Homemade Granola

Today, thank heavens, was not one of those days (like yesterday) when it is so bitterly cold that the moment you step outside in your five layers of clothing, you feel like you're wearing nothing at all. (Coldest temperatures in NYC in years?...) No, today temperatures climbed into the balmy high 30s. Nevertheless, it snowed all morning, big fluffy flakes, the kind that make you want to do nothing but look out the window all day. And turn on the oven, watch Oprah, and bake something.

Which is exactly what I did.

Granola 
(Adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe in The Food Matters Cookbook)

Makes about 9 cups
Time: 30 minutes

• 5 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
• 1 cup each of chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, and sunflower seeds
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Dash salt
• 3/4 cup lavender earl grey-infused honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup raisins
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• 1. Heat the oven to 350˚F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts and seeds, spice, sweetner, and extract; sprinkle with a little pinch of salt. Toss well to thoroughly distribute the ingredients. Spread the mixture on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or longer (I did 35), stirring occasionally. The granola should brown evenly; the darker it gets without burning, the crunchier it will be. 
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• 2. Remove the pan from the oven and add the raisins. Cool in the pan on a wire rack, stirring now and then, until the granola reaches room temperature. Serve, or store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week.
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Lavender Earl Grey-Infused Honey

I love honey; who doesn't? I was crazy about those honey straws you find at natural food stores when I was a kid, and I even bought little jars of chestnut honey and strawberry honey made at the base of Mt. Etna when I was in Sicily. But I'd never actually attempted to alter honey or add anything to it, until I saw this recipe from the Alice's Tea Cup cookbook, that just looked too simple and too delicious not to try.  

Lavender Earl Grey-Infused Honey

        1 heaping teaspoon Lavender Earl Grey tea leaves

        1 cup honey

1. Steep the tea leaves in 1/4 cup boiling-hot water for 3 minutes. Strain the tea.

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine the honey and 2 tablespoons of the tea, and stir until well mixed.

3. Store, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to use - it will keep for about 2 weeks.

Voilà, fancy shmancy honey! Instead of using a mixing bowl, I combined the tea and honey in a tupperware container so that I could just snap on the lid and put it in the fridge. The taste of the tea in the honey was very mild but still distinguishable. Coming tomorrow (hopefully) - granola made with this honey!

Turkey Chili and Whole Grain Flatbread

Last night for dinner I made Turkey Chili from the Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook, along with the Easy Whole Grain Flatbread from Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook. I wish my food photography were better - I hope these pictures actually make the food look as delicious as it was! The chili was very hearty and perfect for another cold winter night, and was delicious today as leftovers. The bread, unfortunately, disappeared within minutes, so no leftovers, but it was so easy that I'll probably make it again soon. Click on the links below each photo for the recipes!

Recipe for Easy Whole Grain Flatbread

Recipe for Turkey Chili

Hearty Spinach and Chickpea Soup

Made this for dinner a few nights ago, very easy and healthy, and the perfect soup for a coooold winter night!

Recipe for Hearty Spinach and Chickpea Soup

Mini Lemon Scones

I made these last week and they were delicious!

Mini Lemon Scone Bites with Lemon Glaze

For the scones:

• 2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 c. butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 t. freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 c. milk

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Cut the butter pieces into flour until crumbly.

2. Stir the lemon zest into the mixing bowl. Combine the lemon juice and milk andimmediately pour into the mixing bowl. Stir until combined and work dough into a ball. Knead 8-10 times. Let dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

3. On a well floured surface, roll out dough until it is about a 1/2″ thick. With a knife, cut the dough into small triangles. Or, using a shot glass or clean medicine cup, cut the dough into small circles. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

For the Lemon Glaze:

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2 t. freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice (more or less depending on consistency)

1. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and lemon zest. Slowly add just enough lemon juice until you reach the desired consistency for a glaze. (I just squeezed my lemon directly into the bowl and added more as needed. I used almost a whole lemon (roughly 1/4 c. lemon juice) to get the right consistency.)

2. Spoon glaze over the cooled mini scones and let dry. Enjoy!

Strawberry Bread

Yummy - followed this recipe exactly and it turned out great!

Recipe:
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fresh diced strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease an 8 x 4″ loaf pan.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until the evenly yellow (but not frothy). Stir in the yogurt, oil, and vanilla and stir until evenly mixed. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until there are no longer traces of flour. Gently fold in the strawberries, then pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the bread and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Gabrielle's Lemon Squares

Okay, I'll admit it - the main reason I wanted to try this recipe is because it has my name in the title. But aside from that, who doesn't love lemon squares? I decided to make them this afternoon as an early birthday treat. It was the first time I've ever made lemon squares and they were delicious!

