Nutty Granola

Tyler has been itching to make granola for a few weeks now and tonight was the night!  He used Emeril’s recipe below as a base, but we didn’t have all the ingredients on hand so it’s not quite as nutty as the recipe intends.  This granola is delicious but it really doesn’t clump together, which makes it hard to snack on, but easy to eat as a cereal!

Whole Lotta Nuts Granola (from Emeril Lagasse)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1/4 cup hulled green pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pine nuts
• 1/2 cup crushed pecans or walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raisins, or chopped dates
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries, or combination

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl stir together oats, almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, cinnamon and salt. In a small saucepan melt butter with honey over low heat, stirring. Add vanilla and pour butter mixture over oat mixture and stir until combined well.

On a large baking sheet, spread the granola evenly in a thin layer. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes to keep from sticking or burning, until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. (Do not overcook; the granola will crisp more when cooled.) Cool the granola on the pan on top of the stove and stir in dried fruits. Granola may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Serve at room temperature in a bowl with milk, or as a snack.

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A taste of the garden

Now that our garden is starting to yield wonderful herbs for us such as basil, parsley, and cilantro, we have been planning our meals around what we can pick in our own backyard!  I had some leftover tomatoes from a meal earlier in the week (store bought, too early for home grown tomatoes!), so I decided to whip up a batch of salsa to make use of our cilantro.  No real recipe here.  I just threw some tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and salt and pepper into the food processor and voila!  Delicious salsa!  I can’t wait to have jalapenos and tomatoes from my garden to spice this up!

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Farmers Market Fresh

I made my first trip of the summer to the local farmers market this weekend and despite the disappointment of no dogs allowed (poor Toby had to wait outside the market) it was a great little trip.  I didn’t find the produce that much cheaper than what I could get at the grocery store, but I love supporting local farms and the produce just tastes so much better!  I came home with: beefsteak tomatoes, zucchinis and yellow squash, peaches, basil (this was actually my best deal at $1 a bunch), and green beans.  I decided to make some fresh salsa with the tomatoes and just kind of threw some things together and I think it turned out fantastically!  Next time I will try to buy all the ingredients for the salsa at the farmers market, I just kind of bought whatever looked good this time and planned some dishes around what I brought home.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients:

3 beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
1/2 sweet onion
2 jalapenos, seeded
2 handfuls of cilantro
2 garlic cloves
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor and chop to your desired consistency.  I had to do mine in 2 batches since I have a small food processor.

Serve with chips or your favorite Mexican dishes.  Yum!

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Better than a trip to the food court

Well I’ll be darned, these really do taste just like the soft pretzels you’d buy at the mall! Don’t know what I was expecting, but these are darn good! Check out Amber’s blog for the original recipe as well as some ideas on variations. I’m still getting the hang of the oven in our new apartment, next time I will turn the heat down so they don’t get so dark (and black on the bottom).

Soft Pretzels
(Source: Amber’s Delectable Delights)

Ingredients:
1/8 cup hot water
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar
4+ cups flour
Coarse kosher salt
Baking soda
Butter or shortening (to generously grease cookie sheets)

Directions:
In a large bowl mix together hot water and yeast until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the warm water and brown sugar and stir until the brown sugar dissolves.

Slowly add 4 cups of flour, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Lightly flour counter. Dip your hands into extra flour. Knead the dough until it is stretchy and smooth. (Push it down and away from you with the palms of your hands, turning the dough as you work)

Grease cookie sheets generously with butter or shortening. Sprinkle greased cookie sheet(s) with kosher salt. Preheat oven to 475. (It is very important that you grease the cookie sheets very well)

Using liquid measuring cup fill a large saucepan at least 1/2 full of water. For each 1 cup of water, add 1 tbls baking soda.

Divide the dough into equal sized pieces.

Using the following 4 steps shape each dough ball into a pretzel shape (obviously I opted to make pretzel sticks instead, I was in a hurry)…

1). Roll the dough into a rope 14″ long and as thick as your thumb. Bend the dough into a U shape. (if you have trouble rolling the dough into a rope slightly wet your hands and try again).

2). Cross one end of the rope over the other one. The ropes should cross about three inches from the tips.

3). Twist the crossed ends, making a full turn. Fold the ends back, towards the middle of the U.

4). Open the ends slightly to form a pretzel shape. Press the ends into the dough firmly.

Bring water into saucepan to a gentle boil (not to many bubbles) Use pancake turner to lower each pretzel into the saucepan. Count slowly to 30. Then lift the pretzel onto the greased and salted cookie sheet (shaking off excess water back into the saucepan). Repeat until all the pretzels are done.

Sprinkle some kosher salt on top of the pretzels and put them in preheated oven. Bake for 8 minutes or until the pretzels are golden.

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