Granola

Wow... It's been a while since I've been over here to share the happenings of my kitchen. But, in all honesty, I haven't been making too much. I've been pretty busy working and studying... My cooking has been slacking a bit and the blogging even more so.

But since yesterday I didn't have to work and had "nothing" to do (I mean, I'm sure I could have found something that I needed to do...) it was a good day for cooking. Unfortunately, only one of my little adventures is really worth recording here: my granola. (I also tried to bake a lemon-raspberry coffee cake in tin cans... My result was mostly mush. I'll work on that again another time. And dinner was Omaha steaks and salad -- pretty straight-forward, I guess. *Note: Ken's Italian dressing makes the best steak marinade in the world.)

What You'll Need:

• Oats (I just use generic brand "Old Fashioned Oats")
• Flax seeds
• Coarsely chopped almonds
• Sunflower seeds, salted
• Honey and/or Agave Nectar
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Ginger
• Natural chunky peanut butter
• Dried Fruits: cranberries (Craisins, if you will...), chopped candied ginger, chopped figs

Put it All Together:

• Mix everything but the dried fruits together. If you've ever had granola before, you'll be able to eyeball the ratio of oats to seeds and nuts. The honey/nectar just depends on how sweet you want it. I used about 2 hefty tablespoons of peanut butter. (In the end, my granola filled a quart-sized container up to the brim -- you know, the ones your wonton soup come in.)
• Spread out evenly onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake at about 200... for a while. Probably about 2-3 hours. Mix it every 20 minutes or so to allow it to cook evenly. If you crank the heat up towards the end to speed up your goldening process, just be sure to check it more frequently so it won't burn.
• Mix your dried fruits in. Don't seal it into a container until it's completely cool.

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Talk About Using What You've Got...

There wasn't much for me to cook for dinner last night. No chicken, no onion, no fresh veggies... I felt lost. (But I did have bacon!) I looked in the cabinet and saw brown rice and lentils and I figured I could do something with them. Maybe the (often cringe-worthy) word casserole. I Googled "rice lentil casserole" and discovered that this is an actual dish! Pretty popular, I might add. According to the Internet anyway.

The basics are the right proportions of rice to lentils to liquid. Then whatever seasonings and add-ins you want. I found mostly Mexican flavors going on, but I went Italian instead...

What I Used:

• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. lentils
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes w/ basil
• the last bit of a can of cream of chicken soup
• a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• onion powder (I didn't have an onion!!)
• 2 chopped carrots
• oregano & parsley (just a little)
• peas

Put It All Together:

• Mix it all in a baking dish. 
• Cover and bake. Most of the recipes I found online said to bake at 300 for a little over an hour. But after about 40 minutes I checked on it and realized that would never work. So I upped the temperature to 325. It was in the oven for about 2 hours. ...It did come out a bit mushy, but surprisingly incredibly tasty!
• Oh and the best part: I topped with mozzarella, but didn't have quite enough so I grated lots of fresh Parmesan on top. (The good stuff, from work.) And then crumbled bacon!! This really made it.

I served it with salad & bread (rustic bread with prosciutto and provolone baked in).

*No photo... It's not exactly the most attractive dish. 

Pears & Gruyere from The Piemaker

One of my favorite shows is Pushing Daisies.
It only made it to two seasons, of course. (That always happens with favorites, right?) This show had a personal, hidden danger though: It made me want to bake. Pies. All the time. For a while I was convinced that I could even open a pie shop (like the Pie Hole, as in shut your) and bake pies and delicious treats all the time. Maybe some day...

One of my favorite pies I've baked was inspired by this show: a pear & apple pie with Gruyere baked into the crust. (Apple pie with cheddar in the crust is also great.) And yesterday that particular mood struck again, but I wasn't really into the idea of a buttery crust, so I created something new...

The Facts Were These:

• 6 Anjou Pears (peeled & thinly sliced)
• Flour (as usual, I used white whole wheat)
• cinnamon
• ginger
• cloves
• oats
• brown sugar
• chopped & toasted almonds
• butter (only about 2 tablespoons & cubed)
• applesauce (au naturale)
• salt (a pinch)
• honey
• Gruyere cheese, shredded

1. Mix the pears with flour, cinnamon, cloves & ginger and a little brown sugar. (And some chopped candied ginger if you have it!) I really didn't measure at all... I was in a creative/experimental mood and was just kind of throwing stuff in. But if you've ever made a pie before, you'll have a good feeling for typical ratios. (And if not, just look a pie recipe or two and make your best judgement.)
2. In a separate bowl, prepare the crumbly topping: flour (about 3/4 of a cup?), oats (maybe closer to 1 cup?), brown sugar*, butter, applesauce (maybe about 1/2 cup, if not more), cloves, ginger & salt. It will get a mold-able (malleable?) kind of consistency.
3. In a greased baking dish or a pie dish, spread pear mixture over bottom. Sprinkle cheese over pears and drizzle with honey. Add almonds (however much you want) and top with oat crumble. 
4. Bake at 325 for about a half hour. 

*I ended up using a lot more sugar than I initially intended. But I think in order to get the right consistency for that crumble topping it needs it. I probably ended up using at least a half a cup. I'll measure next time -- this one is definitely a recipe to come back to and work on!

