[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #000000;”] B efore I start waxing lyrical about today’s Granola, it’s the 6th of September, and that can only mean one thing! My giveaway celebrating my 100th post is now ready to dished out to the lucky winner. I’m taking a leaf out from Miss A’s book on Eat, Play, Love for this draw. I pondered doing some spreadsheet wizardry and random number generation, or even writing a little tool myself in C# which would do this all for, but then I thought – “Why?” The old way is by far the most fun!
My wife thought it was absolutely hilarious that I spent half an hour writing up the names and duplicate names on little squares of paper, folding each carefully twice and placing in a bowl, and as I’m a big believer in full transparency I’ve documented the steps below so you can see there’s no funny business going on, like “Oh, surprise, my wife is the Grand Prize Winner!” or “Harhar, I entered myself 100 times, site-owners prerogative!”. But seriously though, I enjoyed this giveaway a lot, so expect more of them in the future! π
Everyone who’s left a comment on the original post is written down here, and the people who “Liked” FiveEuroFood on Facebook have two “tickets” as promised. Into the bowl they go, and so, after much rummaging through the bowl and gleeful giggling, to ensure that everything was well mixed I pull out the winning “ticket”.
The winner of the personalised kitchen knife will be… <can I get a drum-roll here?>
[learn_more caption=”Click here to see the winner!”]
Yep, that’s right folks! Join me in congratulatingΒ Sissi for winning my 100th post celebratory giveaway! Sissi, I’ll be in touch shortly by the email address you commented with to talk about delivery options and personalisation preferences and so forth! π Thank you everyone for taking part and I’m sorry everyone can’t win! For those who didn’t, stay tuned for future giveaways I’ll run here!
… and now on we go to the Granola.
Serves: Makes ~8 servings
Approx cost: β¬2
Approx calories (per Skorpa):Β ~200
Approx preparation time and cooking time: 1 hour
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #800000;”] I ‘ve learned a lot since my last granola escapades. For one thing – break up the freaking lumps, you’re not making cookies here, Charles! Not only that, but hopefully this time you’ll find the pictures altogether more pleasing. I’m learning a lot so far from the book From Plate to Pixel. It seems that both myself and Kristy, from Eat, Play, Love got the book around the same time, so I’m sure she can also attest to the book’s awesomeness. For anyone who cares, I decided to start shooting exclusively in RAW format, as the book suggests, and also try and use my 50mm prime lens for all shots. Awesome bokkeh to be had at f.1.8 baby!
Anyway, where was I…? Oh yes – the granola. Last time, I made it with brown sugar… like, brown muscovado sugar – and honey. I decided to make a few adjustments this time. Golden Syrup and demerara sugar were on the agenda this time, yielding an altogether lighter taste. I made sure to really break down all the lumps, instead of having these giant pebbles of baked oats, like last time, and this time I added in some raisins, currants and goji berries before storing. The result? A pretty darn tasty granola which is just awesome with milk or yoghurt and a massive improvement on my last one. Oh, and in other news… I finally got a milk jug, you can see it in the picture above and at the bottom of this post… have you any idea how long I’ve been looking for a milk jug? You’d think IKEA would sell them, right? Apparently not :p
Ingredients
- 500g Rolled Oats
- 75g Butter
- 5 tbsps Demerara Sugar
- 1 dl Golden Syrup
- 0.75 dl Water
- 1 handful each of Raisins, Currants and Goji Berries
Instructions
- Start by pre-heating your oven to ~150 degrees Celsius, and then melt the butter, sugar and Golden Syrup together in the pan with the water. Bring the mixture to the boil.
- Place the oats into a large mixing bowl and pour the butter mixture on top. Mix well until all oats are coated with the mixture.
- Transfer the oats into a large baking tray and push out as thinly as possible.
- Place the tray into the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, removing from the oven every 10 minutes or so and breaking up any lumps, ensuring that it’s as fine as possible. Once the time is up and the granola is a nice golden brown colour remove from the oven and sprinkle the raisins, currants and goji berries over the hot granola. Allow to cool before transferring to an air-tight tin for storage. Eat with milk or yoghurt for a delicious breakfast and enjoy!
Marianna says
Grats to the winner!! ) I hope we will see the photos of the prize in use )
Charles says
Me too! π
Shilpa Sharma says
I love the new look of your web site – is gorgeous and love the pictures…this post is amazing – I am a big fan of granola and love this post…lovely pics too…
Charles says
Thanks Shilpa! It's so much better and cheaper to make yourself than buying the "crunchy muesli" from stores too isn't it? Glad you like the new look π
Sissi says
Charles, I'm just waking up with my coffee, reading new posts on my favourite blogs and… do I have to take another sip of coffee? Is it strong enough? Am I dreaming??? I never ever win anything!!! And being so lucky among so many participants!!! (To be frank, I have just clicked out of curiosity to know who is the lucky winner, absolutely not to see if it's maybe me!).
