Easy Granola

 Granola is a versatile mix of good for you and good tasting ingredients. It makes for a good hot ro cold breakfast.It's also a great sweet snack to munch on too. Best yet you can make your own and toss in what you like.

How you want to make your granola is up to you.  White refined sugar can be added but many home chefs prefer the healthier option of maple syrup. You will also need oat, namely hearty whole grained ones. Use gluten free ones if  someone in the family has celiac disease. As far as for nuts pecans and walnuts are usually the preferred choice.Slivered almonds are a;so good as are cashews,peanuts and pistachios. Sunflower seeds add a bit of much needed saltiness along with macadamia nuts.Granola is usually baked and it needs oil as a binder. Coconut oil works well but you can also use melted plant butter along with browned butter.A drop of wildflower honey adds a layer of sweetness and earthiness. if you want to add it.As far as with spice cinnamon is always good but if you want to be seasonal , a pinch of pumpkin spice mix can be stirred in. fruit is always good in granola. Think chopped dried cranberries, cherries or apricots.What about chocolate chips? These can be added later when the baked  granola is broken up.Flaked coconut can be added later too.

The next part is the most important - baking the granola.Use a  half sheet pan for this or just one half of a regular sized sheet pan if you don;t have the smaller one.Remember to line the pan with parchment paper. The sweetener will stick to the pan and it could be a mess if the granola slightly burns. You could also use a parchment line glass baking dish (think pie pan) for this too.Press the mixture down with the back of a spatula. This will give the mix nice crispy clumps that you can crunch on later. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for a short time - only twenty to twenty-five minutes. It shouldn't;;t be too overly browned.Let the granola completely cool down  - about forty five minutes before you add the chocolate chips or coconuts. Store the mix in an airtight container for two to three weeks (if it lasts that long).It can also be frozen for up to three months too. Granola can be eaten like a snack . straight from the container or you can have it with hot or cold milk too. keep in mind that granola also is wonderful topping ice cream too. You can make a quick apple crisp with it too.

Homemade granola is a real treat.It's even easy to make and create variations. Try it for a good fall breakfast.

A Sweet Breakfast Treat

French toast is one of those special breakfast treats.Imagine amping it up wit fruit, sour dough and a variety of spices. It turns into a perfect breakfast or brunch treat that's easy to make and wonderful to eat - even on a hot day.

Great chef and baker Yotam Ottolenghi created this for yesterday's New York Times Food section. French toast in Britain is called eggy bread and its savory instead of sweet. Chef Ottolenghi creates a fruity version with the addition of Braeburn or Gala apples and mixed berries. You could even add fresh peaches, this being peach season. He uses star anise and cinnamon but you can just use cinnamon if that's all you have. (star anise can be found in your grocery's spice section). As for the bread. Chef Ottolenghi uses crustless sourdough which produced a wonderfully chewy and tangy mouthfeel. As a sub try a boule of French bread or even a loaf of Italian as long as it equals two cups. There's also rolled oats for texture  and vanilla bean paste or extract for flavor. You will need superfine or caster sugar. However if  you can't find it, then grind granulated sugar in a food processor.It's topped with refrigerated cream with vanilla flavoring but again you could use Greek yogurt for some bite.

As far ass assembling and cooking, it's peeling and coring the apples.They're then baked to soften but not baked enough that they're mush. The butter is also browned at this time in a skillet , then placed in a heat proof bowl. Use the skillet to toast the sour dough. Add it to the butter. Then add the oats to the skillet until they're lightly basted. The flavorings are then added, the sugar, star anise and  flaky sea salt. The oats mixture is then added to the bread.It's then adding in the cooked apples, berries and two tablespoons of water evenly over the sourdough pieces and oats. All this is then baked in a 350 F degree oven for thirty minutes until it's golden and bubbling. Leave it to cool for ten to fifteen minutes. Add the cold cream and remaining three quarters teaspoon of vanilla in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Serve this crumbly French toast with the cream on top. You could easily turn it into a bread pudding dessert with the addition of vanilla or strawberry ice cream.