Gabrielle’s Lemon Squares

from “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman

Makes: 12-16

Time: About 1 hour

These two-step squares are sweet-tart and moist. Be sure not to overbake them; they’re done when the edges are firming up and the middle is still a bit soft. Rotate the pan if they appear to be baking unevenly.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus a little for the pan

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

Pinch salt

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 eggs

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ teaspoon baking soda

Grated or minced zest of 1 lemon

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 350˚F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter with ¼ cup of the sugar and the salt. Stir in the cup of flour. This mixture will be quite dry; press into the greased pan and bake for 20 minutes, no longer; it should just be turning golden. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
3. Beat together the eggs, lemon juice, and remaining sugar until lightened and thick; add the remaining flour, the baking soda, and the lemon zest. Pour over the crust and bake until firm on the edges but still a little soft in the middle, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool, then dust with sifted confectioners’ sugar. Cut into squares and serve. Store, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.

Chocolate Chip Scones

Last night my housemate and I baked chocolate chip scones from a Martha Stewart recipe that we adapted. We made the recipe, Fast Raspberry Scones, with blackberries on Saturday, and tried it last night with chocolate chips. They were delicious! Here's our adapted version:

Chocolate Chip Scones

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk (we used milk with lemon juice to make buttermilk)

1 large egg yolk

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, mix together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and mush together. (We used our hands because the recipe called for a food processor, which we don't have.) In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg yolk. Slowly pour buttermilk mixture into larger bowl, mixing until dough just comes together.

Knead in chocolate chips. Transfer to flat surface. Gather and pat dough into a 1-inch thick square and cut or pull apart into 2-inch pieces. Place pieces about 2 inches apart on two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets and sprinkle tops with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let scones cool slightly on wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 20.

Yummy foods

Just to make you drool...

On Valentine's Day my housemates and I made pork chops and risotto with broccoli (click for recipe), with white wine.



And for Mardi Gras, I made this King's Cake for my Italian class to have during our espresso break halfway through our seminar. It's actually just cinnamon buns formed into an oval, with colored frosting and a coin baked in. The coin comes from the Three Kings / Mardi Gras tradition of baking a baby into the cake. The person who finds the baby is the king or queen for the day, and also must provide the next King's Cake. My Italian class is all about Boccaccio's Decameron, in which a group of seven young ladies and three young men escape the plague of Florence in 1348, and go to the country and tell stories for ten days. Each day there is a different king or queen who picks the theme of the day's stories, and then picks the next king or queen. Our professor had provided cookies to go with the espresso until this past week, but he decided that since there are 10 of us in the class and 10 weeks left, from now on we'll take turns bringing something to go with the espresso. Therefore, the person who found the coin in my King's Cake has to bring something next week, and will be the queen of the day. So I thought that the King's Cake fit in very well not only with the celebration of Mardi Gras, but also with the theme of our class!

Chocolate Panettone

I made panettone in our bread machine today, and it unintentionally turned into chocolate panettone. We couldn't find candied fruit anywhere, so we decided to use chopped almonds and mini chocolate chips instead. But the chocolate chips melted, and so the bread itself became chocolate-y! It looks like whole wheat because of the dark color, but it's really just the chocolate. It has a very subtle chocolate taste, and is more bread-like than most panettone, which is cake-y, but it's delicious!







Here's the recipe, if you happen to have a bread machine:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Steves-Panettone-for-Bread-Machine-106369

Latkes for Hanukkah

Last night my housemates and I made latkes for dinner - scroll down for the recipe!

Mixture of grated potatoes, onions flour, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, and baking powder

Frying the latkes and grilling chicken

Yum.

Salad, chicken, latkes, applesauce, and sour cream!

Just figured I'd throw in a picture of our hearth with the rocking chair, since it was really Chrismukkah that we celebrated. Note my Metropolitan Museum of Art advent calendar!

Here's the recipe we used for the latkes:

4 large russet potatoes (about 1 pound each)
1 large onion
3 eggs
1/2 cup matzo meal or 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp Baking Powder (mix in with the four)

Peel the potatoes and grate them either by hand or in a food processor. Squeeze the grated potatoes by handfuls to get rid of the excess starchy water or drain in a colinder. Place the potatoes in a bowl. Peel and grate the onion and beat the eggs lightly. Add the grated onion, beaten eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper, and mix well. Heat about 1/4 cup oil in pan. Fry!

Pumpkin Pancakes

On Sunday night my housemates and I made breakfast for dinner. We had eggs with spinach and onions, but more importantly, we made pumpkin pancakes. We love almost anything with pumpkin, so we had to try pancakes. We ate them with real Vermont maple syrup and Maine blueberry syrup...they were amazing!

