The Granola Itch!

I've got the itch.  The granola itch!  I used to buy my granola but it's so darned expensive! Also, might I add, it's definitely not as good as when you make it yourself.  Making granola is easy.  REALLY EASY.  If you're like me then you will have a lot of different things that might spiff up your granola in your pantry, just get out the rolled oats and you're ready. I got so into making granola that I recently purchased a bulk 25 lb bag of rolled oats.  Yes, that's a lot of granola!

Granola makes a great gift too!  During he holidays I put some in little bags added a ribbon and gave it to friends.  Once you get the hang of making it, you can adjust flavor, throw in this or that or even make granola bars to put in your kids lunch box,  easy peasy.

Since we finished the last of our last batch of granola this morning I new it was time to make another, so I decided to share my granola obsession with you of course!  When I first made the "crunchy stuff", I followed a recipe from one of my favorite cook books, Good To The Grain by Kim Boyce.  I've baked just about half the items from her cook book and I'd say almost every one of her recipes has been amazing.  If you like to bake with whole grain flours, this is the cook book for you!  

So, the following recipe is definitely inspired by her seeded Granola, however, I always tweak it according to what I have available to me at the moment.  I tend to keep a lot of seeds, nuts and dried fruit, all of which make wonderful additions to granola.  Here is what I did today, and, . . . I must add, this one turned out especially good!

Jess' Granola

-Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

-Grease a large oven pan, one with a rim to keep oats from spilling out.

-Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (again, remember, I just happened to have these things in my pantry, I throw them in where I can use them; use what you have and substitute to be adventurous!).

DRY INGREDIENTS:

5 cups of rolled oats

1/2 cup of raw sunflower seeds

1/3 cup of chopped raw walnuts

1/3 cup of chopped unsalted toasted peanuts

1/2 cup of wheat germ

1 Tbs of poppy seeds

2 Tbs of flax seeds

1/3 Cup of raisins

1/3 Cup of chopped prunes

1/8 Cup of chopped dried mango

1/8 Cup of chopped dried apples

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

-Prepare syrup by putting wet ingredients into a medium size pot.

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of raw honey

2 tsp of salt

-Turn up heat and bring mixture to a boil, let boil till mixture browns some, you want that nutty caramel flavor, it adds a caramel flavor of the granola.  

-Quickly add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix together well, covering all grains and dried fruit with wet mix.  

-Pour un-cooked granola into a large pan for cooking and spread evenly.

-Cook granola for 30 minutes being sure to take the pan out every 10 minutes to lift and mix.  If you don't do this, your granola will get stuck to the bottom of the pan.  

-Take granola out of oven, keep mixing every 10 minutes or so till granola has cooled down.  

-Store in an air-tight container!

YUM YUM YUM!

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken, one of my favorites

I thought it might be appropriate to share a chicken recipe with you all considering my recent chicken shenanigans.  If I'm going to kill them, I've got to be able to cook them! I also have been promising this recipe to a dear friend of mine; Sarah, this one is for you, . . .

This recipe has been adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker,  by Beth Hensperger, which is an awesome cookbook for those of you who are interested in crock pots.  I love mine, nothing better than throwing ingredients into a pot and having them ready to grub down on five hours later.  I've made this particular recipe so many times that I've landed on my own flavor preferences and recipe tweaks, which is what you will see below.  Be careful though, I've noticed that this dish can be easy to over salt depending on what type of soy sauce and bouillion you use, so it's good to be mindful of that.  For this, I use my 6 quart slow cooker, big enough to put the entire chicken in.  It is so easy to prepare and is one of my "go to" meals as most of the ingredients are always in my fridge or pantry. 

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken:

Ingredients:

4-5 large potatoes chopped into 1/8ths, skin on

1 Large onion chopped into long slivers

10-15 Mushrooms, whatever you like, chopped into large chunks, I use Cremini

1 lemon, juiced, keep the rinds available too

1 Boullion cube

2 Tbs of Soy Sauce

1 1/2 Tsp of Paprika

A dash of Sea Salt

A few twists of Black Pepper

To Prepare:

-Prepare and have available all ingredients.

-Put the chicken into the crock pot.

-Drizzle lemon juice over the chicken and stick the rinds into the chicken cavity.

-Add Soy Sauce.

-Break boullion cube in half, put one section inside the chicken, crumble the rest on top.

-Season with paprika, salt and pepper

-Add potatoes, onions and mushrooms to the crock pot, snug them around the chicken, you can even put some inside the chicken to give the juice more flavor!

