Day Seven

And now to go with our homemade yogurt: granola!

I just started making granola recently after discovering I had been scammed into paying $5-7 a bag for the good stuff when it's super easy and cheap to make it at home.

The beauty of granola is that it's one of food's blank canvases. Once you've got the primary ingredients (oats, a little oil or butter, and maple syrup or sugar) you can add pretty much anything you have in your kitchen or looks yummy while shopping the bulk bins.

I got my original recipe from Joy of Baking: http://www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/HomemadeGranola.html

The basic recipe:

3 cups rolled oats. I recommend thick cut.
3/4 cup nuts
1 cup seeds. I've been using sesame and flax, sometimes pumpkin.
1/2-3/4 cup dried coconut (optional)
1/2 tsp spice, such as cinnamon or ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil or melted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup dried fruit


In a few short words, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, mix the dry ingredients, save the dried fruit-you'll add that after the baking, together in a medium bowl. In a smaller bowl mix the wet ingredients. Pour the wet over the dry and mix well.

So far, pretty easy. But wait, it gets even easier!

Spread your unbaked granola on parchment lined baking sheets (do this and you won't even have to wash them when you're done) and bake for 30-45 minutes. It'll keep crisping after it's out of the oven, so stop just short of where you want it.


Once the granola has cooled, add your dried fruit and mix. Store in an airtight container.

Holy crap that was easy.

FYI: Today I used macadamia nuts, dried papaya and pineapple in my recipe.

I had to bust up the nuts a little as they were a little too big. Plastic bag worked best, but I had to focus my mallet on one nut at a time. Sounds much more Sadistic than it was.

Day Five, Part Two

Now for something happier! Hollandaise! Just in time for the weekend. And I can feed 3-4 people Eggs Benedict for the same price as feeding just me at a restaurant.

Hollandaise, as it turns out is not as tricky as everyone says. The real trick I found it timing everything right so you have nice smooth sauce, warm crispy English muffins, and hot running egg yolks all at the same time.

This Hollandaise recipe has worked well for me in the past, so I'm using it again here. http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_hollandaise.htm

Here are the ingredients:

2 tbls warm lemon juice (about one lemon)
3 tbls boiling water
3 large egg yokes
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 tps cayenne
1/2 tps salt

For the rest of the Benedict:

English muffins (I tried the fancy, fluffy ones once and it didn't taste as good as just regular old EMs.)
eggs (I serve two per person.)
cheddar (I like to put a little sharp cheddar on the muffins while they are toasting, but it's optional.)
prosciutto or smoked salmon (Again, optional. I serve one with and one without on each plate.)

Here we go:

One of the tricks I've found to Hollandaise is to have all of my ingredients ready to go. So I start by getting my double boiler ready. Again, the inside pot is not to touch the boiling water below. I get my eggs out, I start my kettle for the boiling water, I'm melting the stick of butter on another burner, the lemon juice is warming in the microwave, my cayenne and salt are measured and ready to be thrown in at the very end.


Same goes for the other Benedict ingredients. My EMs are separated and cheesed, the prosciutto is out of the fridge, the broiler is on, a medium pot of water with a little white vinegar is boiling on my remaining burner.

Back to the sauce: yokes go into the double boiler bowl. I whisk until they are starting to thicken. One at a time I pour in the three tablespoons of boiling water. Again with the whisking. It's not thickening very quickly so I throw the eggs in for poaching and by the time I am done the sauce is beginning to thicken again. Then I add the lemon juice and remove it from the heat.



I throw the muffins into the broiler for browning. (I usually set the timer for this kind of thing as I frequently forget to check on the broiler until I smell burning.) Returning to the sauce, I pour in the butter while whisking. Then the salt. Then the cayenne. And we have Hollandaise! Now quickly back to the broiler to check on the muffins, then quickly back to the eggs. I remove the eggs from the pot with a slotted spoon, place them carefully onto a plate lined with paper towel (to soak off the water), and season with salt and pepper.

Muffins are out from the oven. One of each pair gets a slice of prosciutto. They both get an egg. Then big dollops of special sauce and we have brunch success!