Bready or Not: Maple Cranberry Pecan Granola
Let’s start off 2017 with something delicious and healthy: Maple Cranberry Pecan Granola.
It’s super easy to make granola at home, and wow, is it cheaper than buying the stuff at the store. If you have a nearby store that sells oats in bins, that’s the way to go–my Sprouts often puts their oats on sale, too.
It’s easy to customize this to your preferences. Switch out the pecans for walnuts. Use raisins or dried blueberries for the cranberries. Whatever. Make it your own.
If you need gluten-free food, that’s easy, too–just use gluten-free oats! Ta-da.
Eat this granola by itself, or with milk or almond milk as cereal, or as a topping for yogurt or ice cream. Heck, you could even use it in cookie or granola bar recipes.
However you eat it, know that it’s delicious–and good for you, too!
Bready or Not: Maple Cranberry Pecan Granola
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 cup pecans chopped
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 Tb avocado oil or olive oil
- sprinkle salt
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Line a large, rimmed cookie sheet with foil and apply nonstick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the ingredients EXCEPT the cranberries. Spread the mixture on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, gently stir the granola, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until it's crisp and golden. Let set out on stove top to cool; it will continue to crisp up.
- Once it is room temperature, gently stir in the cranberries. Store in a sealed container up to 1 month.
- OM NOM NOM!
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New Publications at the Start of 2017!
Well, hi there. Things have been awfully busy here. I have a wee bit of breathing space between major deadlines, so I’m trying to get a thousand other things done. It looks like the next few months will stay pretty intense, too.
I sent out my newsletter today. If you’re signed up, check your spam folder! You don’t want to miss my Apple Snickerdoodle Bar recipe. If you’re not signed up, what the heck is wrong with you you can remedy that by looking at the right hand side of BethCato.com and putting your email address in that convenient little box. I’ll be revealing the cover of my new story collection on the Cato Log on January 12th, so sign up now so you won’t miss that!
I had several new works released in November and December. Here’s the latest:
Stories
– 10 Things Newly Manifested Wizards Should Never Do at Daily Science Fiction
– reprint podcast of “Overlap” at StarshipSofa
Poetry
– “A Net to Snare a Unicorn” and “Preventative Measures” in Mythic Delirium 3.3
– At the Very Least in Grievous Angel
Geeking Out
– A Binge-Watcher’s Guide to the Great British Bake Off at B&N SFF Blog
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Goals for 2017
2017 is here! I did pretty well with my 2016 goals, though I am frustrated with the amount of short fiction that I wrote and kept on submission. I haven’t had so few stories in circulation since I first started writing year-round in 2008. I’ve heard magazine editors lament that this is what happens to authors once they have novel contracts. Even so, I hope to be more prolific in 2017.
Here are my goals for the new year:
1) Write a new novel in the first part of the year.
2) Complete the next two edit stages for Call of Fire (copy-edits and first pass pages).
3) Prepare comprehensive marketing plan for release of Call of Fire in August. This includes regular updates on my personal blog, scheduling interviews and blog posts for other blogs and sites, and seizing other viable opportunities.
a) Don’t have a mental breakdown.
4) Release Call of Fire in August.
a) Don’t have a mental breakdown.
5) Write a new story (fiction or nonfiction) or poem each month, if balanced with novel obligations. Aim to have at least ten works on submission at all times.
6) Read at least 100 books during 2017 and post reviews for each.
7) Attend several conventions and book festivals; at this point, that includes the Tucson Festival of Books (March 12th), Phoenix Comicon (May 25th-27th), and World Fantasy in San Antonio November (2nd-5th).
8) Develop concepts for new novels.
9) Be honest with myself about my stress and personal limits. Don’t hold it all inside. Reach out to writer friends. Let my agent know what is going on. Take time out for my husband, son, cat, and family. Read. Bake. Go thrift store shopping.
10) Don’t give up. I’ve come a long way in the past year and there’s plenty of mountain left to climb. If tired of climbing, use dynamite.
Along the lines of goal #3, my January newsletter will be sent out tomorrow! Sign up to get the previous month’s recipes all in one spot along with the latest book news.
#SFWAPro
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Sunday Quote finds this very relevant
Read More“In a time of destruction, create something.”
~Maxine Hong Kingston
Bready or Not: Coffee Marshmallows
Let’s end the year on an obnoxiously sweet note with homemade Coffee Marshmallows. If you want to send someone a late gift or sabotage a New Year’s resolution, here you go.
This recipe involves lots of beating. No, not with a stick. You’ll want a good stand mixer, or be ready for your hand to vibrate to numbness if you use a hand mixer. I don’t recommend doing this with a whisk in hand. Your hand might fall off.
Not recommended, unless your last name is Skywalker and you have access to cool prostheses.
Once I started the recipe, I had the bulk of it done in about an hour. My stove is reeeeaaally slow to heat up. I did the mixing in my valiant Kitchen Aid.
The results were fantastic: soft yet dense blocks of sugary goodness, coated in more sugary goodness.
This makes a 9×13 pan. That’s a lot of mallows. They’re supposed to stay fresh up to a week if they are well-sealed. Bag these things up! Eat them by themselves, or plunked in coffee or hot chocolate.
Originally posted at the Holy Taco Church.
Bready or Not: Coffee Marshmallows
Ingredients
Powder coating
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
Marshmallows
- 3/4 cup warm water divided
- 1 Tablespoon espresso powder
- 3 envelopes Knox gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Later mixing stage additions
- 2 Tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pam or oil for pan
Instructions
- Whisk together 1/2 cup warm water and the instant espresso. Let this cool in the fridge for a bit.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the powdered sugar, corn starch and cocoa powder.
- Grease a large casserole dish (like 9x13 or 10x8) with Pam or vegetable oil. Sift a small bit of the powdered sugar/cocoa mix over the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the cooled coffee into the large bowl you will use for the mixing phase. Sprinkle the gelatin onto the coffee and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Have a whisk attachment ready on your mixer.
- In a medium sauce pan with an attached candy thermometer, combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/4 cup of water. Start heating this on medium until the sugar is dissolved and then crank it to high heat. Bring the mixture to a hard boil and cook for 1 minute, until the candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees. The color will start to change.
- With the mixer on low, VERY CAREFULLY pour the boiling liquid into the gelatin/coffee mix. Once it's all in there, turn it to high and beat for 10-15 minutes, until it has doubled in volume and holds stiff peaks. Note that the color will change dramatically in stages.
- Add in the remaining cocoa powder and vanilla extract and beat for another minute or so, until they are mixed in.
- Pour the very sticky goop into the ready casserole dish. Use a well-greased spatula to even it out. Add a few tablespoons of the cocoa/sugar mix and use your fingers to dust that over the top. Cover the dish with foil or plastic wrap and let it firm up. Give it at least four hours, or overnight.
- Run a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the marshmallows. You can try inverting the whole block onto a large cutting board, or use a knife or pizza cutter to do basic rectangles and then remove portions at a time. Cut the marshmallows into 1-inch cubes and toss them in the cocoa/sugar mix.
- Store the coffee marshmallows in an airtight container for up to one week. Enjoy them straight-up, or in coffee or hot cocoa.
- OM NOM NOM!
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