Sometimes I cover the entire chicken, piling mushrooms, potatoes and onions on top, it just depends on how much I have to add.

-Cover and cook on high for about 4 hours (or till chicken is done!).

You will end up with a delicious stew that usually lasts (us) for two days!  Yummo!  Such a perfect re-heatable dish too.

Last but not least, . . . .

Make your stock!

This stock is so good, thick, dark and delicious.  See all the gelatin on the top, that's the good stuff!

-Keep the carcass inside the crock pot with any leftover juices.  

-Pick out lemon rinds and other large leftover pieces of meat and skin.  

-Add 1 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar.  

-Fill crock pot with water and turn on low.  

-After 24 hours I usually open it up and use a ladle to help break down the bones, all that marrow is so good for you and makes a yummy flavor in your stock.  

-Then you can let it sit bubbling away for another day!  (Sometimes  I even take some stock out to drink or use in another recipe only to add more water to the crock pot and let it cook even longer!

-Once my stock is finished, I strain it well and put it in a jar.  I take the bone mush and mash it up even more and give it to the dogs, . . . they LOVE it.  

Voila!  Now you've got the stock for the soup you're going to make tomorrow!  I always try to use the stock within the next 4-5 days, if you don't plan on using it, stick it in your freezer!

. . .

Staying up late with Jamie Oliver!

Bittersweet chocolate on one side, and a picture of the Bombe on the other.  This dessert was a success and will be made again (and again, and again, and again, . . . .).

So the hubby gave me a great gift for my birthday, Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Great Britain.  It's a pretty fun read and the recipes look good.   My mom always said that, "A way to a man's heart is through his stomach,"  so this cookbook is right up my alley. Not only am I learning about dishes that my sweet-heart has always talked about, but now I get to try my hand at cooking them!  Eager to get started I dug straight in!

For New Year's Eve dinner I decided nothing would be better than the full monty, entree and dessert (both British style).  For a first timer, the Toad-In-The-Hole turned out better than I thought, I would post a link to his recipe, but the one on his website isn't the same as the one I did from his cookbook (I guess you'll just have to buy it, wink wink).  Here was our yummy meal, and we devoured it!

This recipe does the sausage separate from the Yorkshire pudding, it was nice because we could all dig in family style.

This blog post, however, was mostly inspired by his Winter Pudding Bombe.  It was one of the first things I saw as I was flipping through the book and I new I had to make it.  I threw everything together the night before and melted the chocolate onto the frozen pudding just before serving.  If you are one with a sweet tooth (as I am), you will find making this is easy and fun.  The colors were so pretty and as I prepared the ingredients I admired their beauty and munched on the bits.  

For the inside of my Bombe, I used frozen cherries, mandarine orange slices, pistachios, caramelized ginger and malt balls.

I couldn't find exactly what we he was asking for in the recipe, so as usual, I substituted with my own ingredients.  It would be nice to try out his exact flavors one day, regardless though, you can't go wrong when it involves fruit, ice cream, nuts and cake.

I also had to make my own Panettone since I couldn't find any here on Orcas.  I found an easy recipe in my bread machine cookbook which did all the work for me.  All I did was let it rise and throw it in the oven.  Voila!

After putting it all together, the final product was a cross between an ice cream Sunday and a giant bon-bon.  CRIKEY BLIMEY IT WAS GOOD!

Outrageous Vegan Muffins

Lately I have gotten into cooking vegan food.  Admittedly, I'm no vegan, but I certainly enjoy trying new things and learning about different types of diets.  Even though I like eating some meats, I have also been noticing how good I feel when I eat yummy, filling meals that have not been touched by the meat industry.  Not only have I found some wonderful dishes and new things to try, but I'm finding a sort of clarity in vegan food that I don't find in dishes made with meats.  It feels more "pure" to me.  My body feels good when I eat it.  Perhaps it's a psychological thing, or maybe energetic, regardless something feels right.  I'm excited!

When our vegan friend Jack came over for dinner a few times in the last couple of weeks this new world of cooking opened up to me.  Because I'm Greek (and Greeks like to feed people), I got inspired to dig through the internet and find some scrumpdidalyumptious looking vegan blogs, . . . Oh She Glows and Post Punk Kitchen to name a couple.  Who knows where this little culinary experiment will go, . . . eating less meat is a good thing!  (I'm sure my Greek ancestors are rolling in their graves!) 

