Granola and the worth of buying things

The jury is out in my mind, given recent events, on the question of whether it is cheaper/better to make you own food or go buy prepared food. Don't take this as my letter of resignation from the kitchen, or as a solicitation for offers on my cast iron pans. What I mean is that given some of my recent cooking adventures, I had begun to think that there are many items never worth making for your self. Take my ravioli quarter-of-a-day. Some of them break open while bowling, and the filling is nothing sensational. For the time cost (had a been tutoring for 6 hours instead) I could have bought a thousand pre-made ravioli, or gone to every little italian place in the east village and tried their ravioli.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but let me make another illustration in a slightly different vain. Yesterday I made granola (I'll give the recipe below). It didn't take 6 hours --- more like 1 hour. My question here is about cost. I used almost a bag of almond, and then a good portion of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, plus almost a whole bag of apricots and dried cranberries. Estimating the cost of ingredients, I'd say it was about $7. The yield was a big freezer bag worth. On the pro side, I was able to control the ingredients and the amount of fat/sugar. On the con side, I probably should have used more honey and my oven (like all NY ovens) was way too hot and burned some stuff. Moreover, I probably could have bought the same amount of granola from trader joes at about the same price. The jury is still out as to whether I will continue to make my own granola.

Lastly, I want to remind everyone about my attempt at making paneer --- such a waste of time, money and milk.

What these episodes have taught me is not anything profound but is worth stating. If something is labor intensive and can be bought for a reasonable price Don't Try to Make It. Things worth making combine cheap ingredients in ways which are not too complex, to make meals. Things not worth making combine expensive ingredients to complex ways to make small parts of larger dishes.

I feel now, thinking this over, that I don't actually have a great understanding of what to make and what to avoid. I guess I'll wing it, and likely, I'll be writing some time soon about another wasted evening trying to make ... oh... say homeade dosas.

Heres the granola recipe:
4 cups oatmeal (not the minute or fast stuff, just the good old fashion kind)
1 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup canola oil (i probably used less though)
honey (to taste and coat)
a splash of vanilla extract
cinnamon and nutmeg (just a little)
2 cups chopped dry apricot and cranberries

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl. Add oil and honey until everything is coated and sticks together a little. Spread out on cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper) and cook in oven at like 350 until a little golden. Then mix stuff to expose more uncooked area. Don't overcook or burn. When done let cool then enjoy.

A beginning and a failure

I am totally out of food. Despite having spent 150$ in the past few days on groceries, I have nothing to eat in my kitchen. The reason is that most of my purchases were canned goods or dried fruits and nuts. I have enough food to last me for more than a year. In fact, after carrying like 100 pounds of cans home from the associated supermarket, I may be laid up in bed for a year with back problems.
Anyway, I'm going to start to write since my friends Jarid and Sarah (whose apartment I had dinner at last night) convinced me its worth posting some recipes and failures.
Of failures I must relate my attempt to make Paneer (indian cheese). My sister-in-law Lori showed me the basic steps a few weekends ago. Essentially you slowly boil whole milk and right as it is starting to boil you denature it with lemon juice (or lime juice or vinegar). This causes the, already excited and likely unfolder proteins to denature even more and form a mesh with the fat in the milk --- essentially forming curds. Then you drain and wash away the acid, leaving just the curds. The curds are wet and need to be squeezed of their water and then pressed into a block for frying.
My first attempt was precipitated by a purchase of 1.5 pounds of Jareslburg cheese I got for 4 bucks at the east village cheese shop. The cheese was starting to go, and I had too much left, so I figured I would use non-fat powder milk and melt the cheese into it to create my own version of whole milk. Well I did this, but the cheese didn't really go into any solution. All the seemed to happen was that all of its flavorful oils left it. I was left with a very pale, stringy piece of cheese, with a similar feeling to mozzarella cheese. Nothing like paneer at all. I ended up just throwing it in with some white beans, garlic, basil, pine nuts and pasta mixture I made the next day.
My second attempt was less of a failure at first glance. I got proper whole milk and created the curds. They were not as big as Lori's and I didn't have a proper device to drain such small curds. I ended up using a slash guard to drain and wash the curds. This process ended up costing me a lot of the curds and I was left with a fist full of curds. Then I tried to squeeze them with a kitchen towel, but the knit was not tight enough and som curds squeezed out. Finally I pressed the remaining amount of curds and tried to fry it in my small cast iron. The result was a mush of cheese and oil, plus a bunch of stuck burnt cheese. I threw all this into a cauliflower, peas and cashews mixture I made in a spicy indian tomato sauce. The final product was fine, but the cheese had no real positive impact on the dish, and had wasted over an hour of my time. Next time I want to add cheese I'll either get farmers cheese from the cheese shop, or go to the indian store and get proper paneer.