Anything Goes Granola

The best part is the strawberry is from my own garden!

At the very same wedding this past weekend, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast Saturday morning before our yoga class at the spa. (There's a lot to be said in favor of these "destination" type weddings!) The star of the show for me was the Manor's homemade granola. I'd been meaning to make some of our own ever since I encountered the recipe while reading Mark Bittman's Food Matters earlier this spring. (Highly recommended reading!!) Bittman's "Anything Goes Granola" is versatile and so simple to make that there's no excuse for having the expensive, sweet and fattening commercial varieties ever again!

Here's the recipe as I made it this morning, but remember, anything goes!!

6 c. rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill Extra Thick Whole Grain)

2 1/2 c. mixed nuts and seeds: walnuts, almonds (whole and slivered), cashews, sesame seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
1 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
1 t. cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla
salt
1 c. dried berries (mix of cranberry, blueberry and strawberry)
1/2 c. raisins (golden and regular)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, spices, honey, syrup and vanilla. Sprinkle with a little sale. Toss to combine well. Spread the mixture on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring every 10 minutes or so. I like dark, crunchier granola, so my batch cooked for closer to 40 minutes.


2. Remove pan from the oven and add dried fruits and raisins. Combine. Cool on rack until granola reaches room temperature.

Bittman says this will keep indefinitely if stored in the refrigerator in a sealed container but I question the need for indefinite storage as it will be long gone before it has any chance of going stale!!

A tale of Mango-Ginger Scones

Have you ever gotten to that point where too much of a good thing can be a stressful thing? The fruit and veggie co-op gave us mangoes two weeks in a row recently. I shouldn't complain. I really really love mangoes. Still, it was distressing when we had 3 mangoes going past their prime on the bottom of our fruit basket. I had decided days before that the mangoes would be perfect for some mango scones, and even went so far as to hunt for recipes. Somehow life got the better of me though, and I hadn't executed the plan.


Once upon a time, Avi and I were hanging out in our very messy kitchen wondering what to eat for breakfast. We made a deal. I would do the dishes and he would make mango scones. I had been thinking about them for too long to get a kick out of making them. Luckily eating them was still delicious. We used a crystallized form of ginger that added a sweet and tangy flavor to the scones. Yum, Yum Yum. Eating the scones was like living happily ever after.

p.s. Sarah liked them too!

simply delicious

There were a lot of influences pushing me towards a simple homemade breakfast this morning. I had spent the day yesterday - which was incidentally earth day - hanging out at a farmers market. I also attended a discussion session with one of our vendors, a Wesleyan professor who teaches a class on the American Pastoral, and a senior who wrote her thesis on farmland preservation. Adding to all of that wholesomeness, I am also reading a book called "Real Food: What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck. If that wasn't enough, Olivia gave me Alice Waters's "The Art of Simple Food" which I spent much of my morning perusing. Basically, it was like the world was convening to tell me to put time into making a delicious and wholesome breakfast. Luckily my Thursday mornings aren't that busy so I was able to follow the impulse....

Last night Avi and I prepared some olive oil bread dough. At Christmas I was given a book called "How to make Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day" and for awhile we were happily munching on fresh bread. When life got busy, we had fallen behind in our efforts so it was nice to get back to it. The first thing I did when I woke up was preheat the oven and shape a small roll out of the dough.
Next, I ventured outside to dead head my pansies and harvest some fresh parsley. I was so excited to use some of our herbs. I have been chomping at the bit to start using the herbs since I planted them, but all of the information I have read says to wait a week. I made it about 5 days before needing to do the harvest.

When I got back in, I put my roll into the oven and started on the eggs. I checked "The Art of Simple Food" to see what Alice had to say. Her most useful piece of advice was that you should barely mix the eggs because stirring them too much causes the eggs to lose body. I put two eggs, chopped parsley, salt, pepper and a bit of chevre into the bowl and mixed with restraint. When my pan was properly heated, I added a bit of butter and then the eggs. Since I didn't over mix, instead of homogenous yellow blobs, my eggs were very pretty. Some pieces were shiny and white, some were a vibrant yellow, and all shades in between were represented. The tang of the goat cheese and the brightness of the parsley made it an excellent dish.

By the time the eggs were done my bread had a crispy crust and was smelling delicious. You can't beat the smell of baking bread in the kitchen.