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pancakes

6 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 20 min.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1-1/2 cups fat-free milk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. In a small
bowl, combine the milk, pumpkin, egg white and oil; stir into dry
ingredients just until moistened.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot griddle coated with cooking
spray; turn when bubbles form on top. Cook until second side is
golden brown. Yield: 6 servings.

Our pancakes didn't photograph very well, but they were delicious!
This one has blueberry syrup on it.

Pineapple Banana Mint Smoothie

I made this smoothie for breakfast this morning. It was delicious! The mint leaves add a nice, refreshing taste. I might experiment with mint in other fruit smoothies as well. I pretty much followed this recipe from NYTimes.com but I used canned crushed pineapple instead of fresh, and non-fat plain yogurt instead of low-fat.

Yum!

Adventures in cookie-baking

More baking! On Saturday night, a few of us baked low-fat oatmeal cookies from my friend's massive Good Housekeeping cookbook, and last night, I baked Italian almond cookies with three of my friends from Italian and Art History class. Both batches turned out great.

We altered the recipe of the oatmeal cookies a bit, since they were oatmeal raisin and we didn't have raisins. We also added cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg to the recipe. We threw in a bag of peanut M&Ms, but there were so few of them and so many cookies that half of the cookies were M&M-less. Here's the recipe, with alterations:

Low-Fat Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup(s) (1 stick) light corn-oil spread (56 to 60 percent fat)
• 3/4 cup(s) packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup(s) quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat corn-oil spread, brown sugar, and sugar until combined. Increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg whites, egg, and vanilla extract; beat until smooth.
4. With spoon, stir in flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until combined.
5. Drop dough by level tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, on cookie sheets. Place cookie sheets on 2 oven racks. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes until golden, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking time. With pancake turner, remove cookies to wire racks to cool.
6. Repeat until all batter is used. Store cookies in tightly covered containers.

Photos are from my camera phone, not the best quality, but they still make the cookies look yummy! We made several small cookies, plus one big cookie-cake for my friend's housemates.




Even better, though, were the cookies we baked last night. We had originally wanted to bake tarallucci, sort of Italian sugar cookies, from a recipe taken from a bag of tarallucci from an Italian imports store. Unfortunately, though, since the recipe was in Italian, it called for a specific type of flour (farina 00) made in Italy, but not common here. We didn't want to try the recipe with all-purpose flour since it called for 200g - about 5 1/2 cups of flour!

Instead, we looked up Italian cookie recipes, and found this one for almond cookies. These cookies are made with no flour - just almonds! They were soft when they came out of the oven, but soon turned crispy, and would be great with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee. We actually halved the recipe, since we didn't have enough almonds, so the cookies pictured were our whole batch. It was the perfect amount and they were delicious! Here's the recipe with its original proportions, before we halved it:


Italian Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups blanched whole almonds (about 12 ounces), plus 15 for garnishing
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets, then line with parchment paper.

In food processor, combine 2 1/4 cups almonds and 1/3 cup sugar. Process until finely ground, scraping down sides once or twice. Set aside.

In electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt at high speed until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to medium and gradually sprinkle in remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Return speed to high and beat mixture until stiff, shiny peaks form. Gently fold in ground almond mixture and almond and vanilla extracts.

Roll mixture into 1-inch balls, place 2 inches apart on baking sheets, and flatten slightly. Top each with an almond. Bake until cookies are golden, switching positions of pans halfway through, about 25 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Cookies keep, wrapped, several days, or frozen, several weeks. Recrisp in warm oven.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

And, to top it all off, this cookie recipe came with a written legend on epicurious.com!

Amaretti

According to legend, in the early 1700s, a Milanese bishop made a surprise visit to the town of Saronno in Lombardy. A young couple paid tribute to the bishop by welcoming him with their unique homemade cookies, made from crushed apricot kernels and almonds, egg whites, and sugar. The bishop so loved the cookies that he blessed the couple, and the recipe became a local favorite.

Today, bakeries throughout the region, and in Italian communities around the world, carry amaretti di Saronno, but it's worth the (small) effort to make them yourself. The recipe is simple, and fresh from the oven, they have a crisp-yet-tender texture that's beyond compare.

Banana Bread for Breakfast

For Easter, I tried a whole wheat banana bread recipe I saw on NYTimes.com. It turned out really well - not too sweet, but very substantial and satisfying. I changed the recipe slightly, using two cups of whole wheat flour instead of one cup whole wheat and one cup all-purpose white flour. As a frosting, I used strained yogurt, which ends up tasting like a cream cheese frosting, that my mom has been making for years. I put fat-free yogurt in a cheesecloth for about a day to strain all of the liquid out, mixed it with maple syrup until it was sufficiently sweet, and then added two drops of red food coloring to make it pink, for Easter. It made the perfect breakfast on Easter morning!




