Museli Recipe

One of the things I find helpful with having a blog, is I can post recipes that I want to keep, and always have a way to access them.

I tried a recipe for homemade granola after hearing Lisa Ann Walter talk about it on her radio show out of Los Angeles, on KFI 640AM.
It's fabulous (just like Lisa. Her show is The Fabulous Lisa Ann Walter).
She says, "I eat it every day and it's wonderful. I never feel hungry, and it doesn't make me feel like I want to go back to bed like when I have carbs or too much fat in the a.m."

To me, granola is something held together with honey and maybe maple syrup and baked.
That's fine, but this recipe is raw, and in my opinion more of a museli.
And I loooove museli.
Nuts are loaded with nutrients and good fat, and will help you feel satiated so you don't want to reach for that quick junk food fix.

Homemade "Granola"
1 cup raw, unsalted almonds
1 cup raw, unsalted pecans
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup psyllium husk (I skipped these. I think they're kind-of a laxative thing, but I'm not sure)
1/2 cup flax seed
1/2 cup flax meal (note Trader Joes sells all of these items)
1 box high fiber cereal (also TJ's) or you can use 3-4 cups organic whole oatmeal instead of fiber cereal (I used the oatmeal)
You can also add as much/little as you want of other nuts - pistachios, pepitas, etc - it's really up to you.
I added 1/2 cup organic unsweetened coconut

Lisa suggests, "Just buy a few bags of frozen mixed berries and pour a cup or more into a bowl, nuke and then add half a cup of plain greek yogurt on top, finish with a giant handful of the granola mix."
I'm not fan of Greek yogurt, so I use Whole Milk Cream Top Vanilla yogurt by Brown Cow (sooo sad that Stonyfield farm stopped making theirs. That was the best yogurt on the market).
Sometimes I add the fruit, sometimes I add the yogurt, sometimes I add both.
Sometimes I pour milk over it and eat it like cereal.
It's a great any-time snack.

Put the mix in a zip-loc bag and keep in the fridge.

Remembering 2011

A new year, a clean slate.
This is my favorite time of year.

I started a tradition for myself of remembering things I accomplished during the previous year.
I like the idea of reminding myself of adventures and accomplishments, versus the human tendency to lose ourselves in "what if", "if only", and failures.

2010's list

In 2011 I:
*Finally had a Mai Tai at the Bali Hai (something on my San Diego bucket list)

*Splurged and bought myself an IPhone!

*I read 16 books (um, about half of last year's total. Due to that phone, lol, I spent more time on Facebook than reading. That's going to change this year)

*I heard Bruno Leone play piano, sing, and tell stories at the Atheneum (the La Jolla Music and Arts Library). It was magical

*I saw Amos Lee at Humphries

And spent a couple days at Tiki Oasis, listening to bands, learning how to apply pin-up make-up, and shopping for cool stuff like this vintage fabric

*I won second place in an essay contest that garnered me a $1000 scholarship. So I decided to go back to school!
When I talked to the enrollment person on the phone, she said,
"wow, not many people get a thousand. You must be really special."
That made me feel great.
I am attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition
*With my school's assistance, I got my own website,
Wishing Wellness, focusing on health coaching (and eventually art classes)
*I got my own business cards

*I took a class to learn SoulCollage.
I intend to get certified to teach this art technique.

*I finally started selling on eBay

*I took my first Burlesque class

*I took a vacation to Seattle for the first time, and to Vancouver.
I never did blog about that, and I have so many cool pics to share...perhaps soon I'll blog it belatedly.
The trip included finally seeing Dale Chihuly's amazing blown glass art
(and I obviously fell in love with the Hipstamatic app)

*I finally tried a Suncrest Peach. Absolutely amazing (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, read the book Epitaph for a Peach.This is how God intended fruit to taste.
Not the picked green varieties that are available in the grocery store now.
Those bland varieties are chosen because they ship well, but they have no flavor.

*I saw my first example of Urban Knitting, aka a Yarn Bomb

*I finally saw a movie at the La Paloma Theatre
(another entry checked off my local bucket list)

*I finally finished Jen's Mosaic Pot
*And I finished another set of personalized baby blocks (I still need to blog about these)

*I had boudoir photos taken for the first time. Definitely something I'll do again


*I met with a financial advisor in a huge step toward getting back on my feet and out of debt

*And, most importantly, my ex-boyfriend came looking for me and we got back together. It has been amazing

How was your year?