day.








Erica and Mary Ann Garn were part of a group that included Rosemary Shirk,

Doug Shirk, and Paul Garn, who were seated with us at

Lutheran Memorial Camp's maple ssyrup festival.


The two of us were led to a table for eight. Soon five others were seated with us. I thought that this was great, as we got to meet and know other people. Toes kept tapping to the band's steel guitar, mandolins, banjos and other instruments while several singers gifted us with their songs. People at this pancake meal were happy! I am sure that this gaiety was partly brought about by the warm Spring-like temperatures. It felt soooo good to be able to be outside without wearing three layers of clothes!

The Ohio Maple Producers Association's website gives information for the Maple Madness auto tour. If you haven't attended a syrup festival, I highly recommend them. Be prepared to have a lip-smakin' good time and sample sweet treats fresh from the sugar orchard!

Marcheta *lips a-smakin'

Sweet Harvest Preview

Sue Nelson is pictured filling maple syrup bottles after a long day of boiling down sugar water with her husband, Bob. I had the good fortune to hang out with the Nelson's during the afternoon of their first boil-off to interview them for a feature story for the Galion Inquirer. That story with five full color pictures is in today's edition. The story is not available online, but never fear: I plan to slice the story into smaller, blog-sized bits and post it as series here on OCJ beginning tomorrow Monday (this is an edit, I decided to post about the Lutheran Memorial Camp's maple syrup festival today instead of beginning the series about Sue).

Today is a much needed Out-and-About day after mostly being inside for the past week. Our destination is not clear, we may go to Burton, Ohio for their maple syrup festival, or we may go to a few nature spots to check on spring migration.

So, stay tuned to this blog for Sue's profile. You will be amazed at how much work goes into making pure maple syrup!

Marcheta *footloose and fancy free for a day (!)