A New Way of Doing Things

I can really tell people have stopped spending so much on extra items. My personal opinion is that people are still spending, but they are more conscious of how they are going to spend the money that they do have. I've been thinking (AGAIN) about how we need to spend our money. We always need to be good stewards of everything God provides us. I tend to ask myself things like,"Do I really need a new pair of black shoes for this winter when I already have a perfectly good pair that I bought a couple of years ago?" (even though I can get them at Goodwill for about $4.00). :-) Another example is buying things while on sale with a coupon and I we REALLY don't need the item. I tend to go back and forth on this issue and the main reason is that I usually can find SOMEONE that can use the item that I have bought. I have decided (for the moment) that if the item it's junk food I probably won't buy it. The main reason for this decision is that I have found some healthier recipes that I can make on the cheap. I enjoy being in the kitchen when I have time and it seems that our lives are calming down a bit. The kids enjoy cooking and baking right along with me so I have decided that this is a very good thing. I will be posting some recipes that we are trying and today is a great tasting granola recipe. I have always wanted to try to make my own granola because I really like it but don't like the price in the stores. So I finally tried it, liked it, and now I'm going to share this EASY and CHEAP recipe with you.

GRANOLA

1/2 cup brown sugar (2 pounds at Aldi for around $1.00)

1/2 cup oil (48 oz bottle of Canola oil at Aldi for about ($2.79)

1/2 cup honey (Bargains food store $2.19 12 oz bottle)

1 tsp cinnamon (already had)

2 tsp vanilla (already had)

7 cups oats (Aldi for about $1.79 serving size-15 cups)

If I figured this correctly, I made 7 cups of granola for around $2.10

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix brown sugar, oil, and honey in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla and cinnamon and stir. Mix in the oats well. Spread on to a 9 x 13 pan. Cook for 10 minutes, take out of oven and stir well. Place granola back in to the oven, turn it off and leave over night.