All Natural Homemade Granola

This granola is SO YUMMY AND SO EASY TO MAKE! It has become an absolute staple in our house. Pete just dominates a bowl of greek yogurt if I top it with some of this crunchy granola. In fact, I don't think I could ever even get him to eat a plain bowl of nonfat, unsweetened, greek yogurt at all if it weren't for this granola.
This recipe makes enough to fill 3 large mason jars. The first time I made it, I thought 'Oh my this is way too much, I need to give away a jar or two. We will never finish all of this.' But we wound up going through all 3 of them in just a month!
It is super nutritious- packed full of fiber, vitamins, and protein ...and flavor! Flavor is an important part of nutritious food too -if it doesn't taste good, people won't eat it; if people won't eat it, what good is it! This granola shows that nuts, seeds, and whole grains are not just bird food anymore :) They're definitely nutrition worth eating.

I originally got this recipe from one of my dear friends- and college roommate- Dana. She got the recipe from her neighbor, but Dana tweaked it a bit to make it her own. Now that I've been making it for awhile, I've tweaked it a bit. That's the best kind of recipe; one that's been passed around and versatile enough to be tweaked to your own liking. Feel free to make changes to this granola to make it your own. Share any changes with me...I would have fun with your ideas to mix it up a bit next time I make it :)

This is ironic timing to share the recipe because I first tried this granola when Dana gave me a big mason jar full of this yummy granola for Christmas a few years ago. I think I just might fill a few jars to give away this Christmas as well. Tie a ribbon around the lid with a little handwritten tag and it makes a great gift for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances, ...even a possible stocking stuffer?

RECIPE (about 12 cups or fills 3 Large Mason Jars plus a little extra) :

• 5 cups Rolled Oats
• 1 1/2 cups Shredded Coconut
• 1 cup Ground Flaxseed (or Wheat Germ)
• 1 cup Sunflower Seeds, shelled
• 2 cups Cashews, halved
• 1/2 cup Canola Oil
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1/3 cup Water (or 1/3 cup Maple Syrup)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup dried fruit (I like to use craisins. Dana used orange scented golden raisins from Sprouts Market and they were super awesome in this granola)

This makes A LOT, so before you start making this, make sure you have two jelly roll pans, OR a HUGE baking dish with like 5 inch tall walls like the one I have pictured here. I actually think two pans would be better because it will toast more evenly. I have to stir my granola often in the deep dish pan that I use. 

Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a bowl, mix together the oil, honey, water, salt, and vanilla. (The original recipe from Dana's neighbor gave the option of 1/3 cup water OR 1/3 cup maple syrup. I opt for the water in order to cut down on the sugar, but you can try it either way and see which you like best)

**Helpful tip: warm the honey slightly and it will combine easier with the other ingredients. 

Then, into your honey mixture dump the: oats, coconut, flaxseed (or wheat germ), sunflower seeds, and cashews. Stir well and make sure it is all mixed together and coated completely with the liquid/honey mixture. 

Spread your raw granola mixture evenly in your baking pan/pans, and bake for about 40 minutes or so (stirring every 10 minutes) until it is all golden brown. It will not be all crisp and crunchy until you pull it out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. So don't worry if it's golden brown but feels slightly soft -you can continue to bake it longer if you want, but as soon as it turns toasty brown colored just pull it and let it cool to a crisp.

However, BEFORE it cools, add in the one cup of dried fruit. Stir into the hot granola.

Allow to cool, and store in an airtight container. I love using the old fashioned mason jars.

We enjoy this granola in a yummy yogurt parfait with fresh strawberries during the summer. I use plain, nonfat Greek yogurt, with NO sweetener. All you need is the natural sweetness from the fruit and the granola and you'd never know that it's plain yogurt!
Good strawberries are hard to find at this time of year, so you can use any fruit that's in season, OR don't forget about frozen fruit! Just because it's frozen doesn't mean it's any less good for you... just make sure you choose frozen fruit with no sugar added.

Egg 'McMuffin'

I call these Egg 'McMuffins', but they're really more like omelette muffins, or a crustless quiche, or maybe even more like mini frittatas. 


I made these one morning for Pete and a few of his buddies a while ago when they came down for a Saturday morning in Laguna. That morning, Pete and I took an early Saturday morning stroll and walked down to the market to get some groceries for breakfast. Peter got a call on his cell phone and the next thing I heard, he was saying, "Sure, Meg's about to make breakfast- come on down!" Suddenly, my menu changed and I had to get back and throw a feast together fast! I had never made these before, but it was the easiest way to throw together a bunch of breakfasts for a bunch of boys with about NO times notice. They were such a hit that I have loved making them ever since then. This week, these little egg muffins made their debut as our St Patricks Day pots of gold :) 


Besides the fact that they are fun and fast for breakfast, they are also great because you can use ANY ingredients that you would normally like in an omelette or quiche. PLUS, they are awesome to keep in the fridge and reheat for an instant breakfast on a work morning. That's what we have been doing all week; Pete has just been loving these quick healthy little 'omelettes'. 


