maple pecan granola.

given just how many high quality granola options line the supermarket shelves, it had never occurred to me to go to the trouble of making my own batch of cereal. that is, until a few weeks ago when curiosity got the best of me and i wanted to see just how nature's path does it. 

this maple pecan granola recipe is a great gluten-free creation that you can throw together in under 10 minutes and bake for another 20. rather than relying on traditional rolled oats, it's made with uncooked quinoa, millet, and buckwheat groats (all of which are available in the bins at any health food store). the rest of the mix-ins are up for grabs: you can't go wrong with a combination of nuts and seeds, but i think some additional coconut flakes or chocolate chips would take things to the next level.

what i like about the final product is that it isn't overly sweet. rather than using sugar, the syrup comes from a blend of apple sauce, maple, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. the result is toastily fragrant and slightly clumpy. you can also increase the crispiness by baking it a few extra minutes. i've been enjoying it with my morning yogurt these days, but it would also make a fantastic ice cream topping or afternoon snack.

maple pecan granola

adapted from anja’s food for thought

2 cups of roasted buckwheat groats (kasha)

1/4 cup uncooked millet

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1/4 cup rolled oats (or gluten-free oats)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup chopped cashews

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

preheat the oven to 160C/360F. line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

in a large mixing bowl, combine the kasha, millet, quinoa, almonds, pecans, cashews, sesame and sunflower seeds. set aside.

in a small pot, gently heat all the wet ingredients until a syrup forms. remove the pot from the heat and let the flavors merge for a few minutes. pour the wet over dry ingredients and stir until well coated.

transfer the mixture onto a baking sheet and spread out in single layer. bake for 20-30 minutes or until millet and quinoa seeds have turned golden and the kitchen smells like maple. let cool completely before storing in airtight container.

sweet potato, zucchini, and spinach frittata.

i always manage to finally find time to post when i'm waiting in an airport terminal. something about the lack of healthy, appetizing dining options seems to be all the inspiration i need to scavenge my laptop for recipes. sitting across from a mcdonalds right now, all i can think about is how superior this frittata is in every way possible to a big mac with cheese.this one-skillet meal's biggest claim to fame is its low-effort to high-payoff ratio. it's easy to throw together and looks beautiful on a serving dish. stir all the ingredients together in a big bowl, pour them into a hot skillet, then bake for 45 minutes. drizzle some mustard seeds and fresh herbs on top and you have a stunning, light, and nourishing lunch or dinner. it's also incredibly versatile. we used spinach, but any green will do. as would some grated beets or summer squash. feel free to bulk up the number of eggs if you want a heartier meal. personally, i subscribe to mark bittman's more-vegetable-less-egg approach.sweet potato, zucchini, and spinach frittata

from the organic kitchen

1 cup sweet potato, grated

1 zucchini, grated

4 cups spinach, finely chopped

1/3 cup chives, finely chopped

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

6-7 eggs

¼ cup chopped parsley

1/2 onion, sliced and roasted

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

preheat oven to 375 degrees.

in a large bowl, whisk the eggs together. add in the sweet potato, zucchini, spinach, and chives. give it a good stir to combine. add salt and pepper.

warm olive oil in a 6-inch skillet over high heat. once it’s hot, turn heat down to medium-high and add egg mixture. cook until eggs are set, about 5 minutes.

place skillet in your pre-heated oven and bake until eggs are firm in the middle (about 40 minutes). roast your sliced onion in the same oven for about the same amount of time — turning regularly — until caramelized.

remove both the frittata and onions from oven and let cool for a few minutes.

loosen frittata and tilt onto a serving platter. make a tarka by cooking mustard seed in oil until one or two pops. pour the sizzling oil/mustard seed over the frittata. garnish with roasted onions and parsley.

enjoy warm or at room temperature.

new year, new muffins.

my new year's resolution for 2012 was to cook with unfamiliar ingredients. one of the ingredients i tried and got addicted to was coconut oil. i bought my mom a jar a few months ago, and over the holidays she asked me how and when to cook with it. now, i'm no expert on all of its various uses, but i really enjoy it as butter substitute in baking. it's far from a neutral oil, so you have to be craving that coconut-y flavor. fortunately, if you're anything like me, the more you use it, the more you'll want it. in everything.

i decided to try my hand at these coconut chocolate chip muffins yesterday to show my mom the joys of baking with coconut oil. they turned out fantastically moist and flavorful. i used equal parts coconut flour and almond meal, which makes them gluten free. i replaced the eggs with bananas, which makes them vegan. and i threw in a generous amount of chocolate chips and a light dusting on turbinado sugar at the end, making them delicious and slightly decadent. i won't tell you how and when to eat your muffins, but i will say that in addition to being a perfect morning coffee accompaniment, they also wouldn't be bad crumbled over some vanilla ice cream. hypothetically, of course.