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Pardon Me Vinaigrette

If you don't have one already, you really ought to invest in one of these:

They're in the grocery store and it even comes with a packet or two of that delicious Good Seasons salad dressing mix. And if you've never made your own vinaigrette before, just follow the directions on the box and you'll realize how easy it is to substitute your own ingredients. Like this one for example:

• In your bottle, shake together (or whisk in a bowl if you really aren't going to get one, sheesh) a couple spoonfuls of Grey Poupon, a squirt of honey, a generous shake of sage, a little garlic powder & black pepper with white wine vinegar (I also used apple cider vinegar... good, but not as awesome). The amount of vinegar should be a bit above the line marked on the bottle since the mustard takes up more volume (yeah, volume... right?) than just a packet of seasonings. 
• Add a little dash of water and your olive oil. The ratio for these two can change to fit your own health requirements and consistency preferences. Give the bottle one more good shake to combine (or a few good whisks) and you're done!

**Tastes best served over salad with the following ingredients:

• romaine lettuce
• arugula
• carrots
• cucumber
• red onion
• chicken (browned with sage & garlic)
• sliced strawberries
• sunflower seeds

Carrot - Apple Muffins

 
As I perused various cooking sites in the world of the Internets on Tuesday I had my eye out for a healthy muffin recipe. Many called for ingredients that I didn't have... raisins, cake flour, sour cream. So I got out a notebook and a pen and wrote my own. I actually wrote down amounts and measurements, combining aspects of other recipes I liked and making substitutions for the basic components of a muffin:

1. Flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
2. Sugar (I used honey)
3. Baking powder/soda (I used both)
4. Eggs (I used... well... eggs)
5. Fat (I used applesauce -- in place of oil)
6. Milk (I used yogurt)

With my basic ingredients decided I set out to create a new muffin. To relative success, no less.

What You'll Need:

• 1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. oats
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. yogurt (I used plain with a dash of vanilla)
• 1/3 c. applesauce 
• 1 c. shredded carrots
• 1 c. shredded apples
• flax seeds (sunflower seeds would be good too)
• chopped candied ginger

Put it All Together

• Combine flour, oats, baking soda & powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in a large bowl.
• Whisk together honey, egg, yogurt and applesauce.
• Fold in carrots, apples, ginger and flax seeds.
• Lightly stir wet mixture into dry. Don't over-stir or the muffins will come out dense. (And don't make my mistake: be sure to actually mix all the flour into the batter. I left a bunch of the flour mixture at the bottom of my bowl after I poured half the batter into the muffin pan, so half my muffins came out a bit... err... soggy.)
• Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

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Caramelized Onions and Fusilli

As tasty and satisfying as this meal came out, it was born in disaster...

It all began at Jamba Juice on 5th Avenue on Tuesday, March 29th. Despite working so close, a half hour break still doesn't leave much of a window to order lunch, wait for it and make it back to work in time -- nevermind actually sitting down and eating it. But I tried. I got to work at 7 a.m. (yes, I had to get up before 6!) and was already looking forward to 12:00 because I had already decided to try out the oatmeal at Jamba Juice. I organized all the bread and filled baskets and blah blah, let's fast forward to 12. I rushed downstairs to grab my coat and purse, fumbled with the lock on my locker and the frustration started to build. Forgetting to clock out, I made it outside. I power walked across the street to Jamba Juice and at about 12:08 I found myself in front of the menu, confronted with too many choices, as usual.

"I'll have an oatmeal with fresh bananas and a 16 Orange Carrot Karma."

"We're out of carrots."

"Uhhhhh...." My eyes robot-scanned the menu again and fixed onto the all fruit choices. "Mega Mango, then," I sighed with disappointment.

I waited in line with the suits for the guy behind the blender to call my name. Finally. I sat down with about 10 minutes to have my lunch. I opened my newest issue of Cooking Light anyway to find something for dinner -- something I could make without shopping again. I pretty much decided on the first recipe I found: Fusilli with Caramelized Spring Onions and White Wine.

With dinner hastily decided, I shoved the last bite of (wonderful) oatmeal into my mouth and left with my Mango in hand. I had about 3 minutes to get back to work. With my eyes on the approaching walk signal, my pace quickened on the sidewalk. Then the disaster happened. My Jamba Juice slipped out of my hand and splattered onto the sidewalk. For a split second I contemplated picking it up and saving it to transfer to another cup. But in that split second it continued to pool all over the pavement. I looked up, devastated. An older woman saw my pain and sympathized with my loss, "Oh! I'm so sorry!!"

My sadness quickly transformed to rage. I stormed back to work and fumed about my wasted $4 and my lost nutrients in the form of deliciousness. And what does this loss have to do with my fusilli and caramelized onions, you might ask? Everything. I was looking forward to cooking it and taking photos and taking my time -- a leisurely and enjoyable cooking night. But my Jamba Juice frustration still lingered when I began cooking and as soon as I began I found myself rushing and overly frustrated.

BUT nevertheless, it came out delicious and I will give you the rundown of my recipe. I made some changes from the original.

What You'll Need:

• bread crumbs 
• I made my own with leftover slices of Otto bread from work. Toasted, pulverized & mixed with a little olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and crushed red pepper. Then toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

• garlic: chopped or minced
• onions, thinly sliced (about 1 and a half... I didn't have spring onions -- just regular yellow)
• white wine
• chicken broth
• parmesan rind
• peas
• bacon
• whole wheat fusilli
• quinoa

Put it All Together:

• Caramelize your onions. Ideally, do it nice and slow and low with butter. This equals perfection. I didn't have the time or the patience for this so I used some water and then a little olive oil and sauteed until soft and browned.
• Add a couple cloves of garlic and the wine. Heat it up to cook off the alcohol. Add parmesan rind for flavor (don't eat it!). 
• Add chicken broth and reduce.
• Throw in your frozen peas to heat them all the way through.
• Mix in about a quarter to a third of your prepared quinoa (1 cup uncooked) and most of your pasta (from 1 box). Toss it all together.
• Serve with bread crumbs, grated parmesan and crumbled bacon on top.

And hopefully you can do it all with less frustrations than me.

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