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I'm soooooooooo happy! (do you see me jumping?) I am thrilled to be able to use very soon such an excellent knife. And you will never believe me, but there are so many kitchen gadgets and utensils I don't miss, but a good knife? Well, I have been planning (at least for a year) to buy a real good one. A good brand, which actually cuts… And now I have won such a beauty!
I don't know what to say: you have made my day, my week, my month, my many cooking years to come! I have just stopped believing in my rotten luck in games, giveaways and other contests! I think I'll steal you the photo where the small paper with my name is so well visible!
(Sorry for all the !!! and ??? but I have to substitute somehow my face expressions you cannot see, an which would probably make you roll on the floor with laughter).
I can only assure you I will take a very good care of this extraordinary knife and am already thinking how to boast of it on my blog's photos π
(I'm sorry I think I will comment your post a bit later, when I will have got used to the thought I am the winner!).
Thank you so much again!
Charles says
Haha, happy-attack π No worries Sissi – I hope you find it very useful. The company finds a perfect balance between cost and quality I think. Not as insanely expensive as something like Global, but a very good weight and blade quality. Perhaps you'll one day want to make your set bigger if you like this one! Glad I've made your day – it feels good to make people happy π
Eva says
Great new look, Charles! I love home made granola. I have some goji berries, I'll have to try this one.
Charles says
Thanks Eva – I was reading on another person's blog recently about how they had some fresh goji berries – I'd love to try those. Unfortunately in France that would be impossible I think – it's hard enough to even find dried ones (I had to buy these ones in England).
Kristy says
Thanks for the shout-outs to Miss A and myself. I absolutely love the pictures today. I experimented with the RAW format and then went back to jpeg. I need to learn a bit more about the post shoot part before I go there. I also ordered a 50mm lens and did some experimenting with my Macro lens at 100mm. That was fun! So far I'm finding the tips on white balance and light the most useful. I need to read another chapter soon – this whole back to school thing has thrown me off a bit.
Anyway, the new site design highlights your pictures so well! You know I still have some Golden Syrup left from our Anzac cookies…I definitely am going to try this recipe. I love a good granola and any excuse to use the syrup is good by me. Congrats to Sissi!
Charles says
Of course – your family knows where it's at in terms of "best way to hold a draw" – naturally I couldn't do it any other way myself, just wouldn't have been fun enough π You'll have a lot of fun with the 50mm (is it a Canon you have? If so was it the f1.8 you ordered?) – it's SO fast, even when it's getting dark and the depth of field effects you can do with it are just awesome!
Kristy says
LOL! You know the kids wouldn't have it done any other way…where's the fun in a computer generated draw? They're all about the old fashioned way. π I think it makes them feel like they won too. π
Yep I have a Canon and got the f1.8. Oh that's so great to hear that it works well in low light! I can't wait!!!! Were all of the pictures above shot with the 50mm? It should arrive sometime this week and I have a class to take at the end of next week. Hopefully I'll start retaining some of this stuff now. π
Charles says
Yeah, all photos in this post were taken with the "nifty fifty". You can tell on images like this one especially because of the really small depth of field. You know you can even get an f1.4 and 1.2 I think but they're significantly more expensive (like $500 for the 1.4 and 4x that or something crazy for the 1.2 I think) – I heard they're quite hard to use. Even slight movement will wreck the shot because the depth of field is so at widest apertures.
A_Boleyn says
Congratulations to Sissi and many thanks for holding the contest, Charles.
I was fortunate enough to be the winner on a couple of blog giveaways over the last year so I shouldn't be too greedy. π I still wear my "sushi" earrings from "Sushi Day" and although I haven't started using my goodies from "Eat, Play, Love" I'm planning to soon.
By the way, I recently had my 2 biggest Henkel knives sharpened professionally and they cut like a dream now. In fact, I have 'blooded' them cause I didn't realize just how SHARP properly sharpened knives can be.
Enjoy your prize Sissi and practice proper knife safety.
Charles says
Oh yes, there's nothing more satisfying, but dangerous, than a well sharpened knife. If it's been done well and the blade has no burrs or anything like that then it will literally glide through anything like butter, including fingers! I bought a Henkel sharpening steel when I got my knife set and I try to remember to sharpen them before use, or at least once every 4 or 5 days, with constant use!
Sushi earrings? Hehe, awesome π I have an image of you walking around with maki rolls hanging off your ear π
A_Boleyn says
The earrings are very 'tasteful' and feminine things and although I was going to give them away, I decided to keep and wear them when I went out for sushi with my nephew as a gag. I liked them so much I wear them more often.