Recipe (for a large (6 muffin) sized muffin pan): 

• 10 Eggs
• 1 cup Skim Milk, or fat free Half & Half
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheese (I use low moisture part skim Mozzarella, but Cheddar, Gruyere, or Swish would be good too)
• Toppings (I use 2 Bell Peppers- 1 red & 1 green, 1 diced Yellow Onion, for the boys I added 8 oz. lean Sausage, I just used the veggies for Peter and I and it was great too!)
• *Optional 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions: 

1. (*If using sausage or bacon, cook that in your pan first.)
2. Heat some Canola oil in a sautee pan and cook your diced onion and bell peppers for a few minutes. 
3. Whisk your eggs and milk together (you can add a little salt here too. If you are using a breakfast meat though, those are usually pretty salty already; also cheese adds a little salt to it as well)
4. Spray your muffin tins with nonstick spray.
5. Divide your sauteed veggies and/or meat evenly between the muffin tins. 
6. Ladle the eggs into each muffin tin over the fillings
7. Sprinkle a little cheese on top of the egg
8. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes. 

Bake until they puff and golden on top:

Look at how beautiful and golden they get!

However, they do deflate within minutes of pulling them out of the oven. I've tried using a little baking powder whisked into the egg mixture to make them stay puffed... but that just leaves a funny taste to them. 

Nevertheless, these deflated little omelette muffins are still SO SO yummy and convenient just the way they are. 

I let these cool, then store them in the fridge in a giant ziplock bag. I've been SUPER busy with work and have had a lot of early mornings, so these are great for Pete. He just pulls one out heats it in the microwave and dabs a little tapatio on it. Instant homemade breakfast to go!

Other Ideas: 

• If you have guests staying the night, you can make these ahead of time and cover them in the fridge until the morning when you can bake them off fresh.
• You can toast a whole grain English Muffin and put one of these little egg muffins between it to make a breakfast sandwich.

New Year's Cranberry-Orange Scones

For my first post of the new year, it's appropriate that I post a new rendition of an old recipe: Cranberry-Orange Scones. 


The original one on my blog is slightly more light fluffy as opposed to these ones. In the original version I used milk instead of ff half & half (which yields a more dense scone). I also made that dough more wet as opposed to these scones, that's because I wasn't into the big puffy scones back then. I used to think that traditional scones were too dry and crumbly. But I've found that homemade scones are much better than the kind that sit behind the glass at a the corner store. When homemade with love, these scones are moist on the inside, golden on the outside, and have buttery flakey layers all throughout. Now I much prefer the puffy, flakey traditional scone :) 


The cherry almond scones (that I posted some time ago) really were the biggest influence on my conversion to become a true scone-lover. So I fashioned these cranberry orange scones to be very similar to those ones. If you've got a good thing going... keep goin' with it!


Last week, Peter and I were out in Palm Springs visiting his Grandparents house for a belated Christmas with them. It was so fun out there. Grandma Joanie made a delicious Christmas feast and had her house all decked out with garlands and christmas lights- indoors and out! However, when you stepped outside it felt like anything but winter. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the fruit trees were bountiful! Grandma Joanie gave us a pair of clippers and some bags and sent us into the backyard to lighten the load on the branches of her citrus trees. We came home with enough oranges and grapefruits to last us 'till summer! With all of these fresh oranges, I figured it was a perfect time to bake some cranberry orange scones. 


Recipe (for 4 large scones): 

• 1 3/4 cups AP Flour
• 3 generous Tablespoons Sugar (plus extra for sprinkling on top)
• 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/3 cup Butter, COLD and diced into small bits
• 1 Egg, cold
• 1-2 Tablespoons Orange Zest, (the zest of about 1-2 oranges, 1 is fine and 2 gives a much stronger citrus flavor; so it's your choice :)
• 1/3 cup COLD Fat-Free Half & Half (or regular half & half, or heavy cream, or whatever you prefer... I like to use fat free half & half)
• 1/2 cup dried Cranberries (or 'Craisins')

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt (this is in place of sifting the ingredients): 

Then take your already-diced butter out of the fridge and mix it into your flour mixture until the butter dices break down into smaller pieces and your mixture looks somewhat crumbly. 