I cut the bread in half when it was still steaming and topped it with Farmer's market goodies. On one half I put blood orange marmalade and the other half was topped with maple butter.

Breakfast al Fresco

Sometimes a picture speaks 1,000 words. I know no other way to convey how pleasant my breakfast was!

The food: Scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, coffee from our new french press and some farmer's market maple syrup.

The People: The legs in jeans belong to Ms. Worby and the bare foot is mine!

Thor also joined us. Spring is certainly a time to be outside!

milk and cereal

This morning, for reasons unknown - even to me, I woke up wondering about the history of cereal. While cereal isn't my favorite breakfast, it is a reliably easy and satisfying start to a day. According to a 1995 poll done for Good Morning America, cereal is the most commonly eaten breakfast food in our country.
Among the most likely to eat cereal: women (35% choose it, compared to 27% of men who incidentally favor bacon and eggs), and people from the northeast (39% of people eat cereal here...it is much less popular in the south).
I researched cereal history for quite awhile this morning, but this set of youtube videos says it better than I ever could. Enjoy!

This first one is a visual history of cereal. The song is gets old, but it is very interesting to see all the old box designs!



The next video is an actual history of cereal. Pretty interesting...



and finally, an old Rice Krispies commercial that was too cute to leave out.



Final bit of trivia: the most popular cereal in 2008 was Cheerios. I am curious about whether this will hold true for our blog readers. Please leave a comment about which is your favorite cereal!

French Toast

The Food:
There is no better way to round out a hectic week then with a moment of pause over some good food. For me, whether with friends or by myself, Sunday brunch is the perfect time to fill that role. Today I did dine solo, but that didn't mean simply cereal and milk.
My brunch included: a champagne mango and some orange French toast topped with blueberries and maple syrup. Everyone knows how to make French Toast, but I am going to include a few key factors that made mine go from standard breakfast fare to scrumptious!



- I used a day-old loaf of French bread and cut it in half longways so both pieces had some of the gooey insides and some crunchy crust
- For the soaking liquid I used local free-range eggs. These actually make a huge difference- the yolks are a deep orange and the flavor is more intense. I also included a splash of orange juice which gave the toast a more complex flavor.
- I also soaked the bread in the egg mixture for a good fifteen minutes which made it gooey and tender. Yum!

Also champagne (actually called ataulfo in the rest of the world - silly American marketers!) mangoes are a fruit worth mentioning. It is my favorite variety of mango and it is only available for a short time twice a year. I have decided to include some fun mango facts to hopefully inspire you to go out and try this or any other mango. What a nice way to break into spring!


- Contrary to what your supermarket may lead you to believe, there are over 1,000 varieties of mango
-The mango is in the same family as cashews, pistachios, poison ivy, poison oak, and the Jamaica plum
- The first record of mangoes dates back to the 5th century BC
- Mangoes have tenderizing properties which make them good for use in marinades
- More mangoes are eaten all over the world than any other fruit (although this seems pretty hard to confirm, I have found a few sources saying the same thing)
- In some areas of the U.S. (particularly those with a history of mining) the word mango traditionally refers to a stuffed green pepper rather than to the tropical fruit

A good start!

I am a huge breakfast person! I mean, whats not to love...cereal, eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, fruit...all are excellent foods. This morning though, I had to expand my horizons because we were out of eggs, special K, or anything that would be toast-able. This left me with oatmeal. I am not usually a big oatmeal fan because the instant kind is mushy and too sweet. I was converted when I found the silver palate brand of oatmeal. Because it has thicker grains, it really has a nice texture to it. You do have to sacrifice the microwaveable convenience when you switch from the other kind, but trust me - its worth it!
This morning I put a big scoop of maple butter in the bottom of a saucepan and heated it up until it was a liquid. Then I added some chopped apples, and stirred them in the pan until they were deliciously caramelized. To this I added 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 a cup of raw milk, and 1/3 a cup of water. Once it came up to a boil, I put it down to a simmer and let it bubble away for about 8 minutes. During this time I was able to get dressed and packed for class - - who said cooking from scratch had to be a big drain on efficiency. This smelled so good (and time was ticking away) so I didn't manage to get a picture, but I did have a delicious breakfast and arrive to psych within plenty of time.