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    Slow Cooker Granola (and Intentions)

    It is my intention to write a newsletter talking about the shift in my life that is leading me, effective this week, to take a partial sabbatical from teaching yoga.  I will still have my Tuesday night class at William Penn House and hope to see many on at least an occasional basis.  I will also be available for single and group privates and expect to teach a workshop or two in the Fall.  But after eight years, I will no longer be  traveling up to Takoma Park every weekend, currently on Friday nights and before that Saturdays, to teach. In this shifting, I have much to say about Kali–goddess of sequencing–and moving within the limits of time and space and some other things beside.

    In the meantime, while I am wrestling with how to say what I believe are among the things I want to express and as I deal with a bout of being very busy at work and spending far too much time at the computer to want to spend more time writing in the evening, I just want to mention that it is indeed possible to make decent granola in the slow cooker.  I experimented with that today, in between conference calls and emails and document reviews (slow cooking, after all, takes very little consistent attention).  The cooking reached its conclusion while students and I gathered for Wednesday night practice.   More important than requiring little attention after the initial preparation stage, the slow cooker doesn’t heat up the kitchen, and I refuse to turn on the oven if it is going to be 80F or above.  Slow cooker granola is an excellent compromise between no homemade granola in the hot months and turning on the oven.

    When I’ve experimented some more, perhaps I’ll create a recipe, adding to the many dozens on the internet.  My first attempt was relatively low fat and no refined sugar.  Yum.  And if you’re a local, do come join me this Friday for a sweetly nostalgic and celebratory evening of restoratives.  5:45pm-7:15pm, Willow Street Takoma Park.  Drop-ins and make-ups welcome.

  • Cookies for Holiday Gatherings

    I’ve been baking for holiday potlucks and gatherings.  I enjoy the surprise and sense of offering of gatherings where everyone brings something of their own to share.  These cookies are easy, attractive, and not as bad for you (if bad means refined flour and sugar, high cholesterol and fat, no nutritional value other than calories) as they could be.  I try to use all organic ingredients (except the baking soda and the spirits); the butter and eggs are available locally; I choose fair trade, as well as organic, cocoa.

    2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

    1/3 cup cocoa powder

    1 1/2 tsps baking soda

    pinch of salt

    3/4 cup butter (at about room temperature — no more than 65F; do not melt or microwave)

    1 cup sucanat (evaporated cane juice)

    splash of brandy or other spirits

    1 egg (beaten)

    Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Cream butter in large bowl; beat in sucanat and then brandy; mix in egg until smooth.  Gradually mix dry ingredients into butter mixture.  Chill dough well.  When dough is chilled enough to shape without it sticking to your hands, roll dough into small balls.  Put on cookie sheet and press down slightly.  Bake at 325-350F for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 4-5 dozen small cookies.

    Variations:  Replace butter with vegetable shortening and egg with egg replacer for vegan cookies.  Add a tablespoon or two of ground cinnamon to the dry mixture and replace the brandy with kahlua for the taste of Abuelita (Mexican hot chocolate).  Replace brandy with peppermint schnapps for cocoa-mint cookies.  Add a teaspoon or two of dried ginger for cocoa-ginger snaps.

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