There's nothing like French toast. Try this version whether for breakfast, brunch or even dessert. It sweet, crumbly eggy and butteryv- all the best flavors rolled into one.

The Big January Clean

Now that the holidays are over , it's time to clean out the kitchen. A snowy weekend in  means time to assess what you have, what needs to be thrown out and needs to be repurposed. It's a great way of figuring out what 's good and what's not.

There may be some baking ingredients left over from last month's big bake off. Chocolate chips can still be good and reused in everything from sundaes to rice puddings. Sprinkles can be scattered over ice cream or hot chocolate. Check to see if any leftover nuts are still good to eat. These are the first to go rancid . If that's the case toss. Cake mixes can last up to anywhere from a year to three years while cookie mixes can be used within twelve months. It's also a good time to evaluate all those cans. Canned beans usually can last a long time.If you have a few cans and  tomato sauce then think about making . chili This is a great dish to also get rid of any left over roasts. Tins of tomatoes can be repurposed into making sauces for future pasta dishes.Any extra boxes of pasta can go either Italian or Chinese, depending on the ingredients. you have around. It can also go into a fun spaghetti pie . the fridge needs to cleaned out too. Those cocktail olives from the your Christmas party probably should be tossed by now Check condiments too.Mayo can only last two to three months while ketchup lasts longer at eighteen months.

Luckily stale bread, crackers and snacks can be tossed to the birds and wildlife.in fact you can go to any big parking lot and feed the gulls and land birds as well as hitting your local beaches to feed gulls and other sea birds. Leftover bread can be turned into a tasty bread pudding, perfect for a frosty day.Old fruit and veg can also be thrown out to any raccoons and possums in your neighborhood. The same goes for cereals.  Just remember that cereal can last up to six months.  Another idea is turning them into fun treat bars.It doesn;t have to be just Rice Krispies. Cheerios can also be used. Add some leftover chocolate chips or sprinkles for color and taste.They can also be crushed and used to coat chicken for chicken fingers or fried chicken  Any rice cereal can also surprisingly be  used for coating fish for a perfectly crunchy coating. If you have a lot of oatmeal,yes, it makes for a good  hearty breakfast but it can also be used for cookies as well as for crisps.Use it and any leftover flour from holiday baking to make oatmeal bars. Make it healthy with the addition of honey and wheat germ.

January is the time for cleaning out. Evaluate what you have. . decide if it can be repurposed or thrown out. Cleaning out will make for more room and a tidier kitchen.

The Veggie Burger Rethought

Faux burgers have always had a bad rap.Even restaurants can't quite capture the juiciness and color of the real thing. That's all changing.The veggie burger is having a renaissance right now and home chefs should take notice.It's not that blah blob anymore but an actual burger, juicy and delicious

Erik Piepenburg who usually writes about the arts for the New York Times,penned this article for the newspaper's Food section. As we all know restaurant veggie burgers are usually a God awful mush , tasting mainly of peas.Some do have good ones, such as Jake's  Wayback where the burger has a nice crisp outside and a chewy inside. However these are mass produced like the Morningstar Farms ones  in the supermarket. They're a cut above the old kind as as well as over some homemade creations. Fake burgers were always a challenge for even the most experienced of chefs and were thus relegated to the fringes of a restaurant's menu. That's all changing thanks to a new generation of chefs. There's also a plant based "meat" being made by Impossible Foods and it consists of  wheat, coconut oil,potato protein and heme, the last an iron molecule that's not only abundant in meat but also in such plants as Swiss chard and collard greens.It's also found in vegan staples , soy and tofu along with black beans and chickpeas. Impossible Food's burger looks exactly like a true blue beef burger and is now being served at Momufuku Nishi in Chelsea.It is just as good as the real thing, albeit a bit pricey at $12.

