granola thoughts

I think my job might be giving me ADD.

Typically, I am an overdramatic person who makes overdramatic statements. (i.e. I think my job might be giving me ADD). But I feel like that is true, at least one some basic level. It seems like I am having a harder time focusing. I will be all set to work on one specific task, but once I open a new tab on my internet browser, I completely forget what in the world I was going to do.

This is real life.

Whatever the cause, I am having a hard time not feeling "all over the place." Maybe it's my constant bike commute from the Bakers to my house (and back again). Maybe it's the fact that I spend a huge chunk of my life right now glued to a screen. Maybe it's still the heat or the fact that I am 90 years old and have hip problems and thus haven't been able to run, which results in me feeling very unbalanced (similar to Scooter the dog when he isn't able to go on bike runs/walks. He turns into this crazy animal).

Anyway, all this to say, my mind feels like oatmeal right now. Maybe that's why I haven't been blogging. (Actually it's because I am sick of being on the computer and the heat has shocked my creativity like it did to my tomato plants). But it's too hot for oatmeal still. Plus, I like it's dry, toasted counterpart better: granola.

Let's talk about my love for granola. Did I tell I love granola? Because I love granola. I want to dump it on everything. Ice cream and granola is, by far, the best.

I was thinking about radical journey the other day when I was chomping my granola for breakfast. My teammates and I made good use of the More with Less Cookbook when we served hard time at the Manse. This granola recipe, (which is striped down significantly to just the bare ingredients - so it's even more "More with less"), was a recipe I kept coming back too. Besides, Tim and Christian would eat it at an incredible rate. So I visited that page in the book quite frequently.

Granola also makes me think of JPUSA (an intentional community in the Chicago neighborhood of Uptown), which is where we stayed for orientation for Radical Journey. I have a mad love for JPUSA, mostly due to the fact that 1. they are awesome people and 2. orientation was probably my favorite part of my whole RJ experience. However, despite my undying love, JPUSA is a crazy place. Also the food sucks. It is really bad and really lacking. Often my fellow Radj-ers and I (well, mostly the females) would be desperate for anything sweet. Besides running down to the corner store to buy candy bars, we had to be creative with whatever was in the JPUSA cafeteria. We came up with this delicious "treat." This treat, created in desperation, was essentially a spoonful of peanut butter mixed with plain oats, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds and whatever else we could find. It was the best we could do.

But I must confess something. I made a similar mix with my granola last night. And tonight. (This time I mixed peanut butter, milk and granola). I find myself needing something sweet and the lack of sweet treats in our pantry make to reach back to that throw back. Don't judge me. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

"Radical Journey" Granola

Preheat oven to 325
Mix together in a bowl:
1/2 - 1 c coconut
4 c rolled oats
1 cup nuts or seeds (if you have them)

Bring to a boil:
1 c honey OR brown sugar*
1/2 c oil
1 T cinnamon
1-2 T peanut butter, if you feel like it

Pour honey mix over dry ingredients and mix well. Spread on greased cookie sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, stirring every 5 or 10 minutes. Watch closely near the ned in order to avoid your granola getting too brown. Allow to cool.

 * If using brown sugar instead of honey, increase oil to 3/4 c or add 1/4 water.