Weekend Eats Plus Around the Homestead

I had some nice open-faced sandwiches for lunch yesterday with fruit (yes, those are organic CSA tomatoes, the first of the season...so delicous!)

I made granola for the family...spouse and child have been eating a LOT of yogurt and granola for breakfast.  Like Kalli, I have been concerned about the amount of sugar found in everything.  My son really likes the vanilla yogurt.  I used to buy the plain, and I'm not quite sure how he got onto the vanilla.  It's organic, no HFCS, but still sweet.  So my spouse and I - at the same time and unbeknowst to each other - starting stirring half and half plain and vanilla yogurt (maybe even more plain).  And he hasn't noticed the difference. 

Usually, we crumble on a Nature Valley oats and honey granola bar (spouse's snack of choice).  Made from real ingredients, but it's still...sweet.
I make my own granola.  I usually put a little bit of sugar in there - much less than most recipes call for.  I found a recipe years ago for granola with NO added sugar in The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs.  I've always wanted to try it.  Well, today was the day.  I edited it a bit...granola is one of those things that you can heavily adjust.

Granola:
4 cups oats
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup wheat germ
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Wet stuff:  Put in food processor until smooth
2 bananas - either frozen and defrosted, or fresh
1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup hot water
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp olive oil
The dates and bananas add just enough sweetness to the granola.  I'm not sure you can even taste the maple syrup.  I mostly put it in there in case my spouse asked if there was anything sugar-like in there (in case it wasn't sweet enough).  Anyway, I just gave the bowl to my son and it's empty.

Around the homestead:
We have bluebirds!

On Gardening:  Last year, we built a self watering container and planted squash (butternut, delicata).  It was a dismal failure.  We only got a few squash and they were tiny.  We ended up composting them.  We really need to turn our compost.  But we can't.  See why:

Yep, a delicata plant started growing from our compost and has given us a single delicata squash.

This year, we decided to go with tomatoes in the self-watering container.  They are MUCH more successful.  The plants are taller than me (there are 3 in there) and almost taller than my husband.  And I'm not sure how to hold up that front plant.