By January is almost over and I feel the end of it the way I feel the end of every January: with the cautious gratitude of someone emerging from a month that has always had something hard in it and finding the hardest part has passed. The anniversary is two weeks behind me. February is visible from here. February is not easy — Valentine's Day in the first February after Grace was its own specific dimension of hard — but February is not January, and the distinction matters.
I spent Saturday afternoon doing what I have started calling the January deep-dive: reviewing the workshop schedule, the supply costs, the number of women reached. Since June: seven workshops, two hundred and twelve women, an average of thirty women per session. Two workshops per month scheduled for February and March. The community center coordinator in Orem called last week to tell me that her director has noticed the workshops and is interested in a formal partnership, which means a dedicated slot and possibly some space in their newsletter. I wrote this down in the notebook under what might be happening here.
Brandon noticed the notebook on Thursday. He asked what the column was. I said it is a tracking system. He asked what I was tracking. I said outcomes. He picked it up, looked at the numbers, set it down. He said: this is the beginning of something. I said: I know. He said: you should name it. I said: the system? He said: the thing. The whole thing. I said: I know. I have been thinking about it.
Freezer prep Sunday: a big batch of homemade granola, which is technically not a freezer meal but which I divide into freezer bags and pull out a bag every two weeks for school breakfasts. Oats, butter, honey, almonds, dried cranberries, a little cinnamon. Into the oven at 300 for forty-five minutes, stirring twice. Every child in this house eats granola over yogurt for breakfast with a completeness that no other breakfast achieves, which I attribute to the honey and the cinnamon and the fact that granola looks like something someone put thought into, and children respond to the appearance of thought in their food even when they do not say so.
The granola I made Sunday is the kind of recipe that fits a day like that one — a day spent counting things, writing things down, watching a whole half-year of work add up to two hundred and twelve women and something that might be the beginning of a name. You pull oats and honey and almonds from the pantry, you stir twice, and forty-five minutes later your kitchen smells like you have been taking care of something. That is exactly what I needed it to feel like.
Crunch That Homemade Freezer Granola
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 12 (about 1/2 cup each)
Ingredients
- 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 300°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt until combined.
- Coat the oats. Add the rolled oats and almonds to the bowl and stir until every oat is coated evenly in the honey mixture. Spread in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake low and slow. Bake at 300°F for 45 minutes, stirring gently twice during baking (around the 15-minute and 30-minute marks). The granola is done when it is deep golden and fragrant. It will crisp further as it cools — do not overbake.
- Add the cranberries. Remove from the oven and immediately scatter the dried cranberries over the top. Let cool completely on the pan, at least 30 minutes, before handling.
- Divide for the freezer. Once fully cooled, divide into zip-top freezer bags in whatever portion works for your household — roughly 1 to 1 1/2 cups per bag is a good two-week school-breakfast supply. Freeze for up to 3 months. Pull a bag the night before and leave it on the counter; it thaws in an hour at room temperature.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 45mg