Here's the recipe with my slight alterations:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup raw brown (turbinado) sugar or packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1 cup mashed bananas (2 very ripe bananas)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the middle. Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with pan spray, and line the bottom with parchment. Spray the parchment.

2. Sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

3. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick; they should "ribbon" when lifted with a spatula, five to eight minutes. Beat in the oil, the yogurt or buttermilk, bananas and vanilla.

4. At low speed, beat in the flour in three separate additions. Fold in the nuts.

5. Scrape into the loaf pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the bread is firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Yield: One 9 x 5-inch loaf (about 15 slices)

Advance preparation: The bread freezes well if wrapped air-tight. It will keep for several days, but put it in the refrigerator after three days.

Polenta Pizza

Photo from nytimes.com...although ours looked just as amazing.

Last Saturday we made Polenta Pizza, our version of a recent recipe from the New York Times. We changed the recipe around a little bit - instead of gorgonzola cheese, we used fat free ricotta cheese, and instead of pancetta (bacon), we used cherry tomatoes. It was delicious - give it a try!


Here's the recipe with our adjustments:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for pan

1/2 cup milk, preferably whole

Salt

1 cup coarse cornmeal

Freshly ground black pepper

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (chopped)

1 pound spinach, washed, trimmed and dried

1 container of fat free ricotta cheese

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees; brush a layer of olive oil on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine milk with 2 1/2 cups water and a large pinch of salt. Bring just about to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and add cornmeal in a steady stream, whisking all the while to prevent lumps from forming. Turn heat to low and simmer, whisking frequently, until thick, 10 or 15 minutes. If mixture becomes too thick, whisk in a bit more water; you want a consistency approaching thick oatmeal.

2. Stir 1 tablespoon oil into cooked cornmeal (polenta). Spoon it onto prepared pan, working quickly so polenta does not stiffen; spread it evenly to a thickness of about 1/2 inch all over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and put it in refrigerator until it is firm, an hour or more (you can refrigerate polenta overnight if you prefer).

3. Put polenta in oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it begins to brown and crisp on edges. Meanwhile, put two tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and pancetta is nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to take onion and tomatoes out of pan; set aside. Add spinach to skillet and sauté until it releases its water and pan becomes dry; sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper.

4. Take polenta out of oven, spread ricotta cheese, then spread onion-tomato mixture and spinach evenly on top of cheese; drizzle with another tablespoon olive oil. Put pizza back in oven for two minutes, or until cheese begins to melt and vegetables are warmed through. Cut into slices and serve hot or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 servings.

Making Crêpes

Last night I made an International Dinner with several friends who also just came back from studying abroad. We started out with an Italian red wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo), French brie cheese and crackers, then moved on to Yorkshire Pudding and Chicken Tikka Masala from England (while the chicken is certainly an Indian dish, it's very much a part of the British cuisine), and an Italian arugula/pear/walnut/Pecorino cheese salad. Although we were quite stuffed at that point, we then had ragù (a northern Italian meat sauce) with ziti pasta with a Spanish red wine. Even though none of us studied in Spain, several of us visited Barcelona, so we made an exception.

After watching the animated version of Anastasia, in honor of our friend who studied in St. Petersburg, we ended the meal with fabulous strawberry nutella crêpes from France. It was my first time making crêpes, and they were so good and so easy that I now want to experiment with different versions, both sweet and savory.

One of our beautiful crêpes

While this picture is from Flickr, I think it accurately represents the scrumptiousness of our crêpes. We were too busy inhaling them to photograph them!

Here's the very simple recipe we used:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. lukewarm water
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch salt
Mix and let stand at least 30 minutes. Cook over medium heat. Makes about 6 in a large pan.


I'll leave you with a quote I just came across in a reading for one of my classes, about language acquisition and the relationship non-native speakers have to languages that they study. The quote is from Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, spoken by a German character speaking in his non-native language of French:

Avec toi je préfère cette langue à la mienne, car pour moi, parler français, c'est parler sans parler, en quelque manière - sans responsabilité, ou comme nous parlons en rêve. Tu comprends?

With you, I prefer this language to mine, because for me, to speak in French is to speak without speaking, in a sense - without responsibility, as we speak in a dream. Do you understand?

At least for me, it does a good job of epitomizing what experiences using a foreign language can be - almost unreal. And I think that we all experienced a bit of that dreamlike, intangible entrance into another world during our months studying abroad.