439 Granola with Farmer's Market Strawberries

Thursday is Farmer's Market day.  I tell you: Farmer's Market for lunch + amazingly gorgeous Southern California weather meant mustering every ounce of my fleeting willpower to walk my bottom (and bag of fresh groceries) back to the office.  It was so sunny, in fact, that you could still smell the fresh strawberries 100 yards away.  Happiness.


But I digress.  Today, internet friends, I'm revealing to you my recipe for homemade granola.  Once again, I'm kind of plagiarizing, as the mastermind behind this method comes from my brilliant and ruggedly handsome former roommate; you might know him as SF.  SF created this granola as a reward to me for following a diet (mmhmm: I require positive reinforcements).  We've both since experimented with the ingredients to the point that the recipe has varied with every batch.  You're going to have to be adventurous with this one, folks: my numbers are inexact and your tastes might be different from mine, but I have faith in you.  So does CK.


I've documented the version I made tonight, but I encourage you to be creative...just not with the honey & rolled oats...those are pretty dependable

439 Granola

 12 oz Rolled oats 

1/3 c honey, divided

1.5 T cinnamon, divided

1/2 t salt

1 t vanilla

1/2 c dried cranberries

1/2 c sliced almonds

6 dried apricots, chopped

• Preheat oven to 350; line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray
• Pour oats into a large bowl, stir in vanilla and remaining dry ingredients (with just 1T cinnamon)
• Mix in ~1/4 c honey and stir until well combined (you want to make sure that the mixture is nicely clumping and that there isn't an abundance of dry oats.  Be generous with your honey usage, according to your liking)
• Pour mixture onto lined baking sheet and spread evenly
• Bake for approx. 25 minutes
• Take out the tray, mix granola.  Decrease oven temp to 300
• Top granola with remaining cinnamon & honey
• Return to oven and cook for 20-30 more minutes (you're going for golden, not charred)
• Take tray from oven and transfer granola (on aluminum foil) to the counter top, mix again and let cool 

Which brings me back to the Farmer's Market.  Granola making was prompted by CK's not-so-subtle reminder that my beautiful, fresh, amazing strawberries would taste even more beautiful, fresh and amazing if served alongside homemade granola and fresh whipped cream.  So maybe he wins this time...

An Apple Dumpling Welcome

I love to cook.  I really love to cook when it's for others.  Welcome: you are now my others!  

My fondness for cooking has two parts to it: first, I absolutely love food.  Love it.  For a part-time exercise instructor, I might even love it too much.  What I love about cooking is I get to make amazing ingredients taste even better.  Secondly, I think food is a great way to bring happiness to the people you care about.  It wasn't until I met someone I really cared about, with a similar passion for food, that I fell in love with this hobby...

The very first time I cooked to impress someone was for a boyfriend in college: I tried to recreate my mom's Chicken Parmesan.  I meticulously set the oven at exactly 350 degrees, evenly coated the bottom of a casserole dish with my favorite Classico Tomato & Basil sauce, I very carefully butterflied the chicken breasts, and dredged them sequentially in beaten eggs and self-seasoned breadcrumbs.  Once the pieces were safely atop the tomato sauce in the dish, I added more sauce and beautifully shredded cheese, covered the pan with aluminum foil (a nice little trick from my mama) and put it right in the oven.  I spent the 30 minutes that my chickies were baking to make some pasta (albeit boxed), and carefully calculating the time required for each component so that the dinner would be completed all together, at the same time.  When time expired, I removed the foil, waited 5 more minutes, and took my dish, bubbling with melted cheese and warm tomato sauce, from the oven and served my dinner.  It was completely and totally raw.  Like, not even close to done.  After several "only five more minutes, I swear" and a horribly embarrassing call to my mother, I discovered that I had excluded the very important pan-frying step in Chicken Parmesan making and had instead served chicken that was basically dipped in eggs and breadcrumbs and then baked in sauce that was topped with cheese.  And served with cold pasta.  So much for smooth moves. 

The mishaps are far from over, but I have improved since then.  For your sake, let's hope..

For my inaugural recipe I'm going to go with something that's kind of surprising, in terms of ingredients, but ridiculously easy and absolutely delightful.  Plus, you should see the smile on CK's face when I even mention these things...they're worth their weight in girlfriend points :)

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

1 Apple (I like Jumbo Granny Smith best), cored and sliced in 8ths

1 tube Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

1/2 c (1 stick butter)

3/4 c sugar

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 t cinnamon 

Mountain Dew, approx. 6 oz.

• Preheat oven to 350
• Separate crescent roles into 8 individual triangles
• Wrap each apple slice in a crescent roll and place open end down in an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish
• Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat and be careful not to burn; once melted, remove from heat, add vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and mix to combine
• Pour butter mixture over wrapped apples, over that, pour Mountain Dew
• Bake for 35-45 minutes
• Allow 10 minutes to cool, then serve immediately

Easy peasy.  Similar recipes are all over the web, so this is certainly not my genius, but the outcome is unbelievable.  In my opinion, the only respectable way to serve these guys is with Haagen Dazs "Five" Vanilla Bean ice cream.  If you want to get fancy, add some fresh whipped cream!  Enjoy :)