I’ve A Pen Obsession & Another Granola Recipe

What’s better than getting a box in the mail that you’ve been expecting and waiting for? Getting a box in the mail that you totally forgot you were expecting and waiting for! Because of Superstorm Sandy, I got a box that I’d fairly forgotten about.

The box itself was special, though. It’s funny. In my email I get offers from MyPoints that give me points towards gift cards and other ‘rewards’ just for clicking on the ad. In a particular offer, I could get a pack of 12 pens for free (be still my heart!)- just pay shipping –and earn points for anything I actually purchased. Since I had to pay shipping anyway, I browsed the site and found something else I wanted. The place I ordered from: Poppin.com

Never heard of them? Me either. But I got 30 points, 12 new pens and a little notebook.

One of the papers that came in the box was marked to make into a paper airplane. How awesome is that? My ds really liked that

And yes, I have a pen obsession. Love to collect pens. From anywhere and every where. No pen is safe. And I leave them everywhere (unfortunately). That clip thing in the box? That’s a pen…yep.

Here’s what I got from poppin (which to me looks like uiddod most of the time because I’m seeing it sideways lol).

Yellow is my favorite color but for some reason I just wanted the orange pens. I wonder now, after the fact, if I thought that the pens actually wrote in orange ink. Well, they do not; black ink. Of course, I had to get the yellow soft cover notebook. I’ve wanted a moleskine notebook for a long time but couldn’t justify the price. This might not have ‘moleskine’ in its name, it feels like one and looks like one and I like it!

I’ve even given each of my kiddos a pen. Isn’t that nice of me? heehee…

I’m never sure what to use each notebook I get so this one doesn’t really have a designated use either. So far I’ve written some Bible study notes, a few verses to look up again, and today I put in a granola recipe that I found while browsing Pinterest. I also put a recipe for granola bars, chewy like Quaker’s. And I’m going to share what I’m going to do with those recipes:

Granola- Super Simple:

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (might use a bit less since there’s sugar in the recipe for the bars…decisions, decisions)
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I like cinnamon but wish I had some allspice…)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 TBS honey
• up to 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (I really like coconut oil for some reason)

I have more oats and honey than the original recipe calls for in hopes of making a wee bit more. (Just read the fine print of the granola bar recipes and she increased the oats to 3 cups as well- huh!) The plan is to mix the dry ingredients separately from the wet. I’ll ‘cook’ the sugar, honey and oil until it’s all dissolved (the sugar). Then it’ll all be mixed well. On a cookie sheet at a temp of about 275- 350*F, –depending on my mood honestly –it should cook and be done within an hour.

After that, I’ll work on the bars but my recipe won’t have any chocolate or peanut butter chips. I’ll use some peanut butter in place of or with the butter.

And I’ll probably use my wee yellow (snicker –ahem) notebook to record my results. I’ll try to remember to do so here as well.

***Disclaimer: there are no affiliate links in this post –I actually purchased from poppin all on my own and just like to share what I got. As for the MyPoints reference, you can sign up for free at their website to earn points yourself to put towards gift cards and other rewards. I’m going to use my next accumulation of points for $25 into my PayPal. Right now I could get $10 gift cards to many different places like WalMart, Starbucks, Kmart, Sears, JCPenney, Kohl’s and a lot more but I don’t need anything from there. A gas card would be nice… Anyway, that’s the end of my little disclaimer. See more about my Disclosure/Policies if you’d like.

Granola Bars! Forgot the sugar…

I would like to give you a great recipe but… I just threw together some stuff I had on hand. I used:

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 3 cups quick oats
• 2 cups flour (1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup almond/coconut milk (it’s a mix that I bought on a whim- unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup marshmallow crème (yea, I was trying to keep it together)
• 1 can frozen apple juice, thawed
• 1 cup flax seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla

I didn’t write this down so am going by memory here. One cool thing about granola, it’s so easy to make and you can rarely mess it up. Of course, I forgot the sugar in this batch so it is a bit bland. The apple juice gives it a bit of …a sour taste? That’s how the kids described it. Also, I did drizzle honey on the top of it while it was baking to see if that’d help it stay together (and sweeten it).

I mixed all ‘dry’ ingredients together. Liquid and wet ingredients were mixed in a large glass measuring cup. Eventually, it was all just glopped together. I greased a cookie sheet (with coconut oil- that stuff can make anything non-stick!) and pressed down the ‘dough’. I cooked it at 275*F for 30 minute increments. I think after the second 30 minutes, I scored the bars. Just keep an eye on the color and also poke it every so often to feel how ‘done’ it’s getting.

Finally after 1 1/2 hours (or was it 2?) I was able to transfer the bars to a cooling rack. Here are two photos- one with flash, one without. Both are without “sugar”

I have another post on my blog with a better recipe –in my humble opinion –for granola, in case you’re interested.