qoop and (finally) the recipe

In an email today, Melissa asked me if I had used QOOP to get prints of my digital pictures, and it reminded me that I had never written on here about my experience using their service.
I found them through flickr. If you click on the "order prints" link above one of your pictures, there at the very bottom is a link to qoop's services. It is easy to get an account and start using their print service.
The nice thing is that you can upload a few pictures at a time, upload any of your sets, or upload all of your flickr photos. Because my sets are so disorganized, I went in to flickr and made a "qoop processing" set.
I like the fact that you qoop lets you add a white or black border to your prints, which I love. And their website is very easy to use.
Their prices per print are cheaper than other services, if I remember correctly. But I thought qoop shipping was pretty expensive. I'm not sure how it compares with other online print companies, so maybe you make up those per print savings there. However, the pictures got to me super fast--two days, maybe?! Fast.
The quality is fantastic.

I did to go back and re-upload the pictures I wanted to print because I learned that "Flickr Uploader" resizes your photos automatically to a low print quality. If you don't know about that, or aren't sure how to change it let me know, and I'll tell you about it. But I know that made a difference in the clarity of my pictures.
All in all, I thought it was super-easy and super-fast. And it is nice to finally have some prints in hand. I forget how nice that is. They also offer other services like stickers and prints on canvas--both of which I'd love to try. They sound fun.

So, here's my grandmother's granola recipe. But before I give it to you, I have to tell you that my grandmother had fifteen children and this recipe probably is enough for fifteen children! She usually makes a batch each for Christmas and gives it out as gifts to some of her children who love it (hi, Dad!). When I make it, I cut it in half, but really you could probably cut it in half again. She has two GIANT stainless steel bowls (like commercial kitchen sized) that she makes it in. So just be ready....I'm giving you the full-sized recipe. You can cut it as you please:

Mix together:
5 pounds oats
A scant 2 cups of each:
  oil
  brown sugar
  honey
  wheat germ

She also adds whatever kinds of nuts she has on hand. Usually cashews, almonds, walnuts, peanuts. Add these before baking.

heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread granola onto shallow baking pans. Reduce to 225 degrees and place in oven.  Bake  for 1-2 hours, depending on the depth of your pan, stirring every 15 minutes. You are only baking until the oats turn golden brown. Turn off the oven and let it stay in the oven for several hours, until cool.

My favorite way to eat the granola this summer is over vanilla yogurt and berries or over vanilla ice cream--after all my children are quietly tucked in their beds. Doesn't everything taste better then?!
Hope you enjoy the recipe!

Comments

[melissa f.]

thanks molly! do you just hit the no-crop button in qoop so they don't resize? or is it something you do in flickr? see. already with more questions.

i think the shipping is a little more, but it's probably worth it if it's better than the standard flickr/target processing.

[Mama Urchin]

I love granola and yogurt and ice cream must be even better!

[erin]

i'd like to know more about the resizing, too...i already resize my photos when i upload them because i am a little impatient, you know. so if they resize my resized ones, then they surely would not turn out. right? am i making sense?

[emily]

thank you thank you for the granola recipe! i'll be trying it later in the week.

and for the review of qoop. i ordered some postcards from them and they came out just fine (i had never ordered postcards before so i had nothing to compare to), but i was wondering about their photo quality. good to hear about your experience.

[Veronique]

Looks like you had a better experience with Qoop than I did... I had a poster printed about a year and a half ago and the quality was just aweful. Sounds like they've improved!

[Jen]

Thanks, Molly! I do love the measurements--hmm, I might have a few cups of oats, but definitely not five pounds, on hand! I'll have to work out the fractions to make it much smaller :)

[beki]

Holy moly, that's a lot of granola!!
Thanks for the info on QOOP, I'll have to check it out.

[Jude]

That sounds delicious!!!! I think your Gran would have needed a good brekky to get through the day parenting all those children!

[Gina]

I love the border on the pictures!!! It reminds me of the older pictures, such treasures and from your photo, the look like high quality photos as well. I've been having my grandmas and parents gather up all the older pictures they have of older family members. I'm going to have copies made and they would like nice with that border. Thanks for sharing!!!!!

[melissa]

yummo . . . and the photos look great

[Chara Michele]

Thanks for the granola recipe! My husband loves granola, so I will have to try making some of this for him:)

[Machelle]

I have a question about the oil. Is that a scant 2 cups of oil?

[Jamie]

Love that idea! I'd love to post that recipe along with the picture on my website-go-togirls.com (which will be officially up-and running next week).

[Sonya]

Thanks for the recipe (fifteen kid strength)!

[Mama Llama]

Do you ever add dates or raisins to your granola? If you do, do you do it before or after cooking it? My husband loves dates and raisins in his.

What kind of oil do you like to use?