Other chefs are taking the more creative route. Brooks Headley, formerly a pastry chef at the famed Del Posto in lower Manhattan has created his own version of the veggie burger at his new restaurant,
Superiority Burger.It is one of the most acclaimed ones in the city.(It was awarded two stars by Pete Wells). How did it get to be so good? Chef Headley approaches the recipe the way the way Italian restaurants approach their meatball recipes - with different meats and seasonings.He tries to use everything in his culinary arsenal.There's fresh veggies,grains and beans,along with a potato starch slurry. This last acts as a binder when it's heated to 180 degrees Farenheit. It gelatinizes the mixture which results in a nice, firm burger that doesn't fall apart on the grill or plate.Some chefs go the mushroom route. Jillian CameraCo-chef at Toad Style, a vegan comfort food eatery in Bedford-Stuyvesant, makes her vegan cheeseburger with cremini mushrooms,red onions and green lentils. She also puts in steel cut oats chia seeds and garlic too for texture and flavor.Spices are also added before the burger is formed and then topped off with almond cheese.Any home chef can recreate these along with the dozens of veggie burgers recipes on line.It's just trial and error until home chefs get the right taste and texture.

Veggie burgers are going through a renaissance right now.They're not those mushy patties with a bad rep and even worst taste. They are juicy, mouth watering burgers that are right up with the real thing.

Viki's Granola A Treat Throughout The Day

What can start off your day, be a great snack in the afternoon and top off your dessert? Viki's Granola. This tasty and good for you treat can be used so many different ways. Not only that -it's a spoonful of nutrition, thanks to it being packed with simple ingredients like oats, nuts and honey.

Viki's Granola was started by Viki Sater in 2011, mainly by popular demand. Ms. Sater often made her homemade granola for her kids' school's bake sales. It was the first item sold out with locals who wanted more.Even the principal called in requests.  The mix became the star of every bake sale, thanks to a growing fan base.What was a passion now had the potential to become a thriving business. It's now sold in Wegman's Whole Foods, Stop & Shop and Jewel Osco. Her success was meteoric and this year she was named one of New York Business Journal's Women of Influence. Her product is one of the few out there that uses all natural ingredients.Gluten free oats are blended with honey, and canola oil for flavor and binding.Coconut flakes are a main ingredient too in all the flavors. The blueberry and almond has the nut slivers and dried blueberries, Her maple cranberry not only has pure maple syrup and dried cranberries for color and flavor but also chopped walnuts. The banana walnut has healthy sized dried banana chips and large pieces of walnuts while the apple cinnamon has a good dollop of the dried fruit and spice but also raisins and pecans too. Even the original recipe has the perk of sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and pecans.

I love this granola, especially the banana walnut!It makes for not only a good snack but a nice way to start a day.It's sweet without being cloyingly so.The granola is also a nice nibble on its' own,With every pinch being loaded with nuts and fruit.I'm also going to be topping my banana "ice cream" with it for a healthier spin.I can also make pops and roll them in the granola for a tasty and crunchy coating. Home bakers can use the granola to top off banana bread or muffins.Jazz up pancakes and waffles with them or make a sweet breakfast pizza , sprinkling the granola over a sweet bread crust loaded with sliced bananas , strawberries and vanilla flavored Greek yogurt.Any of Viki's granola flavors can be used in making cookies too as seen on the recipe section of Viki's website. There are some yummy ones especially the granola truffles made with chocolate, heavy cream and butter, then rolled in the original recipe granola.. There are also fun granola bites which would add to a holiday cookie platter. It's just chocolate chips mixed with peanut butter and coated with granola. Kids will love the banana pops, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate  and then dipped again in the banana walnut mix. The granola can be used in salads, surprisingly and as a coating for chicken - and also for pork too..

Viki's Granola is a versatile blend of flavors and textures in a healthy mix that features oats ,honey and nuts. Try any of the flavors for breakfast or as a snack, Better yet add it to any dessert or baked treat for added goodness.It's not only healthy but versatile too.

