Granola Love: Amazing Almond Granola

Coming back from the Galapagos (which was mind-blowingly incredible!) last week, feeling a bit sick and exhausted from 2 full days of planes, trains (boats more like it), and automobiles (mostly taxis), I felt comfortable in my own bed, and even more so in my kitchen. Though the food on our trip was usually quite delicious, especially the freshly squeezed exotic fruit (Guanabana is delicious!), I felt derailed from my normal cooking schedule and detached from the fresh California ingredients I know and love. So one of the first thing I did, after unpacking all my salty clothes, was baking up some good-old granola.

I think I love making granola because there are so many tasty tidbits you could add and mix in to the oaty base, and the recipes are flexible, and almost always delicious! Some of my favorite additions are pistachios, coconut, almond and vanilla extract, agave syrup, dried cherries, and flax seeds. So many good combinations of munchy crunchiness. In this recipe, I focused on almonds, and went almond crazy at that, adding almond extract and almond oil to infuse even more flavor along with the sliced almonds. I personally enjoy a bit of saltiness in my granola, so reductions in the salt content if desired will create a sweeter outcome.

And the outcome was splendid. Crisp and golden brown, with juicy, deep purple berries brightening up the batch, this granola was gone in a flash. The almonds are the stars, but the spices and coconut create a warm, deep flavor that round outs the mixture along with the dried fruits. So here it is, the very, very almondy granola:

Amazing Almond Granola


2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sliced almonds
1/4 cup flaked coconut (either sweetened or unsweetened will work)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (depending on how salty you like it)
3 tbsp agave syrup (or honey or maple syrup if desired)
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp almond oil (if you don't have this, you may use all canola/veggie oil)
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup mixed dried fruit or any dried fruit of your choice

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover a jelly roll pan with foil. To the pan, add the oats, almonds, coconut, spices, and salt. Mix well. In a small bowl, mix the syrup, sugar, oils, and extracts until combined well.

Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture and mix until all the components are grooving together nicely. Spread the resulting mixture into an even layer and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. (You may want to stir the granola once during baking).

Remove pand from oven, add the dried fruit, and mix once last time. Let cool or enjoy warm, either way it fabulous! Serve over yogurt, with any type of milk, with fruit, or for a tasty snack any time of day (or night). ENJOY!

The First Test: Fresh Veggie Sandwiches with Edamame Spread

So the second day home and i'm back in the kitchen, baking, sauteeing, and chopping all over the place. I guess i'm making up for living in the dorms for a year, microwaving sweet potatoes and banana bread (yes, it can be done!) to fill my cooking fix, and it feels so great to be back.

After failing at yet another yeast bread attempt, today I started fresh, and where better to start for that then at a local farm. Thankfully we have an incredible local organic farm just down the street called South Coast Farms, brimming with cornucopias of deep green leafys and shiny purple eggplants at the moment. And their strawberries, oh my goodness, their strawberries are legendary, and rightly so. I always remember waiting for Spring every year for them, until I finally saw the big strawberry sign out front, announcing their illustrious arrival. They really are "magical" as my friend Jen stated today, and it completely describes their ridiculously sweet red deliciousness. We picked up some beets, avocados, kale, pears, and of course, the strawberries, munching on them all the way home.

But for my lunch today, I thought up a sandwich that was fresh, crisp, and filling, and quite tasty I will say. I started with some crusty multi-grain bread and a fabulous edamame dip/spread, and then piled up the veggies. So I started with the edamame spread, a quick, fresh dip incredible with pita chips or sliced veggies, with spices and lemon for extra flavor.

Edamame Spread

makes about 2 cups

2 cups frozen edamame

4-5 garlic cloves

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/4 teaspoons paprika

3/4 teaspoons cayenne (optional)

lemon wedges, to serve (optional)

Bring a pot of water to boil, toss in the frozen edamame. Boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking water.

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor, except for the lemon, and blend until smooth. The puree should be thick enough to pick up with a piece of bread, but not so thick that it feels solid. If it's to thick, the puree can be thinned with some of the reserved cooking water.

Squeeze some lemon juice on the top and sprinkle with some paprika to serve. 

With this flavorful spread, it was easy to make any sandwich amazing, but I chose to go with some ingredients already at my home; purple cabbage, sliced cucumber, shredded carrots, and onion, piled high and sprinkled with fresh herbs and lemon juice.

Putting it all together, 

For 4 hefty sandwiches:

8 slices of crusty multi-grain or wheat bread

1/2 medium white onion, sliced thin

1 medium cucumber, sliced either in rounds or diagonally

1 cup shredded red cabbage

1 cup shredded carrot 

1/2 cup sliced fresh basil (optional)

fresh lemon juice (optional)

edamame spread

Slice and shred the vegetables and basil, if using. Spread the edamame dip on both sides of the slices of bread. Layer on as you wish; I started with the cucumbers, then the cabbage, carrots, and onion. Add the basil and sprinkle on extra lemon juice to brighten the flavor. Place the other slice on top, and enjoy! 

A healthy, vegan sandwich that is filling, flavorful, and really easy to make. I also think that adding freshly cooked beets, spinach, and/or tomato would be great too! 

So there is my first recipe, assembled whilst listening to a medley of Flying Lotus and Broken Social Scene, a great sandwich-making mix i'd say. It feels so good to be back in the kitchen, cooking, dancing, and eating delicious foods. Its going to be a great summer. 

Summertime

I'm done. My first year of college at UC Berkeley just brushed by like a glorious breeze, a breeze filled with so many emotions and experiences and friends and foodies. I was expecting college to be new and exciting, but I couldn't have ever expected the exhilarating roller coaster ride it ended up becoming.

Concerts in run-down bars, filled to the brim with hipsters and punks, bustling street festivals with vendors straight from the 70s, BART transfers, MUNI transfers, and miles and miles of walking completely opened my eyes to a beautifully different approach to life. A life that is local, conscious, and deeply passionate.

And I am passionate. Passionate about saving whales and sharks, passionate about human rights, and definitely passionate about food. FOOD.

Something that can be as simple as a home-grown carrot to something so complicated as a genetically modified soybean, injected with a bacteria strain, treated with pesticides, drenched with synthetic fertilizers, heavily subsidized, and just beautiful looking at that. Its something so essential as nutrients to run metabolic functions and keep our engines running day by day, yet something so exquisite that schools have been built on its behalf, to explore every taste, texture, and aroma it has to offer. It exists as three designated meals a day, organized in a pyramid of colors and numbers, yet it is so fluid and malleable, with new recipes, new diets, and many snacking opportunities allowed in between.

In conclusion, I love food. A lot of people love food. And I do too. I love knowing where my food comes from, who grows it, how its produced, and how it gets to my local stores. I love creating recipes, and sharing them with the people around me. That's the best.

So here we go. An adventure through a food jungle, bursting with juicy fruits and crunchy veggies among other things, ready to me nom nom nommed right up. Yum.