Granola

I grew up in a family that was a little “crunchy” around the edges.  We were pretty lefty-liberal.  We bought food in bulk through the neighborhood food co-op.  (You haven’t lived until you’ve tried to stir a 5 gallon bucket of natural peanut butter that has separated!)  We heated with wood.  We went to peace protests.  People in our Meeting were arrested in political protests.  You get the idea…  My brother’s nickname in his first high school was “Chewy” because Quaker Chewy Granola bars were a staple of his (and my) lunch. 

With all this in mind, it only seems right that I would try my hand at making granola.  My mother has been making it for years so I figured I’d start by asking for her recipe.  Here’s what she uses:

• Melt 1/2 cup butter in a big roasting pan
• Add 1/2 cup of honey (or combination of honey and maple syrup)
• Stir until these are thoroughly melted and runny
• Add in:  4 cups oats (or 3 cups oats & 1 cup wheat flakes), 1 cup wheat germ, 1/2 cup (or more) cut coconut flakes, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup (or more) of raw cashews, 1/2 cup (or more) of raw whole almonds, 1/2 cup pecan meal (optional but adds flavor)
• Mix until everything is well-coated
• Bake at 300 degrees until well-toasted.  This is usually between 45 minutes & an hour.  Stir every 15 minutes while baking.
• Let it cool completely before putting into a container.

My first try at it didn’t go too well.  I waited too long to make it out of the oven so it was just a hair shy of burnt.  Hmm, not very tasty.  My second try was much better.  I liked it and so did Pete, much to my surprise.  However, I felt like it needed more flavor so I went searching on the internet for other ideas.  I came across this recipe for Power Granola on Cooking Light’s website and used it, along with Mom’s recipe, as a base.  I ended up playing with the nuts, etc. and come to a recipe I like. 

Making it is kind of fun.  Usually I’m one who follows a recipe strictly but not in this case!  I throw in oatmeal, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, raw cashews, slivered almonds, whole almonds, walnuts, wheat germ, and coconut flakes in amounts that look like it might make something tasty.  I’m a little more careful with the cinnamon, OJ, honey, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla because I don’t want to make it too wet.  Yep, that’s me… living on the wild side… adding in ingredients all willy nilly!  LOL

Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk

Last night I tried a recipe that I’ve had for 8 years or so.  I got it from a friend & former neighbor that never got up the nerve to try it.  She’d said it was really good but t had all these exotic ingredients like coconut milk and ginger and lentils so it intimidated me.  To be honest, I also didn’t try it because most of the lentil dishes (okay, all 1 or 2 of them) I’d cooked came out gritty and/or I didn’t get the cooking time on the lentils right and they were half-cooked.  Well, anyway, now that I’m feeling a little braver about cooking I thought it was time to try it.  Ooooooh buddy, am I glad I did!!!  Pete’s been sick most of the past week and I’ve been feeling off since yesterday or so.  (I’m home sick from work today with a wicked sore throat and some other things.)  I thought  a “velvety smooth soup” sounded like a good idea.  I loved it; Pete liked it.  I’m not sure he was as enthusiastic about as I was.  The coconut milk really added a nice flavor to it!  That, and the cilantro.  Man, I love cilantro!  Anyway, the soup gets a 4-star rating from me.

Here’s the link to the recipe – Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk.

What’s for dinner?

Until just a few years ago, I swore that I didn’t know how to cook.  Then Pete and I moved in together (good lord has it been 3 years already?!?!) and I realized that if I wanted some diversity in what I ate I’d have to learn some new cooking skills.  Growing up I never understood why my mom would read cookbooks.  I mean really – what’s there to read in there???  It’s just ingredients and instructions – that’s not very exciting! 

Ah, what a difference a few years makes.  Last weekend I actually bought some post-it notes for the explicit purpose of marking recipes I want to try in my cookbooks.  Got to have just the right size post-it note!!  I’m no chef but I feel like I’ve gotten to a new level of cooking now that I’ve cooked with both squash AND eggplant within the past few months.  Neither of those are veggies I particularly like but the recipes sounded tasty so I thought I’d try ‘em!

Anyway, I’m starting a new category of posts called “What’s for dinner?”  I’ll post recipes that are interesting, tasty, or disastrous – whatever makes for interesting writing.  (Interesting reading?  Well, you can be the judge of that.)  I’m thinking that I’ll be using a rating system too.  How about this…

• * – Is it too late to order pizza?
• ** – I’ll eat it this time but let’s not make it again
• *** – Not bad.  Not my favorite but not bad
• **** – Mmmm, now that’s tasty!
• ***** – OMG, can we eat this for every meal??

I’ll go with that for now and edit as needed.  Tonight’s dinner was Red Wine-Marinated Beef Stew from Cooking Light.  It didn’t have enough veggies in it for my taste but it was definitely tasty!  And a lovely shade of reddish-purple thanks to the red wine.  Pete’s still sleeping (poor guy has been nailed by the flu) so we’ll have to wait to see what he thinks.  For me I’m giving it 4 stars – “Mmmm, now that’s tasty!”

If you’ve got some interesting recipes to share, please do!