 I made these muffins the other day.  If you feel inspired, try them, you'll see that eating vegan can be super yummy.  The original recipe, Outrageous Muffins, was on the back of some Bob's Red Mill Soy flour, and I've been wanting to try it for a while.  When I realized that we were out of eggs, I thought, "hey, why not make some flax eggs and try and convert the recipe to be vegan!"  Instead of yogurt, I used coconut milk and voila, you have these super yummy, fluffy, raisin muffins.  Plus, they are packed with protein and fiber.  Bon-Appetite!

"Outrageous Vegan Muffins"

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Whole Soy Flour

1/3 Cup Medium Grind Cornmeal

1 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1/4 Cup Wheat Germ

3/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 Cup Salt

1 Cup Ground Almonds

1 tsp. Baking Soda

2 Flax Eggs (see note below)

1 Cup Coconut Milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/3 Cup Canola Oil (plus a little extra for greasing tins)

1 Cup Raisins

To assemble:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

-Make flax eggs.

-Grease muffin tins with oil, or use cupcake papers.

-Mix dry ingredients and raisins in a large bowl.

-Mix wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients.

-Fill muffin tins 2/3s full.

-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

-Enjoy!!

Note: To make a flax egg:  Mix 1 Tablespoon of ground flax with 3 Tablespoons of water in a small bowl, put in fridge while preparing other ingredients.

What to do with left-over phyllo dough???

Make some Spanakopita!

Remember the Baklava I made just a few weeks ago?? Well, I bought extra phyllo dough just incase I might need it and it has been sitting in my freezer since. Because I know I'm not going to be cooking for a little while after this baby is born (any day now!) I decided to make some Spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) to have for now and to freeze for later. It has been a regular Greek fest in this house in the past couple of months. I don't know what it is, but this pregnancy has me salivating over all the Greek goodies of my past.

I followed this recipe. The only tweaks I would make is to add some extra feta cheese, and use fresh spinach (no questions, the taste is so much better). And, . . . of course, I used whole wheat phyllo dough which I prefer. I like my Spanakopita to have a nice think layer of spinach, so I found that this recipe only made one large 9x12 dish and a smaller 8x8 portion--not two 9x12 dishes.

The Greek in me gave this recipe a thumbs up, with the extra cheese it would have been even more finger licking good! Enjoy!

Baklava!

Yet another family tradition! Every year my Dad would get out the baking pans and make a huge portion of Baklava to enjoy during the holidays. He would give it to friends and family as a delicious treat when they came over for visits as well as gobble up one himself. Mmmmmm. I always enjoyed this undertaking and when I could, I helped him make it.

A couple of weeks ago my hubby sent me a link to the the Honey Harvest Hootenanny on October 1st ( link ), a fundraiser for an awesome place in downtown Oakland that teaches people how to live more sustainably. They put on fun events and also have interesting classes, everything from farming, rainwater harvesting, bee keeping and even arts and crafts. If I wasn't pregnant, I would have really enjoyed partaking in their bee-keeping series. You can check out their website at http://aplaceforsustainableliving.org/

During this "Honey Harvest Hootenanny" they are holding a competition of foods made with honey that don't have any refined sugars in them. Gary then suggested some Baklava. At first I rolled my eyes and thought, "Yeah right, at 8 months pregnant? You got to be kidding me!" But as you've read in previous posts, somehow my nesting instincts have strayed away from cobwebs and dusty corners and been more geared towards cooking and crafting. I bought the ingredients and I decided to put it together.

Now Baklava has a reputation of taking forever to make, it really wasn't all that bad. Overall, from beginning to end, I think it took about 3 hours. The original recipe that came from my grandmother's cookbook was not an option because it uses white sugar, not only that, but to be honest, I always had trouble understand what the heck she was talking about. A lot of times her measurements would be along the lines of, "a spoonful of this" and "a shot full of that". Without my Dad to help me, I decided I needed a more "legit" recipe to follow. Sorry Yayoula! I started looking for alternative recipes and found this awesome blog called The Nourishing Apron. I CAN'T WAIT to try other recipes that she's posted. This Baklava recipe was inspired by hers, although not without my own tweaks and knowledge of making this scrumptious dessert.

Here ya go!

Baklava:

-The night before, thaw out phyllo dough in the fridge. Keeping the dough in the box, set out an of hour before assembling Baklava so that it will come to room temperature.

