Standing Corrected

I have long maintained that there have been no real hippies since the sixties and, even if there were a few quasi-nouveau-hippies lurking in buses somewhere in Northern California or Vermont, the term gets thrown around way too liberally. If I were going to have a kid, I wouldn't amputate any functional body parts and I'd try to breastfeed him real good, because I think littles should be treated nicely, but that doesn't make me a hippie. I avoid animal products almost entirely, because I think there's really no good reason to eat them and a million good reasons not to, but that doesn't make me a hippie. I like nice long road trips through the countryside, singing songs with friends, and prefer lakes and oceans to pools and hot tubs, but I am not a hippie.

I am too uptight to be a hippie. I have never made a single article of clothing, and I don't smoke pot. Free love? No thanks, I like mine bought and paid for. I have been accused of being a hippie lots of times in my life, I think, erroneously.

However, to be fair, this is what I ate for breakfast today:

I could go on about how I only bought the hemp milk because I read this book and am now paranoid about consuming soy products. I could wax eloquent about the alleged benefits of flax and pumpkin seeds and try to convince you that since the friend who gave me the granola recipe was the secretary of the BYU College Republicans, making my own granola don't mean nothin'. But, let's get real, I made granola, ate it with hemp milk, and thought it was mighty fine. I'm not gonna call myself a hippie, but if you want to, I'll try to understand.

Hippie or not, this granola recipe turned out to be terrif. Here, have a closer look:


This is the original (or Jen's adaptation of the Better Homes and Gardens original) , and here is the recipe with my modifications:

Preheat oven to 300

2 C rolled oats
3/4 C dried cocount (I used the sweetened [delicious] very un-hippie kind)
1/2 C punkin seeds
1/2 C almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 C pecans, coarsley chopped
1/4 C wheat germ
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/4 C dried apricots
1/4 C flax seeds

Mix in bowl

1/2 C maple syrup (the good kind, otherwise, you'd probably be better off with honey)
2 Tbs canola oil
1/2 tsp coconut extract (almond extract might also be nice, but I wanted tropical granola)

Mix and pour over dry ingredients and stir to coat

Spread in greased jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with a rim to keep renegade flax seeds from escaping) (I forgot to grease mine, and I think it mattered a little)
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at 20 minutes

Evidently this stuff will keep for awhile, but mine never got the chance.