Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Homemade Goodness

People make fun of me all the time for making things from scratch that I could buy much more easily from a store.

I don't always calculate the cost, but usually it's cheaper to make a higher quality product at home than to buy it.

The other day I found this recipe for making yogurt in your crockpot.  I'd been looking for a good yogurt method since the machines with little, tiny cups are just impractical, and I don't have room for another single-purpose machine.

I tried it the other day, and it turned out great.  Even considering the fact that I use my ultra-expensive milk straight from the farmer, the yogurt costs half what I pay at the store for a big tub of Stoneyfield Farms Cream Top plain yogurt.

Now, I have to teach the kids to eat it.  They're used to the fruity kind; only dh and I eat the plain.

~~~~~~~

This morning the kids are eating homemade granola cereal because I didn't find any good cereal sales at the store.   They love this stuff.  You know what it is?

You'll never guess.

It's the topping from my apple crisp.

When I make a crisp, I mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and oats together for a topping.  I'm sure I used a recipe at one point, but I don't often stick to recipes.  This cereal is the same thing except that I didn't use the flour and I did use at least twice at many oats because it doesn't need to be that sweet.  Or that wet.

So here is my "recipe" if you want to try it:

Crispy Oat Cereal


2 sticks melted butter
1 c brown sugar
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
4-6 cups of oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds (opt.)


Mix it all together and spread into a thin layer on a cookie sheet with sides (or something similar).  Toast at 300 for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.  Be very careful not to let it get too toasty or it will taste burned.


The problem with this recipe is that my kids love it.  They'll eat too much for breakfast, so I have to measure it.  And they'll eat it out of the jar all day long, so it will be all over my kitchen floor.

But I'm sort of okay with that as long as they sweep.

3 comments:

  1. blenderize some frozen fruit and stir into your homemade yougurt and voila! fruity kind yogurt ;-)


    homemade granola cereal...hmmmmm now there's a thought...but it really sounds better on top of some apple crisp.

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  2. oh and we make a ton of things by hand rather than buying them...things like muffiins and cookies and spaghetti sauce and bread and blankets and quilts and clothes and babies and.........(okay...just had to throw that last in for the eewwww TMI factor) ;-)

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  3. I love homemade granola, but the kids not so much. I have two good recipes on my food blog if you ever start looking for something different.

    I've never tried homemade yogurt -- I so love the Greek stuff, I don't know if I could switch. I suppose I could strain my own. Do you think the homemade tastes better than store-bought, or just cheaper? When I buy the plain Greek I add my own sweetened berries or even a spoonful of cherry pie filling.

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