Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree that we just purchased last night, please do not shed your lovely branches since it’s 85 degrees out today! Can you believe it? I cannot. I grew up in New England, then moved to the Midwest and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to these California Christmases… no snow, no cold. No problem! Unless you’re me!

Andy and I are extremely picky when it comes to buying our tree. We once spent $120 on a 12-foot tree. No joke. I was like this when I was a kid and my Ma would pack Andrew and I up in the Pathfinder and head to Big John Leyden’s Christams Tree Farm where I could have spent hours just looking at all the glorious Frasier Fir trees. Oh! I’m a tree snob too. I’ll only buy a Frasier Fir because they smell the best… trust me. And they don’t loose all their needles so quickly like those Charlie Brown trees! We headed out to Atascadero to cut down our tree (for the experience) but we couldn’t find anything good… and there were literally hundreds of trees there! So we headed to our local tree stand, where we’ve gotten our Fraiser the last two years, and we found this gem right away! Let the decorating begin…!!!

Now that’s a tree!

While we were in North County, we also stopped in Santa Margarita to have a wine tasting at Ancient Peaks and then dinner at The Range, across the street. I’d seen the Ancient Peaks label at the store before but had yet to taste it and we were both impressed. They have the nicest Rose and one of the yummiest Syrah’s on the Central Coast, or so we’d been told. Dinner was just as nice at except for the fact that they don’t take credit cards! Excuse me? You’ll take a check? Who pays for dinner with a check? The same people who still pay by check at the grocery store I’m assuming. That threw us for a loop… we would have ordered more food had we more cash on us!

I spent the weekend baking all of my Christmas presents. On the list was Peppermint Bark, Citrus Salts and this Gingerbread Granola. I created this recipe on Saturday and it’s sure to please your family and friends because it’s yummy, healthy, and gluten-free. Whoopie! I brought it to a party this weekend and the bowl was gone after an hour! Everyone dug my Schweddy Balls too… they made for some excellent conversation! I was so excited all my food got eaten up.. can you tell?!

Chef’s wife done good! Woo Hoo!

Gingerbread Granola- makes 8 cups

Ingredients:

-7 cups gluten-free rolled oats (I used Trader Joe’s brand)

-6 oz package of pecans

-10 oz package of walnuts

-1/2 cup molasses

-1 T each cinnamon and ginger

-1 tsp cloves

-3/4 cup applesauce (I used my own homemade recipe)

-2 T coconut oil

-2 T vanilla

-3 T brown sugar

-3 T chia seeds

-3 cups dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300.

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, spices, nuts and brown sugar.

3. Over high heat, melt the oil, vanilla, applesauce and molasses together.

4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together adding the chia seeds and mixing well.

5. Using wax paper, layer a cookie sheet with granola and let bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

6. Bake until granola is brown and crunchy. Add the cranberries last.

7. Place in a cute Mason Jars with some Christmas fabric and give as gifts!

I even included homemade tags!