Granola two ways: everything and maple pecan

 

 

 

Despite my non-resolutions, I will admit to having started a healthier, lighter eating regime this month, eschewing carbs and processed sugar as much as possible.

 

This new routine involves eating oats in as many forms possible in the morning rather than the five or ten two or three wholewheat cookies I normally hastily dunk into my caffe latte every morning at my office desk. It also involves thinking and preparing ahead but turns out to be less of a bother than I thought it would be. I just have to remember to boil and soak some steel cut oats in water about once a week or alternatively mix and bake my own granola, of which I have already made several batches.

 

 

 

 

 

I am aware that making your own granola is not the discovery of the century and that many of you are already doing it, but for those of you who don't, it is so easy and so much healthier than buying those (often) sugar, salt and fat-laden industrial ones, of which there is very little choice here to begin with. So I am indeed very excited, just as excited as I was about last week's lentils ... what can I say, I guess I am an enthusiastic kinda gal, although I promise to spare you Dr. Seuss this time round.

 

I have made a variety of combinations with very different ingredients and two different methods, both of which worked very well for me, and I cannot help patting myself on the shoulder everytime I take a bite: not only do I get to clean out my pantry and freezer (I cannot begin to tell you the amount of dried fruit and nuts I have stashed away), but I can choose from an endless combination of ingredients, I have control of what I am feeding my family, how sweet I want my breakfast cereal to be and also how much fat, sugar or salt I want or rather don't want to use. Not to mention I get to decide whether I want big clusters, small clusters or none at all.
 

 

 

 

We have been eating it with cold milk, warm milk or yogurt as breakfast and after-school snacks and we have yet to get bored of it. I am already thinking dried figs, medjool dates, apricots, pistachios, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins. My kids are already dreaming of chocolate chips in all colors or sizes and peanut butter chips...

 

Quick note: I have been using instant oats because I had a large tin to use up and they worked well but normally granola recipes call for rolled oats. You can go either way. Also, play around with the ingredients you like by substituting, adding or taking any of them. Last but not least, I recently read some recipes that did not call for any kind of fat in the preparation, so I will be trying that next.*

*Six months later I am still making this weekly: I now use rolled oats or 6-grain mixes, I have cut the amount of maple syrup and add flax/linseed to the mix, and the maple granola is definitely my favorite although I sometimes swap pecans with a seed mix (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, linseed etc.).

 

 

 

 

Everything granola (makes enough for one baking tray)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
1tsp muscovado sugar
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened, dried coconut
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup almonds, roughly chopped
3 cups rolled/instant oats 
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup mixed red berries

Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
Melt butter and honey (you can melt the honey using the bain marie method or in the microwave) and mix together in a large bowl. Add in all the other ingredients and mix well using a spatula.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper or aluminum foil and spread the mixture evenly. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, mixing halfway through. Let cool, crumble and mix in the berries. Store in an airtight container.

Maple pecan granola clusters (makes enough for one baking tray) - with updates
3 1/2 cups instant oats (I have now switched to a 6-grain rolled mix) 
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flax/linseed
1 tsp cinnamon, optional
1/2 to 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup canola oil or other
2/3 cup pure maple syrup (I have since reduced the amount to 1/4 cup approximately)



Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F.
In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine oil and syrup and then pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well with a spatula. Spread evenly onto a previously lined baking tray and bake without mixing for about 30 minutes . Let cool, break up in to pieces and store in an airtight container.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy seed explosion muffins

Yesterday, while we were having lunch with a bunch of friends (it was a national holiday - although lucky me, I got to go to the office from 7 till just before noon anyway!), my daughter managed to swallow a tooth while eating her sandwich.

 

At least we think she swallowed it because it was there (and not even that loose for all I knew) before the sandwich and gone after it. She looked all around her plate, in her lap and under the table, for reasons you will understand shortly, and there was no sign of it.

 

How do you eat a tooth and not realize it?

 

While I was obsessing about that gross detail, how it would be coming out on the other end soon and how my baby is already eight lost-teeth into adulthood and will be leaving me soon to go and live her own life, she was obsessing about il topino dei denti, the mouse.

 

 

 

 

Yes, the mouse.

 

In Italy - and other countries in Europe I believe - it is the tooth mouse that shows up at your child's pillow to take his/her tooth and leave some money in its place. I am partial to the tooth fairy myself, being a girl and all, but I guess the mouse is more gender neutral and who am I to complain anyway?*

 

So, all my kid could think of was whether the mouse would leave her any money if she didn't have a tooth as evidence. Would the mouse know , the way Santa and Co. know that kind of stuff? I assured here it probably does but we would have to wait and see.

 

A heated debate ensued at the table with various suggestions. My daughter decided she would just sleep with her mouth open, like she normally does, she stated.

 

 

 

 

I, the advocate's devil, whipped out my phone to prove her wrong. Just the night before I had snapped a picture of her sleeping (yes, I am the crazy mama who constantly takes pictures of her sleeping children) and the evidence showed the contrary.

 

So perhaps she could draw a picture of her mouth with a gap where her tooth once was or write a note to the mouse?

 

Well, by the time she went to bed last night after a 5km walk in the park, she had forgotten all about the tooth she was so exhausted.

 

And although I was back in the office this morning, I know for a fact that the mouse dropped by. Or actually, the tooth fairy.

 

*Turns out I actually do have a right to complain since I am the bank and the messenger...

 

 

 

 

 

Who collects teeth in your country?

This is a a simple, homey, comforting snack from the lovely Monet. Something to share with a loved one at the kitchen table or curled up on the couch. A recipe for those everyday moments of your life, the ones you know you will cherish the most in the future.

These are for my little girl, who delights in the burst of every single poppy seed between the few teeth she has left right now.

Honey poppy seed dressing

 

 

 

Maybe I should change my blog's name to Nuts about vinaigrette.

 

Maybe I should start posting a vinaigrette recipe for every day of the year. "365 dressings for a healthier 2013". Whaddya think?

 

Maybe I should just shut up make something else.

 

But I feel like I finally understand what Brenda, Elvis, Willie and the Pet Shop Boys were talking about. I just can't seem to get this stuff off of my mind or my salad.

 

I get home from the office and there it is, sitting in the corner of my kitchen, that big, white book beckoning me. Before I know it I am flipping through those pages, fingers trembling, cursing myself for not using the ribbon bookmark that was purposely sewn into the binding for just this purpose. I need more, I need to find yet another way to make my evening salad even more delectable than yesterday's. There are just so many, I can't stop myself!

 

And so, until I get rid of this addiction and start publishing something you can actually chew rather then surreptitiously lick off your finger from an empty bowl while you are filling the dish washer, you get yet another from me.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp cider vinegar (or any other kind of fruit vinegar)

1 small shallot, minced

2 tbsp mustard (the book suggests Dijon, I used an estragon-based one)

1 tsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

If you are using a food processor, first mince the shallot and then add all the ingredients minus the poppy seeds and run until creamy. When the dressing is ready, add the poppy seeds and give a good last mix with a spatula making sure all the honey is mixed in as opposed to stuck at the bottom of the bowl.

If you make this by hand, mince the shallot and then mix all the ingredients together (poppy seeds included) minus the olive oil, which you will add in at the whisking until you obtain an emulsion.