- First, make the syrup

Ingredients for syrup:

2 cups of water

1 cup of dates, pitted and quartered

2 cups of honey

1 Tbs of cloves

-Simmer all ingredients, except the honey, in a covered pot for about 1/2 hour.

-Pull syrup off stove and ad honey, stir and set aside to let cool.

Ingredients for pastry:

1 lb box of whole wheat phyllo dough

2 sticks of butter

1 Tbs allspice

1 1/2 lbs of pecans

Small hand-full of whole cloves for decoration

-In food processor, coarsely grind pecans

-Add allspice to pecans and blend a few seconds more

-Melt 2 sticks of salted butter in a pot.

-Butter bottom of a 9x13 inch platter

-Take phyllo out of package and put on baking sheet, usually the phyllo sheets are large and can be cut in half to fit almost directly into your 9x13 inch platter. Important(!): Cover dough with a damp kitchen towel so that it doesn't dry out between uses.

-Add a layer of phyllo dough to bottom of platter, then drizzle and brush butter on.

-Add 6 more layers of dough the same way.

-Take a handful of pecans and spices and put a thin layer on top of doe, a bit heavier than a "sprinkle".

-Cover with another layer of phyllo dough, butter, and pecans. Note: In the beginning you may have to cut the phyllo do to fit the pan.

-Repeat process three or four times.

-Re-enforce with an extra layer of phyllo dough and butter (no pecans). Then start process again till all the nuts are gone.

-Add 4 more layers of butter and dough.

-Cut diagonally and put a clove into each square.

-Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes till golden brown.

-When baklava comes out of the oven, poor syrup between pieces of baklava, you should hear a nice sizzle. Be careful not to cover entire piece with syrup as it will make it soggy.

-Set aside and let it cool! It's usually best eaten room temperature after it has "firmed up" a bit and the honey has been sucked into the pastry.

Mmmmmmm! Salivating again!

Dolmas!

©Gary Dorrington

Mmmmmmmm, dolma's (or stuffed grape leaves). My dad just recently went to Greece and every time we skyped he would make me drool describing all the yummy food he was eating. To satisfy my craving I decided that it was time to pull out an old favorite recipe--dolmathes (in greek) or dolmas. I've been rolling dolma's since I was a babe, my fingers actually have muscle memory after all these years. We used to always make them on special occasions, the entire family sitting down to partake in the tradition. There was never a feast without these "green turds" as I used to call them when I was little.

They really aren't that hard to make, they just take a while to roll, especially if there is only one of you, so if you can, prepare the stuffing, sit down with a friend and partake in the joy of creating delicious, healthy food for you and your family.

Another tribute to my mom, . . .

Yalangi Dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves)

Good as a main course or appetizer. Make lots because you won't be able to eat just one!

Ingredients:

1 16 oz jar of grape leaves, washed and set aside. Or about 50-60 fresh grape leaves

6 bunches of scallions, cleaned, roots removed and white parts chopped finely

3 zucchini, grated

Juice of one large lemon

1 head of red or green loose leaf lettuce, chopped in small pieces

2 cups of rice (white, long grain)

1 cup of olive oil

2-3 cubes of chicken bouillon, dissolved in a little water

About 8 oz (or to taste)feta cheese, (a tangy variety like Bulgarian or Greek), grated

1/2 bunch of fresh dill, chopped

1 big handful of mint, chopped into tiny pieces

Salt to taste

Prepare the above ingredients. When ready, put the ingredients (with the exception of the grape leaves) in a large bowl. Mix together and taste and, if necessary, adjust the seasonings. Set the bowl of ingredients down on your working space. You will also need a dinner plate, a spoon and a small knife.

Select a heavy, deep cooking pot that can go on top of the stove and has a cover. Pour a bit of olive oil in the bottom and line the bottom of the pan with some of the coarsest grape leaves from the jar. If all the leaves seem tender, you may use lettuce. Place a grape leaf, inside up, in the center of the plate. The stem should be closest to you with the leaf pointing away from you. With the knife, cut away the stem and coarse vein. Overlap any cut parts.

Mix the stuffing together with the spoon (do this before making each dolma to make sure the juice doesn't accumulate on the bottom), and then fill the spoon with stuffing. Place the stuffing about 1/3 way up from the stem. Roll by first folding the end closest to you over the stuffing then folding the sides. Roll up until complete. Place in the pot seam side down. Pack dolmas side by side until you finish one layer. Repeat again for a second later. You will accumulate a lot of cuice as you roll the dolmas. This should be added to the pot. Place a small plate on top of the second row. Do not add more rows. Put more dolmas in another pot, if necessary.