After your butter is well combined into the flour mixture and it looks somewhat crumbly, switch your Kitchen Aid attachment to the dough hook and add in the egg and the orange zest until well combined. Finally, add the half & half while the dough is mixing. Continue to mix until all the dough is just moist and then add in the cranberries. Allow to mix until all is combined but not over-worked (you want tender flakey scones not tough ones, so don't over mix that dough here or else the gluten in the flour will get overworked and yield tough scones)

Shape your dough into a circle, slice it into quarters, and arrange them on a parchment paper or silpat covered baking sheet.

 Paint them with an egg wash (one egg + 1 Tbsp milk) or some of your half & half. Sprinkle the tops with granulated or turbinado sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top and edges just barely start to turn golden. (while your scones are baking, use this time to make the glaze)

Transfer scones to a cooling rack, and wait a few minutes before drizzling with your orange glaze. If you don't wait for them to cool a little bit, then the heat from the scones will make the glaze melt right off! So try to wait at least a few minutes.... it's okay if you can't wait, it'll still taste good :)

Coffee is always good with scones, but hot cocoa is especially good with these ones because the chocolate complements both orange and cranberry flavors :)

*on a side note, isn't that the cutest mug! My friend Laurie got it for me for Christmas. I love the mug's little 'pot belly'... good for holding lots of coffee or tea or cocoa :)

'Kringle' -Scandinavian Pastry

'What is kringle?' you might ask...  it is a DELICIOUS danish pastry! It looks tricky and impressive, but you will see how simple it is to make. It is perfect for a brunch, a tea, entertaining guests for breakfast- or even for dessert!


This is another recipe from Becky Dean. While Becky was teaching me how to make her family's oatmeal bread, we flipped through some other recipes in her book. To my surprise, I saw a slew of Norwegian and Scandinavian recipes! Peter is Norwegian, and his mom has shared several traditional Norwegian dishes with me. Needless to say, I was so excited to see more scandinavian recipes- some already familiar and some new! I mentioned in the oatmeal bread blog post that Becky was raised in Bolivia; well, her upbringing may have been in South America but her blood is definitely Norwegian! While our oatmeal bread was rising, Becky taught me how to whip up this quick and scrumptious 'kringle' pastry.


Recipe (makes 2 large pastries, serves about 12):


Crust:
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup Butter
1 Tablespoon Water


Pastry Top:
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract


Frosting:
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Butter, softened
a dash of milk
*optional: dash of almond extract or vanilla extract

Cut together the flour, butter, and water together to make the crust:

Then divide the crust dough into 2 equal portions. Mold each half of the dough into a long strip onto a cookie sheet. Then press and spread until it is thin and looks like Becky's below: 

Set these to the side, while you make the next part...

Then, combine 1 cup of water and 1/2 butter in a saucepan over medium high heat:

 When it comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1 cup of flour:

 Suddenly it will transform into a super silky smooth playdough!

Then stir in 3 eggs, one at a time:

 After the addition of each egg, it becomes a super weird consistency and it seems impossible to combine, but...

 ...after a particular stir, it suddenly becomes smooth and combined again:

After each egg has been stirred in, mix in 1/2 tsp almond extract. 

Spread this pastry dough over the uncooked crust dough so that you have 2 layers of dough (sorry, forgot to take a picture of that part)

Bake the layered doughs for 45 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  

They come out super puffy... 

 ...but let them sit for a few minutes to relax and fall down, and leave behind a beautifully rustic-textured top:

While the pastry is sitting, mix the icing. Spread all over the tops when the pastries are done relaxing:

We just cut pieces right out of these pastries and enjoyed them right away!

Best when fresh out of the oven!!!!!

Swedish Pancakes

So... I have to apologize for my lack of posts lately. In addition to being extra busy with work, we have also made a few small trips away this summer, and this has really impeded my posting! But DON'T WORRY, Peter has not starved for the past 2 months! I've still been cooking and baking away in our tiny little kitchen, it's just that I really haven't had the time to post the pics, etc. But here and now starts my effort to go back in time and post all of our delicious bites you have been missing:


I will start up again with these delicate, sweet, and chewy Swedish pancakes! We have made these a few times since my last blog post-- once when our friends Matt and Lauren stayed with us for a weekend while in town for a wedding; and another time when Rose was staying with us and we had a handful of friends over for breakfast on the 4th of July before a long day at the beach!


These swedish pancakes are sooooo yummy. I love how dense, yet tender these thin little cakes are! I also love the smell and flavor of the vanilla in them :) These are so easy, and they use no special ingredients; just ones that you likely already have in your kitchen... they are a must-try!


