granola for sweet hearts

Up until last weekend, I'd never tried my hand at making granola from scratch. I had no idea what I was missing. I'm happy to report that I struck gold with my very first recipe--except for adding the chocolate before baking. {Melted mess=Rookie mistake.} Once I got it right, this family was non-stop munching, by the handful! It's simply the perfect amount of sweetness. I had a solid week of amazing breakfasts and snacks, mixing it with a little bit of plain yogurt. I'm pretty sure that if you sprinkled this over a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream you'd feel like you'd died and gone to heaven.

This recipe makes just enough to give and keep. I had a few hostess gifts to give lately, so I divided it into some sweet little jars, added a valentiney paper top, and tied it with string.
Coconut + Chocolate Granola

Original recipe by the good and gracious Orangette. (Love her foodie blog and still need to get my hands on her book.)

6 cups rolled oats
1 c. almonds, chopped
1 c. shredded coconut
1/4 c. sugar
2 t. salt
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 bar of bitter or semi-sweet chocolate (I used 50% cocoa), chopped

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, coconut, sugar, and salt. Stir well to blend.

In a small saucepan, warm the honey and oil over low heat, stirringg occasionally until honey is loose, liquid. Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine well.

Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden. Pull out the pan and stir the granola half way through baking time; this helps it to cook evenly. When it’s ready, remove the pan from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and cool completely.

When cool, transfer the granola to a large air tight container. Add the chocolate, and stir (or shake, if using a jar or bag) to mix.

Enjoy!
P.S. The snow is melting here this weekend. Let me tell you, the puddles on our sidewalks are a sight for sore eyes.

christmas salsa

Remember that one time when I peeled 1,000 tomatoes, cooked, and canned my first-ever batch of salsa? I'd never made salsa in my life, but I had high hopes of passing all those pretty little jars along as Christmas gifts. Fast forward a few months and most of it has disappeared from my cupboard. What can I say? We have Mexican at least once a week, plus I have a husband who loves to munch. (The Christmas cookies have fallen to the same fate.) For the dozen or so that were spared from our own bellies, I spent a few minutes gussying up with pretty paper, tinsel wire, and jingle bells. They're officially good for giving and too cute {for us} to crack. Merry, Merry.

focaccia 101

Last night we found a Dominoes ad on our front step and were thisclose to ordering. Something about hot, greasy pizza delivered straight to your door when it's 19 degrees outside is soo tempting. But after my epic foodie rant, I decided I'd better start practicing what I preach. So I hit the stove and made some chicken+wild rice soup and tried my hand at focaccia. In all honesty, I'd never made bread (at least the kind that calls for yeast) before in my entire life, except that one time in home ec...

Am so glad I gave this a whirl. I'd heard that focaccia was a good beginner bread to bake and I'd been craving it for weeks. I must have done something right, because the results were tremendously delicious. Our house smelled even better than the warm + freshly baked bread tasted. (And it was super yum.) If I'd known how easy this would be, I would have made this years ago...on a routine basis.

Focaccia 101:

Ingredients |

1 c. warm water
2 1/4t. quick-acting yeast
2 3/4 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1 t. thyme
black pepper to taste
1 T. canola oil
extra virgin olive oil
grated parmesan
grated mozzarella

Directions |

In a small bowl, combine yeast + water. Allow it to bud for 10 minutes while you prepare the flour mixture.
In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add yeast mix, canola oil, and stir until dough pulls together.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface (I used my baking sheet) until it becomes elastic and smooth.
Place dough in a lightly greased large bowl, cover with damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
Flatten dough into a 1/2-1" thick rectangle or circle on greased or floured baking sheet.
Make small dents in the dough with your fingers or knuckles, then use a fork to prick several times.
Brush the top with olive oil and top with a handful of parmesan and/or mozzarella.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes until the top is golden and it smells so fantastic you can't stand it.
Savor.