coconut chocolate chip muffins
adapted from comfy belly

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 super ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/3 cup chocolate chips

turbinado sugar, for dusting

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. combine the dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl. combine wet ingredients in a small bowl. stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

grease a muffin tin and fill each hole about 2/3 of the way full with batter. bake about 10 minutes, then sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top. bake another 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. remove, let cool, and enjoy!

maple scones for my mom.

thanksgiving break gave way to some exciting developments this year: i got hooked on this addicting blog, made some headway on this side project, and discovered where my love of pastries comes from.

let's talk about the pastry revelation. now, it's not that i ever lost sleep wondering about where my affinity for all things mildly sweet came from. i'm merely surprised i never connected the dots... between my scone-crazy mother and her muffin-crazy daughter (that's me!). 

growing up, i can't remember a time when there weren't scones or muffins in our kitchen. even now, their absence would shock me. my brother recently mentioned that he consistently counts on eating my mom's leftover breakfast scone (which she picks up with her morning coffee run) in the afternoon. that, my friends, is how enduring and reliable her passion for pastries is. 

last week, my mom mentioned that she'd never mastered the art of baking scones from scratch. and i realized i'd never even tried! so that afternoon, we embarked on what became our household's first successful scone baking session.

these scones are definite winners. their texture is perfectly firm and flakey despite the lack of butter, and the smell of maple from the oven is so wonderful it's almost intolerable. almost. vegans can leave omit the egg wash, and if you're out of bread flour, feel free to use only all purpose.

maple syrup scones

adapted from 101 cookbooks

1/4 cup real, good quality maple syrup


6 tablespoons almond milk

1 cup bread flour

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder


1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt


2/3 cup vegetable oil

(if not vegan, then: 1 egg, lightly beaten)


brown sugar

preheat the oven to 400F degrees, rack in the top 1/3. line one baking sheet with parchment paper.

whisk together the maple syrup and milk in a small cup, and set aside. combine the flour, quinoa/oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. add the oil and stir until mostly combined. now add the maple syrup milk. mix until the dough just comes together - don't over mix.

throw onto  a floured surface and kneed a couple of times to bring the dough together. now arrange the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle or oval. slice the dough into nine equal-sized squares (or some triangles, if you wish!). arrange the scones on the prepared baking sheet - 1/4-inch distance between each of them. for those non-vegans among us, brush each scone with the egg wash and sprinkle with the large-grain sugar. bake for 17 to 22 minutes, or until golden along the bottom and tops. enjoy with a hot cup of chai.

welcome, autumn: apricot almond bread.

this year, september means change. change of location, change of weather, change of career. i made the first of many changes to come this fall with a massive transatlantic move. i no longer reside in the sunshine capital of the world (bremen, germany), but i've moved back to the u.s.a and will soon be relocating to northern california. for the moment though, i'm spending some layover time in arizona with my parents, puppies, and 105 degree weather. i don't know about the rest of the country, but tucson has yet to get the memo about autumn. still, i know in my heart of hearts that september ushers in fall, so i'm going to start lobbying the desert, even if it stubbornly resists!

one of the joys of being back in my childhood stomping grounds is purely materialistic: all of my stuff is here! by stuff, i mean anything from to my raggedy old stuffed dog to the cookbook collection that has been growing over the last year, prompted by the founding of this blog. i never bothered schlepping the books with me across the ocean, so when i returned home, it was a lovely sight to see them neatly stacked on my bookshelf, just waiting to be opened. 

first on the list: molly katzen's new moosewood cookbook. simple, hearty vegetarian fare. this is one of the few recipe books that isn't filled with pictures that can still make me salivate. her dishes range from light and delicate to rich and decadent, but i decided to kick things off with something in the middle. this loaf is the perfect mildly sweet way to start the day or satisfy a mid-afternoon craving. dried apricots and chopped almonds give it a nice crunch and a beautiful color, and the honey a comforting sweetness. the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of orange rind, but i omitted that in favor of an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract. one thing to note is that the loaf is relatively dry, so if you like a gooier bread, try adding in another 1/4 cup honey or tablespoon of butter.

apricot almond bread

from molly katzen's the new moosewood cookbook

1 ½ cups dried apricots, thinly sliced

1 ½ cups water

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter, softened

½ cup runny honey

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup almonds, chopped

preheat the oven to 350 F. grease a loaf pan.