Recipe (Serves 4):

• 4 Tablespoons butter, plus additional for cooking skillet
• 1 cup AP Flour
• 1 3/4 cups Milk (I used NonFat)
• 3 Large Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt

Possible Fillings or Toppings:

• Berries, Whipped Cream, Syrup, and Powdered Sugar, Sweetened Mascarpone Cheese, Jam, Nutella

I melted the 4 Tbsps butter in the microwave and added it into the blender with all the other ingredients, until it was completely was smooth and there was not a single lump in the batter: 

**Note: the first time I made these, we whisked it all in a bowl and it was IMPOSSIBLE for me and Lauren to get all the little lumps out. I've found that the blender is really the best and easiest way to get a smooth batter.

Then it was also super easy to pour the batter onto the hot, buttered griddle! 

The first time I made these, I used my 12" nonstick fry pan (as you can see in the picture), but the next time I used my giant electric pancake griddle (not pictured) and THAT was MUCH more practical to expedite the cooking process of a million little swedish pancakes.

Pour the batter onto a hot, lightly buttered griddle and let it cook for about a minute or two, then flip it and let it sit for another 30 seconds or so.

Lauren loved these ones just because they were so beautiful looking; she called them Swedish 'coral'-cakes. This 'coral' design was made by melting more butter and then quickly pouring the batter right over the little puddle of bubbling, melting butter:

Here are Matt and Lauren on a walk along the Laguna Beach coves with Peter and I after breakfast when they stayed with us:

And here is everyone sitting outside under the gazebo enjoying a Swedish pancake breakfast on the 4th of July ...complete with red, white, & blue toppings- strawberries, whipped cream, & blueberries (Rose insisted that we had a festive breakfast to kick off the celebratory day :)

I learned online that these Swedish pancakes are folded in half, then half again (as you can see in the picture), and then topped  :)

But you could also fill them with sweetened mascarpone cheese, or jam, or anything, and THEN fold them too! Either way, these are DELICIOUS

We doubled the recipe on the 4th of July... and these were the sole survivors:

P.S. this Wilton Armetale platter is AWESOME, they can even go in the oven! While I was making the Swedish pancakes on the griddle, I had this platter warmed in a 150 degree F preheated oven and loaded the pancakes in as each one finished from the griddle and graduated to the oven to stay warm. THEN, this platter retains the heat and keeps the food warm while it is served on the table. I just love my Wilton Armetale trays; they can even go from freezer to oven!

STUFFED French Toast

So I've said before that one of Peter's FAVORITE breakfasts is french toast made from a fresh loaf of homemade challah bread. Well, we both had a mid-week day off, so I decided to go big for breakfast on our day off together. I took his favorite french toast and kicked it up a notch... stuffed french toast! Of course I was inspired by all the fresh strawberries in the markets right now :) 

I basically followed my regular french toast recipe, except I added some orange zest as well as I bumped up the eggs and milk a bit since I am using just a few more slices of bread this time.

Recipe: 

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest of one Orange, plus a few squeezes of juice from   that zested orange
• Bread (I used 6, half-inch thick slices of sweet homemade challah bread)

Filling: 

• 10-15 Strawberries
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 4 oz. light Cream Cheese or 'Neufchatel' Cheese

The night before, I washed, chopped, and tossed my strawberries with 1 tablespoon of sugar. I covered it with plastic wrap and let that juice overnight in the fridge. In the morning, I very lightly pureed the strawberries with a hand blender (I didn't want it totally pureed because I wanted to get some actual strawberry pieces in our bites of french toast :)

Then, I whipped the light cream cheese for a little bit...

...and added the strawberry puree into the mix (reserve some of the strawberry puree for serving later):

Then, just like in my other french toast recipe, I soaked the bread in the egg mixture, but only for a few seconds on each side because these slices are much thinner and will 'sog' faster and thus fall apart more easily:

As I soak each piece, I lay it on a cookie cooling rack that has been set up over a jelly roll pan to catch any drippings. 

I spread some of the strawberries-n-cream filling on one slice, then top it with another slice.

While the bread is still somewhat soggy, I lightly squeezed around the edges to help seal the filling inside the seams:

I grilled the french toast on my big electric griddle until it had a beautiful golden crisp on the outside of each side:

When all the stuffed-toasts had been grilled 'till golden, I slid them back onto the cooling rack and into a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 5-10 minutes (I didn't really keep track of the time, I just put them in 'till they puffed up and until we were ready to eat). 

This serves multiple purposes: 1) it cooks all that soaked bread all the way into the center, and 2) it keeps them hot until you are ready to eat.

I sliced each piece diagonally so that you could see all the sweet, creamy, pink filling inside the french toast!

Served with some fresh fruit, whipped cream, syrup and some of the strawberry puree.... this is to die for!!!!!

Of course Peter had the double-decker serving! hehe