Suffice it to say, I am anxious to make this again someday soon. Perhaps I'll snazz it up with some sliced jalapenos or roma tomatoes on top.

my food renaissance

Thanksgiving is just about 1 week away! Insane. Makes a good segue to a long-winded chat about food. I'm not usually one to write persuasive essays, but I just have a couple of things that need to be said:

I nearly choked on my Wonderbread* last Thursday night when my friend Chelsea (who was coming to spend the weekend with us, arriving the following afternoon) announced that she and her baby were on a gluten-free diet. Gulp. What did that even mean? I had absolutely no clue, except that we probably couldn't order pizza. (!?!) A split second later, I was googling easy gluten-free recipes and scouring over blogs like this one and this one. I made a list, checked it twice, and fled for the health store, in hopes of filling their bellies with the right stuff while they stayed under our roof.

(For those as in the dark as I was--a gluten free diet basically means no wheat. Sometimes people skip dairy too, sometimes not. They eat lots of fresh, healthy fruits + veggies. Lots of protein, rice, and nuts. A whole lot of good, wholesome things. A whole lot less empty carbs and processed junk.)

It turns out that Chels started this whole holistic, organic, extra healthy kick after her daughter was born and she needed to completely transform her diet in order to successfully keep breastfeeding. In a little over a year, she's become a walking health encyclopedia and even started a great blog along with a friend about their adventures in holistic parenting. As the weekend went on, we chatted a ton and I felt like my eyes were really opened about our society's big, fat messed up perception of real food.

I'd never been resistant to the whole/organic/locally sourced food movement (in fact, I've always thought it was pretty neat)--I had just never taken the time to be educated about it. I'd caught bits and pieces from NPR, I stood in awe of the girl who makes her own granola bars and the girl who makes her own yogurt, but I'd never really put all the pieces together to understand why it's all such a big deal. I'd always enjoyed a good trip to the farmer's market, bought organic milk for G and tried to cook nutritious things as much as possible-but I never ever thought I'd be the girl preaching on her blog about free range chickens and the dirty dozen.

Maybe I am the last girl on earth to have finally sat down to watch Food Inc., but in case I'm not, I highly, highly recommend that you see it too. I can say with an open mind that our society's recent and rapid advances in agriculture have produced some positives: food has become more affordable and more available. I won't discredit that. But suddenly our food has become, well, a whole lot less like food. When I look around at the grocery store, I admit that I've been getting a little disgusted. Everything is processed, packaged, and filled with pretty much unrecognizable ingredients. I won't even begin to rant about the government influences, money trails, legal red tape, factory farms, horrible pesticides, unnecessary antibiotics, genetically modified monstrosities, inhumane working conditions, and ridiculous amount of waste that are involved here. God must be so sad about what we've done to his Creation. How we've abused and distorted all the good things he's made for us. It all makes me lose my appetite.

I will say that I am looking at our food from a whole new angle. I am finally beginning to digest all of this food rhetoric and am beginning to see the bigger picture, the repercussions it has on us as a society and on our future. I am taking a second glance at what our grocery budget is really funding, and am thinking about more ways to exercise my vote and effect change on my family's dinner table. Although our world and our food system are royally messed up, I am comforted knowing that I am a steward of my body and my refrigerator.

I can make small choices and changes that will better nourish our bodies and can support local farmers who supply food with integrity.
I can subscribe to a CSA.
I can dodge the dirty dozen (and spring for the organic versions).
I can hoard the clean 15.
I can learn how to plant a garden.
I can try to grow some good veggies in our own backyard.
I can visit the farmers' market more regularly.
I can get beef, pork, and eggs from my aunts and uncles (who conveniently still own family farms!)
I can make a New Year's resolution to freeze and can more things next summer.
I can search for healthier recipes.
I can skip the chips, soda, crackers, and cookies at the grocery store.
I can learn so much more: I am really curious to hear your thoughts, tips, sources, and suggestions. I know this is a really hot topic and that there's an enormous wealth of information out there...I have barely scratched the surface.

This was a biggie--thanks for reading.

*P.S. I don't actually eat Wonderbread. Never have, never will. I just chose to pick on this ungodly resemblance of food substance for dramatic effect. Sorry for the tall tales. :)