Elise's Homemade Vanilla Granola

I am  heading to Rockville this week with my girls and the only request I had was to take granola.   love  granola and  found this recipe on my Kathy G's blog and it is our favorite.

8 c. oats
2 c. sliced almonds
1 c. wheat germ
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon
craisins or raisins, to taste (optional)
3/4 c. canola oil
1 c. honey
3 Tbsp. vanilla (use the real stuff if you have it-- it tastes much better)

Preheat oven to 300-degrees. Combine first 8 ingredients (dry ingredients) in a large bowl. In a saucepan combine oil, honey, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute then pour over oat mixture. Mix until all ingredients are moistened. Divide and spread mixture over 2 large cookie sheets and bake at 300-degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on pans until the granola hardens (it may be a little chewy and that's ok.. if you prefer it not to be chewy at all, allow to dry completely). Break up granola and store in large Ziploc bags or containers. Serve plain, with yogurt, or with milk.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I have come across this recipe several times, recently on Rachelle's blog , so
I thought I would try it, we love pancakes, always make them from scratch,
we loved these..

2 cups flour
2 T sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs--separated
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine milk, egg yolks, vanilla, butter and pumpkin puree. Stir into dry ingredients until just blended. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Pour onto hot, oiled griddle about 1/3 cup at a time. Cook until tops bubble and turn and cook other side. (Note: sometimes I don't bother to separate the eggs and the pancakes still turn out great!)

These taste great with syrup, but my kids favorite way to eat them is to sprinkle mini chocolate chips on the warm pancakes, let them melt a little bit and then top with a dollop of whip cream. YU