Adventures in cooking

Maybe it was the cool weather or the potty-training imposed house arrest, but I was busy cooking all weekend long! Many would groan at the thought of cooking all weekend but I was in heaven. And this weekend I made a few old stand-by's, but also ventured into making a few things that were way out of my comfort zone. First on Friday I made a seitan and lentil loaf. Seitan is a rubbery sort of food, intended to mimic meat. It is made from vital wheat gluten flour and water, so on its own it is high in protein, low in flavor, which is a pretty good summary of my seitan lentil loaf. I also had a couple of acorn squashes laying around and made this to go with the seitan loaf:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/10/unflinchingly-good-things/

Acorn squash with chile-lime vinaigrette

Later that evening an intense sweet tooth craving came on and after sending Chris to the grocery store to retrieve much needed chocolate and heavy cream, I whipped these up:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/peanut-butter-brownies/#more-312

peanut butter chocolate brownies

After spending Saturday trying to potty-train one little girl (with little success), I decided to skip any more potty pleads and spent Sunday cooking up some more delicious delicacies. First up was an old favorite, granola! I know what you're thinking, "Does this girl ever get tired of granola?"- and the answer is, no! I love granola and since my last blog about granola I have started using a different recipe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/dining/151arex.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=olive%20oil%20granola&st=cseOlive oil granola

I finished up the afternoon making kimchi, a Korean pickled cabbage type dish. I would love to tell you how that turned out but its still marinating as I type. Kimchi

And then, to please my little pumpkins, I made some mac-n-cheese for dinner. You might be wondering, "How does she have time to cook with two wild things running around?". Well, as much as I would love to say that I have superwoman powers, the truth is that I have a great husband who helps keep the kids entertained in exchange that I promise to let him eat meat every once in a while :).

Greeks and granola

So today I emailed my lovely sister Megan the recipe for granola that I have been making and am totally hooked on, and she suggested that I post the recipe to my blog. Genius! I replied that I had never thought about posting things non-baby related but I think maybe I should share aspects of my life that don't directly involve children. After all, I think there is a lot more to me than just being an over-worked mom. So I was thinking that I will start blogging about food fetishes that I am currently entangled in. And here is my current food fetish, granola (nope, its not just for hippies anymore!).

If you have never experienced homemade granola, be warned, you will never go back to boxed granola once you have made your own! The difference in taste is amazing! And, I haven't done the exact math but I imagine a big batch of granola costs about $7 to make and has at least 15 servings in it, making it much cheaper than what you buy at the store. Currently I am eating my granola with some Greek yogurt and fresh strawberries- delish! Here is the recipe I use for my granola, adapted from Nigella Lawson's granola recipe:

Granola:

5 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking oats)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup dried dates

2 cups pecans (or almonds, or a mixture if you are feeling a bit wild)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup brown rice syrup

1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup if you want to make it vegan)

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 300F.

In large bowl combine all dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread the granola over two baking sheets. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, being sure to stir granola every ten minutes and rotate the pans. When it is ready, remove from the oven and stir well to prevent it from cooling into one big hard sheet. Place in an airtight bag and it will keep in the fridge indefinitely, though I don't know one could refrain from eating all of it long enough for it to spoil!

One note on Greek yogurt, it is so expensive! I have no clue what makes it so much more expensive than regular yogurt. From what I can tell the only difference in Greek yogurt is that it is strained more than regular yogurt so it ends up thicker. I just ordered a yogurt maker so if I have any luck making my own Greek yogurt I will lend those tips via the blog.

Go ahead and find that inner hippie and make some granola this weekend, just be sure to shower!