place apricots and water in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes. pour contents into a separate bowl to cool for at least 15 minutes.

combine dry ingredients (except almonds) in a medium-sized bowl.

once the apricot mixture has cooled, pour in the honey and butter in it. beat in the egg and add the vanilla extract.

pour the dry ingredients into the wet (or vice versa!) and add the almonds bit by bit, stirring constantly.

when everything is well mixed, transfer to the prepared baking pan. bake for about 50 minutes, or until a probe comes out clean. let cool for 10 minutes in the pan before attempting to remove. slice and enjoy as is, or with some honey, jam, or condiment of choice.

soy, fruit, cereal.

i just realized a glaring hole in this blog's recipe repertoire: breakfast! 

not only are there no breakfast recipes, but there isn't even a breakfast tag. not that you couldn't eat this or this or this muffin first thing in the morning... but i suppose i'm more of a raw ingredient breakfast diner. which could explain why i eat (and always look forward to eating!) some variation of pretty much the same things every morning: fruit, soy yogurt, and a medley of cereals. in a cheery mug (this, my friends, is absolutely key).

so while i'm not sure if this qualifies as a recipe, here's one slightly "fancy" version of my simple breakfast to tide you over while i start looking into a real breakfast/brunch recipes to share soon.

a no-hassle vegan breakfast

1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt

1/4 cup soy milk

1 ripe banana, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup bran flakes

1/4 cup more exciting cereal, like granola or fruit muesli

while you can everything together the morning of, i like to let the yogurt, milk, and fruit blend in the fridge overnight. just assemble the first three ingredients in a bowl the night before, give a stir, and cover. the next morning, scoop the delicious mixture into a bowl and top with your choice of cereals. 

christmas brunch: mediterranean strata.

this strata first came into my life 3 years ago while camping out at my friend lizzy's parents' house in naperville, IL. it was a frigid january saturday morning made delightful by the late morning brunch we were lured out of our beds with by lizzy's mom. it was so delectable a meal that i swore i'd never eat another breakfast anywhere else for as long as i lived. ultimately, that solemn oath proved a wee bit tricky (it happens when you graduate from college and move across an ocean). however, years later, the chance to prepare this strata again at my own family's christmas brunch helped lessen the guilt of not being able to stay good on my promise.

i'll be frank: i'm a savory bruncher. it hasn't always been this way, but these days, i wouldn't even dream of turning down an omelette for waffles. unless they were pumpkin waffles (obviously). this strata is a savory (and vegetarian! and healthy freak!) kind of heaven. veggies? check. eggs? check. bread? double check.. for the double layer. the first time you make it, it takes a bit of concentration - and panic, if you're me and fearful of "ruining christmas" for your entire family - but the technique itself is quite simple and the results are amazing. my entire family (a family, i should mention, that could be understatedly described as carnivorous) was even lauding its praises. granted, i did ensure that each family member's plate was also graced with a hefty side of bacon. but nonetheless. it was a proud moment for their hippie vegetarian chef/daughter.

i made a few adjustments to the original recipe, and i could imagine that once you get it down the first time, you could experiment with throwing different herbs in (cilantro might be a nice addition), swap in another type of bread (sourdough or multigrain), or substitute a gouda or gruyere cheese for the feta and asiago. the original calls for some dijon mustard, which i cowardly omitted, but i'm confident about incorporating it next time.



ingredients:

2 french baguettes, cut into 1-inch-thick slices
cooking spray
1 cup chopped onions
4 garlic cloves
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
14 oz baby spinach
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
5 tomatoes, thinly sliced
4 oz crumbled feta
3 oz grated asiago cheese
2 1/2 cups fat-free milk
2 tsp dried oregano
5 eggs, beaten
4 egg whites, beaten

preheat your oven to 350°.

place bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. toss in your onion, garlic, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly so it doesn't stick to the pan (which it will if you leave it for a second!). add half the spinach; cook 3 minutes or until spinach wilts. add remaining spinach; cook 3 minutes or until spinach wilts. stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

now it's time to assemble. place half of bread slices in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. spread the spinach and mushroom mixture over bread. top with a layer of tomato slices; sprinkle evenly with feta and half of Asiago cheese. arrange remaining bread slices over cheese. Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, milk, and remaining ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. pour over bread; sprinkle with remaining Asiago cheese. cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

next morning! preheat oven to 350°. uncover strata; bake at 350° for about 50 minutes or until lightly browned and the eggs are set. i baked it for 35 minutes uncovered, then another 10 minutes covered in tin foil, and then removed the foil for the last 5 minutes to get the top nice and brown. serve warm.