Crunchier Granolas

Not long ago I wrote about that hippie staple granola.Lo and behold it was the tic again of an article inTheNewYorkTimesDining section.While my piece was just about the basics,The dining section amped it unto Momofuku high gourmetism. It was given amake over that almost all basic foods go through. The article was written by Times Regular Jeff Gordonoer who takes a new twist on this simple dish. Most granolas are made with rolled oats, almonds and some kind of sweetener such as honey or brown sugar. The new versions are much more colorful with dried papaya,, pickled mango and compressed pineapple. Most mixes are laced with liberal sprinklings of cinnamon and nutmeg. Not these. there is dried sorrel and dried mint even to give it unusual dashes of color and flavor. There's even a savory version too. this mix isn't then soaked in milk. It's usually drenched in a thick creme fraiche,.It could even be added as aside to foie Gras. A Rosemary and pistachio one becomes the crusting for elk at OAK at Fourteenth in Boulder, Colorado. There's a pine nut and citrus one that becomes aside for seared scallops or roasted sweet potatoes,Of course even the fanciest granola is good over a plain vanilla or butter pecan. you can even layer it in a pudding parfait too if you want. granola isn't the usual hippie dip pie food it was.Now it's a mega gourmet dish that can go from breakfast to lunch to dinner. It's an amazing food that you can create for some cool dishes.

Recrunching Granola

Granola has had crazy roller coaster ride since it's introduction to the American diet four decades ago.It has been loved by flower children and exploited by every cookie and cereal maker.it's taking on a new life with moms who want a healthier snack or breakfast for their kids. Granola is primarily an American invention, being First created by Dr. Connor Lacey In 1894. There were some name variations such as granula by Alex Lacey. Granola is a mix of oats , puffed rice raisin, honey along with dried fruits , nuts and even chocolate chips. first dismissed as a "hippie" food, it slowly gained acceptance as an alternative to those overly processed breakfast cereals. It's everywhere now from gracing brand name yogurts to the ubiquitous breakfast and energy bars. If it's made right , it is good for you. the best bet are the all natural brands coming from smaller or boutique companies. Most stores now sell all natural hand made granolas. This kind is good as a snack or breakfast. Just make sure that it is all natural and the ingredients are pure. Granola is easy to make and the Web is chock full of good recipes by both top chefs and ordinary home cooks. be creative. Add some fun surprises such as sunflower or pumpkins seeds for crunch and a kick of saltiness. for some sweetness think dried cherries or cut up dried apricots. You can also try the traditional route of adding raisins and almonds , along with walnuts. for sweetening ,go the natural route of honey, cinnamon and brown sugar. avoid using refined white sugar at all costs. Granola is a good and healthy addition to any diet. Make it or buy it.Either way' you and your family will enjoybthis good for you American classic.

Cheerios Our Cereal Through Life

The first time anyone enjoys Cheerios is probably from their high chair tray. Millions of parents for the last seventy years have given their babies this crunchy cereal . It's perfect for them , with the little rings fitting perfectly in miniature palms. As kids grow up, Cheerios becomes the go to breakfast food. As adults it becomes our ideal comfort food - a great breakfast or a great snack.

Cheerios isn't one of the oldest cereals. It actually started right before World War Two in 1940 it does have the distinction of being the first oat based cold cereal. Originally called Cheerioats, General Mills, , its' manufacturer, name was shortened in 1946 to Cheerios,For along time until the 1980's there was only the slightly nutty oat flavor . The 80's and 90's and '00's introduced us to new flavors like Honey Nut and berry flavored. there was a cinnamon flavored Cheerios back in the late 70s; however those didn't last for more than two years. The cereal even celebrated the millennium by adding the number 2 to its' boxes during 1999 -2000. There is even a savory Cheerio mix that has cheese nuts and Melba toast with onion and garlic powder tossed in.

Cheerios make the great breakfast cereal however they still make a wonderful TV snack no matter what your age. There's nothing like eating them straight from the box . After all they are low in calories (only103 a serving). Cheerios are versatile too. You can make treats with them similar to Rice Krispie treats or clusters in which you mix them and nuts in melted chocolate and then drop them on cookies sheets.

Cheerios have always been a big part of any kid;s life. They're the perfect snack, the perfect comfort food and of course the perfect breakfast. Those little circles have made everyone happy over the years - They really do bring fun to life.