Coconut Almond Granola (with Flax Seed)

 I love love love granola. And wasn't I so happy to discover that there is a way to process gluten-free oats so that I don't have to give it up. Check out the lovely people at Gluten-Free Oats! And of course, there's always Bob's Red Mill. This great news also means I can still enjoy crumble-top pie crust, oatmeal cookies, and apple crisp. Thank, heavens! But I'll save those delicious treats for another post. Let us focus on granola for now. I have been tweaking this recipe since my sister gave it to me three years ago. I believe now it is perfected: tasty, quick, and easy. And not too sweet!

Coconut Almond Granola (with flax seed)
*gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

5 cups gluten-free oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup slivered almond
1/2 ground flax meal
1/4 flax seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 almond meal

Mix all these ingredients in a big bowl.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla (or 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp maple extract)
1/2 tsp salt

Heat these ingredients up in a small saucepan until they've dissolved together. Pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. I split the mixture between two 9x13" pans or you could spread it on two jellyroll sheets. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, making sure to stir the granola halfway through. Be a little extra watchful if you're baking in metal pans or sheets as the granola tends to brown more quickly. Toss the granola right when you take it out and then let it rest until completely cooled. Store in sealed container and enjoy!

Very Berry Cowl

More knitting! I'm knitting crazy these days. Actually, I'm project crazy these days! So many ideas and inspirations floating around. I spent over 2 hours in the library the other day digging through books on all sorts of topics: cooking, knitting, printmaking, sewing, raw food diets, homemade cosmetics. I left with a stack of books up to my chin. I must have been quite a sight trying to unlock my car door while balancing my own personal library.
This little beauty, however, was born from the world-wide-web and not a library expedition. The pattern was created by Juilanne Smith, but I have adjusted it for my own purposes. The double-knit purple yarn created a nice, bulky stitch so I only had to do one cable every 10 rows, alternating sides which gives it it's lovely twisty nature. It is knit around sideways with a provisional cast-on and finished with a kitchener stitch. It was my first crack at the provisional cast-on method (thank you, knittinghelp.com!) and I used the cable of a circular needle to hold the stitches which made them really easy to pick up when it came time for the kitchener. Love it!

Owl Silkscreen

Owl Linocut transferred to hand-painted silkscreen for super awesome Christmas presents. This is my first silkscreen with my new Speedball kit. I tried to find some feedback on which kit would be best, but had little luck. I ended up buying the Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Toolkit. It has the bare essentials. I figured it would get me started and I would end up buying my own ink colors. I think it's working well so far!

Owl Linocut

Apparently owls are hot right now. Everyone has their own owl style. This was my approach to the owl craze. This is part one of a two-part process. Next step: Silkscreen!

Twisted hat

One of the many knitting projects I have taken on in my unemployment. I really love the simple, unique cable pattern on this hat. Perfect for men and women! You can find the pattern for free on the Joko Knits blog. I discovered it on Ravelry, my new knitting community. Check it out! I had to adjust the size a little to fit the gauge and added fold-able brim per request of the recipient. I think I prefer it sans fold. I used Cascade Yarns 128 in Olive. Love this pattern. So easy!