Home Made Granola and Updates

I've been terribly negligent with my blogs lately. A lot of that has to do with the past few months being completely crazy, both personally and professionally. I won't discuss the personal stuff, but I will explain the professional bit. I'm in the process of applying to Ph.D programs in clinical psychology which are RIDICULOUSLY competitive and difficult to get in to. Since around July I have been studying for GRE, taking the GRE, writing essays, assembling materials, applying for scholarships, filling out the FAFSA, etc. So I've been super busy, Chris has been doing a lot of the cooking during the week since on top of all that I'm still working 40 hours a week, and volunteering 5-15. So yeah, personal time is usually spent in comatose exhaustion. However things are starting to get better, all my applications are in and now I'm just waiting to find out who wants me to come for interiews (so far it's just University of Wyoming).

I thought I'd come back with something easy, delicious and more importantly (and fittingly) will save you some time during the week. Home made granola! Eat it with milk, over yogurt, by the handful! The best thing about making your own granola is that high end granola is expensive, this isn't and you can customize it anyway that you want. The recipe I'm going to give is my personal favorite, but I'll make some suggestions about possible substitutions to get you  started.

I am totally thinking about making a few batches to send out as Christmas gifts to my gluten tolerant friends and family.

Cherry, Pistachio and Coconut Granola

Ingredients:
1 large beaten egg white
3 cups old fashioned oats
1.5 cups chopped Pistachios (almonds, pecans, hazelnuts whatever floats your boat)
1/2 cup honey (agave, maple syrup)
1.5 cups coconut shavings (unsweetened, if you use sweetened make sure you cut the honey down to 1/3 of a cup)
1/2 cup coconut oil (sunflower seed oil, almond oil, olive oil)
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp kosher salt
0.5-1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups dried cherries (any kind of dried fruit really
Optional: 1/4 cup sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (add before baking), chocolate chips (after baking) really anything you think would taste good is fine.

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Toss together all ingredients above, except dried fruit. Spread on rimmed baking sheet
3. Bake, stirring every 10-12 minutes for 40-50 minutes until everything is golden brown and dry.
4. Mix in dried fruit, chocolate chips etc.
5. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Muffin Tin Omelet/Fritata

I think most people who work and need to commute in the morning hate having to cook breakfast, and hate skipping it even more. It's so early and all you want to do is spend that extra 10-15 minutes in bed rather than get up to cook. Who needs to eat anyway? Then it's two hours later and you're looking longingly at a Starbucks for the first time in your life and thinking "They have breakfast in there...sort of!"

Normally I would make breakfast burritos in a large batch, but since Chris is limiting his carbs we needed something that got the job done, was high in protein and didn't require me waking up to cook in the morning. These are the solution! Chris and I made them last night, and I ate mine this morning for breakfast. It was pretty delicious, despite having canned spinach (which is disgusting). 

These are awesome because they're already broken up for individuals, and if you have to make them for a bunch of people you can customize them based on what people do/don't like. And they are super versatile!

We did sort of Mediterranean type thing: Spinach, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic, bacon and I topped mine with a little feta crumbled up. But it would be easy to do something more Spanish (topped with salsa and avocado) or something really traditional.

Bottom Line: 4.5 Stars

Fried Eggs and Mustard Creamed Spinach on a Bagel

At work we're hosting summer workshops for upcoming High School Seniors who are applying to College this fall. We provide snacks and last week we had bagels, but we over bought so we had a TON left over so I took some home. Including some specialty ones: Spinach and Provolone and  Sundried Tomato and Red Pepper with Mozarella. I got home that night and was really not excited about cooking. Chris said he wanted eggs and I thought about this recipe which I had seen in an older issue of Bon Appetit. Chris was a little apprehensive about the combination of spinach, egg and mustard, but this recipe seriously won him over. I think he said "Baby, this is really good." about 6 times in the 15 minutes it took to eat. I agree. The acidity of the mustard with the fattiness of the egg yolk was awesome. It was almost like a mock hollandaise.

Obviously I substituted the bagels for the bread crumbs. I think either would be delicious, it's just a matter of whether you want a heavier meal or a lighter one. I think in the future I would serve this with English Muffins rather than bagels if I was to use something other than the crumbs. I also didn't have half and half on hand so I did 2.5 tablespoons of milk and 1 tablespoon of butter, which I thought was fine, but stick to the recipe if you can. Don't skip the fresh thyme! It's really important.

Bottom Line: 4.7 Stars

Skillet Greens with Apple Cider Vinegar Gastrique

These were delicious and SPICY! I use really hot red pepper flakes though, so it may just be me. 

I sort of wanted breakfast for dinner. So I had these with fried eggs. Grits or potatoes would have been great but I was lazy and didn't want to go to the store. I used collard greens and kale raab, which I didn't have any experience with. Major tip for both, but especially the kale: make sure you get every little bit of stem off, it is SUPER tough.

Everybody who lives in the Northwest knows that right now it's really hard to find a vegetable that's actually in season, luckily greens are and they are delicious. It's miraculous to me that my boyfriend grew up in the south and managed never to have them. If I was going to pair this with meat for a more traditional dinner it would be pork. Either slow cooked or chops would be fine. I actually really enjoyed the eggs with them though... I used 4 pieces of bacon to make the drippings, and I'm a little sorry I ate them on the side instead of adding them to the greens. Knowledge for next time. My gastrique was a little on the thin side, but still tasted wonderful. To be truthful though bacon, apple and shallots is a winning combo no matter what else goes in there!

The Bottom Line: 4.8 Stars