Place the pot on high heat at first and when it starts to boil, turn down to medium heat. Cook for 20-30 minutes depending on the rice and the coarseness of the grape leaves. You can also add a little water if necessary. Taste for doneness. If the rice is cooked, take the pot off the heat. Open the top and let the dolmas cool on the top of the stove. Dolmas are better served at room temperature. They may be prepared up to 4 days in advance. Refrigerate if made in advance and allow dolmas to get to room temperature before serving. Enjoy!

I love my bread machine!

Just throw the ingredients inside!

Wait a few hours! . . . .

and, . . . .

VOILA!

Home baked, whole wheat flax bread!

Yum!

A Canning Extravaganza!

So every year I usually get tons of produce from my parents garden up in the wine country. We get everything from peaches, nectarines, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, cucumber and sooooo much more. I usually end up with boxes of stuff and if I don't get rid of it quickly, it will end up going bad in a matter of days. In order to make the most out of this yummy fresh produce, about five years ago my mom taught me how to can. It's so satisfying to open a jar of tomatoes in the middle of winter knowing that it was picked and processed by my own two little hands.

Since little Serafin has been born, it has been difficult for me to

find the time to can, but when one of my best friends took a canning class, it in

spired me to pull out my canner and get back to work! Plus it was a perfect blogging topic! Since I was a bit rusty, she and I decided to do it together, and thank goodness, because I learned that some of my ways were not so, um, well, shall we say, . . .

fit to protocol. Although to this date I still haven't contracted Salmonella poisoning (knock on wood), I do recommend getting a good book and being sure you know what you are doing (even if grandma insists that it's kosher). There are some essential steps needed in order to ensure yummy healthy food.

I'm not gonna give you a blow-by-blow of our evening, that would take forever, canning is a long process, but here's the outline of our evening!

The goods, . . . since the tomatoes were still green in the garden, I decided to get some from the farmer's market, they looked so nice and juicy, I couldn't resist.

Here's a picture of all our gear. Between the two of us we had three canners and about 30 jars.

Since I only have one of those halogen stove tops, we decided to do it at her place, she has a five burner gas stove, I highly recommend it, canners are big!

While jars sterilized, we blanched tomatoes, removed their skins, and cut them to get them ready for the jars. Four boxes of tomatoes is a lot. More than a lot. In fact, I WAY overestimated on the amount of tomatoes we would need. I kept looking over to see how much we had finished and the tomatoes just kept coming. We didn't even get to the last box. We did, however, have the perfect amount of jars for three boxes of tomatoes. We packed them in with lemon juice, the acid keeps bacteria from growing and preserves them for longer.

Wipe the rims, add the tops and you are ready to put them in the canner!

Canning away!

And the results, . . .

Dinner the following evening, . . . stuffed tomatoes and peppers, who would have thought?

Making Baby Food Is Easy!

It's realllllly not that hard to make baby food. I will walk you through it. Let's make Kale cubes! Mmmmm!

1. Buy 2-3 bunches to fill one ice cube tray, it cooks down quite a bit, so you need a lot.

2. Wash your Kale and rip then stems away from the leaves.










3. Take your leaves and put them in a steam basket. Cover and steam for 8 minutes, leaves will have a hint of emerald green in them, but won't have any crunch if you taste a bit. Be careful not to over cook.











4. Now it's time to get the old food processor out. You know, the one that has been sitting in your closet since you got married. Throw the cooked leaves in and blend till it's the consistency that's right for your baby. You won't need to add any water, the moisture from the leaves is enough.














5. Spoon puree into an ice-cube tray, don't fill it to the top as the leaves are full of water and water expands.














6. Get the tray ready for freezing by covering the kale with wax paper. Gently push down so the wax paper is actually touching the kale cubes. Now cover tightly with plastic wrap. By doing this, you prevent oxygen from getting to the cubes which will keep the cubes from getting freezer burn. I have tried using freezer bags so that I didn't have to waste loads of plastic wrap every time, but I couldn't get the freezer bags tight and the top of my cubes got covered with freezer burn. Now freeze!














7. Leave for 24 hours and store in a freezer bag. I also put my bags of food in a tupperware container to keep them extra fresh. When you want to use one for the morning, take a cube out the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. And then voila! You've got yummy kale ready to serve the next morning!








8. Bon Appetite!! You can also make carrot cubes, asparagus cubes, spinach cubes and many other yummy veggies this way!