There are wonderful pictures of the earrings at the "Sushi Day" link below. I use my other identity of "Lara" in my posts on the blog which is a terrific resource for learning how to make good sushi with great ideas for a variety of rolls or makizushi (futomaki, hosomaki, temaki, uramaki), nigirizushi, inarizushi etc.
http://sushiday.com/archives/2010/12/09/scallops-…
Charles says
Ah, I was indeed right about the maki rolls, haha, but you're right – they're not at all like I was expecting. I was thinking "giant, textured plastic rice balls" in my head, but seeing them they're actually really nice looking, and fun too when you realise what they are! Thanks for the link – looks like some fun sushi there. I keep meaning to get my sushi on again – perhaps this will inspire me π
A_Boleyn says
Sushi making is usually a summer activity for me but I didn't do very much of it this summer. And now that the cold weather has hit us (it was 97 deg F last Fri and today I had to turn on the heat cause it was 57 deg F overnight) I'm making things like hearty beef stew in my dutch oven. But I finally managed to track down some canned sweet-salty fried tofu skins for making inari and they're sitting in my pantry saying "eat me, eat me now!" π
Kelly says
Fixed!! Euro connection collusion – ha-ha – just kidding and a hearty congrats to Sissi!!
Charles, you rock. I *love* that you took the time to write up the names and duplicate names on little squares of paper, folding each carefully twice and placing them in a bowl π
And, it's about the new blog site design… tell me you haven't done all this by yourself? I'm utterly impressed – your site is looking more official every day (and that initcap drop down… wow, wow, wow).
Your granola is stunning! Those photos… you're absolutely right, whatever you're doing, it's working! I love that you added Goji and played around with the sugar. It looks amazing.
You're on a roll Charles!!
Charles says
Ah, I can't take the credit for the main theme of the site – that was a rather nice theme I found online, but I've been hacking around with it a bit to get it as I want it (breaking a few things and having to fix them again in the process) π I'm rather happy with the drop caps, although it means that the first character in RSS feeds doesn't show up alas π
Greg says
Hooray for Sissi.I like your method, very old school. Great recipe too. Maybe I'll make a big bowl and cry into it since I didn't win.
Sissi says
Charles, now that I have calmed down a bit and can breathe and think more or less normally, I can finally read what is below the photo with my name that will stay engraved in my memory.
I have never made or tasted granola in my life. Even though I love all the ingredients of your granola (I still haven't tasted the famous goji, very à la mode here), I simply have no idea how to use it. I have heard most people have it for breakfast, but since my breakfast is most of the time just coffee and if I start being hungry about 10 am it's miso soup, fried egg, leftover maki sushi… You see what I mean?
Otherwise, I wanted to say I knew you were learning (and very quickly) photography since your recent photos are stunning. Thank you for sharing the title of the book. I would love to buy it, I'm only afraid my compact (though apparently very good) camera isn't enough to make such perfect photos as yours… Congratulations! I'm really impressed by how quickly your progress!
Thank you once again for all the joy I have been feeling today thanks to you (and I cannot even imagine my happiness when the knife arrives and I see it "live"!).
I also wanted to thank all those who very kindly congratulated me here. I wish you good luck in all other contests and giveaways! I will cut my first slice to your good health π
Caroline says
Congrats to Sissi, that's awesome! I was away from my computer all weekend, so I haven't seen your new page layout. I absolutely love it, Charles! Looks much cleaner. Great photos, and this granola sounds very tasty. π
Michelle says
Great stuff! I love your transparency! Very cool. This granola looks wonderful, and I have been wanting to learn to make my own from scratch – so thanks again Charles.
Charles says
Thanks Michelle – I think ideally granola should be made with maple syrup – I'm sure it's super delicious that way but unfortunately around here, also crazy expensive, so sugar and honey it is for me alas π Let me know if you try it – it's so easy to just sit and munch it dry π
ping says
Hey! I love the new look! Veeery classy! Great idea making your own granola. The stuff we get here is so expensive just because they're categorized under health food. Don't know what's so healthy about giving me a heart attack with those prices π This one's a keeper. Bookmarked. Thanks. Congrats to Sissi!
Charles says
Haha, and it's not even that "healthy" either :/ A fair bit of sugar and whatnot, although maybe they're making a healthier version! Hope you're having a good day, and let me know if you try the granola!
A2Z Heallhty Vegetar says
Wonderful! You have healthy space out here…few days back I ordered Chia and Quinoa seeds online, and as their new customer they also parceled me a pack of Goji Berries, that was my first time to taste it and liked it so much..This one is bookmarked..for me to try out next..
Cheers
Muskaan
Charles says
Hi Muskaan, thanks for stopping by! I never tried chia seeds – what are they like? I just recently had quinoa and I love them – like a really healthy version of pasta! So delicious π