A few weeks ago, I wrote a post that stuck with me. As you might
imagine, not every post I write stays with me in a meaningful way, but this one
did. It was called Our Recipe
Story, and I was inspired by a food memoir I was reading at that time. If
you missed it, you can check out the link and read it, but I’ve spent some time
really thinking about the recipes we serve in our home and how and why they
should matter to our story at large.
Today I thought
I would take a stab at writing one of those stories and sharing a recipe with
you. I know some of you might just want the recipe and not care at all about
the story, so I’ll share the recipe part first. But if you love a good story,
stick around.
This recipe
originated here, at The
Overlook Inn in Chatsworth, Georgia, so if you want to see the original
sharing of the dish, you can check out their page. I’ve made a few minor tweaks
(and cut it in half) for my own cooking. Here is my version of the recipe:
Ingredients:
¼ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/8 Cup Honey
½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar
½ Teaspoon Vanilla
¼ Teaspoon Salt
4 Cups Old-Fashioned Oats
¼ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Slivered Almonds
¼ Cup Pumpkin Seeds
¼ Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium-sized pan, combine
coconut oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Cook over medium heat until
brown sugar melts. Please note that the oil and sugar will remain separate.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and coconut
flakes. Pour cooked mixture over dry ingredients and mix well. Spread over
baking sheet (with sides) covered in parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes,
stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let granola cool completely
before storing in an airtight container.
Ryan and I are
known for our intense vacation planning. Every trip has a complete, detailed itinerary,
because we are complete, detailed people – even on vacation. The one exception
to this rule was our destination wedding and honeymoon. We had so little time
between our engagement and wedding (two months!) that it was all we could do to
provide the elements for the ceremony. I couldn’t think beyond the wedding day
to plan a honeymoon. Even though the planner in me cringes at this now, in that
week, everything worked out beautifully. We rested, we enjoyed fun activities
in Florida, and we didn’t want the honeymoon to end – literally or
figuratively.
On our drive
from Indiana to Florida for the wedding, we were on such a tight schedule to
arrive that stopping for a proper overnight rest wasn’t possible. We left Indiana
just after lunch on Friday, drove straight through, and arrived just after
lunch on Saturday, losing three hours at a rest stop to sleep propped up
against a window and three more hours in a traffic jam ten minutes from our
destination. And just over 24 hours later, we were dressed up and in the middle
of our wedding ceremony.
As we slogged
through packing up our room at the end of the week so we could drive back to
Indiana (and reality), I told Ryan I didn’t want to sleep at a rest stop again.
Anything but a rest stop would be fine. He took his phone to the parking lot
and I watched him pace around, researching, while I packed our suitcases. A few
minutes later, I saw him on his phone, and then he returned to our room with a
giant smile. I asked where we would be staying that night, and he said, “It’s a
surprise!”
Nightfall comes
early in December, so we didn’t exactly arrive late, but darkness had long
fallen when our headlights flashed across a sign that said “The Overlook Inn.” We
were in the hill country of Georgia, way down some back roads, and we were both
exhausted with cramping legs from a long day of driving. We tumbled out of the
car and checked into a romantic room with a fireplace and attached screened-in
porch that held a hot tub. A knock on our door moments after arriving signaled
to us that dinner had been delivered in a basket, and we put on white bathrobes
to eat an in-room picnic dinner. We had far more food than we could hope to eat
in one sitting, but every bite was delicious.
When breakfast
hours rolled around the next morning, we made our way to the dining room with
its massive windows. We discovered thick fog had settled over the entire area,
making the overlook a bit of a disappointment. But there was a lovely guardrail
to behold just in front of the wall of fog!
The staff served
a host of delicious foods, but they told us they were famous for their homemade
granola. I love yogurt parfaits, so I made sure to try it, and they were right.
Warm, sweet, and delicious…I wanted to buy it by the bag and take it home!
I’ve thought
about that granola many times over the last decade of our marriage. I would
think of it every time I made the Pinterest-based granola recipe I found and
used for years. On a whim, I decided to see if the Bed and Breakfast was still open
and serving granola. Both answers were yes – and as a bonus, they share the
recipe on their website! I decided right then that this granola would be
part of our recipe story. I would make it and remember our romantic getaway at
the Overlook Inn, less than a week into our marriage.
It’s just granola,
but for me, it’s a reminder of a husband who loved me with a sweet, romantic
surprise. I felt so fancy eating dinner in a white robe, while sitting on the
side of the bed, feeling the warmth from the fireplace against my feet. I felt
spoiled with a hot tub on the screened porch, steps from bed, where the night’s
sleep was so restful. And even though the overlook only overlooked a guard
rail, I have never forgotten that delicious breakfast – a last hurrah of
someone else cooking for us before we launched into doing our own cooking as husband
and wife.
It’s sweet,
slightly crispy, coconutty, and so delicious in my yogurt parfaits. I sprinkle
it over Greek yogurt, sweetened with honey, and top it with fresh blueberries
and strawberries. Whether it’s breakfast or a snack, it’s so good, and it makes
me remember a beautiful day and beautiful gift.
1 comment:
That is so special!
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