What's For Breakfast: Carrot Cake Granola

My new favorite granola is Nature's Path Love Crunch Carrot Cake granola. It is ridiculously delicious and I have to keep myself from eating all the super-satisfying granola chunks in one sitting. (I mean, we are all agreed that the chunks are the best part of granola, right?) One downside is that a pouch of it is fairly expensive, so I only ever buy it when it is on sale.

So, to ensure that I always have some carrot cake granola on hand, I decided my best option would be to try to make a batch of my own. This granola features classic carrot cake flavors -- cinnamon, pecans, raisins, pineapple, and of course, grated carrots. The one thing my recipe is missing is yogurt chips to give it a little cream-cheese flavor; I wasn't able to source any in my small town -- but if you can find them where you live, I'd recommend tossing in a handful after the granola has cooled.

Carrot Cake Granola (printer-friendly version)
makes about 12-15 servings

1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup filtered water
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
dash ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
1/3 cup walnut oil [or use a neutral oil such as canola]
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrot (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pot, combine together the brown sugar and filtered water. While stirring constantly, cook over medium-high heat until the mixture begins to boil. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, add together the oats, sliced almonds, pecans, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and sea salt.
4. Stir the walnut oil and vanilla extract into the cooled brown sugar mixture. Then pour the sugar mixture over the oat mixture. Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients together. Stir in the grated carrot.
5. Spread the granola evenly onto the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven and stir/flip the granola over to ensure even browning.
7. Bake for an additional 60 minutes, or until the granola is dry.
8. Remove the granola from the oven and stir in the raisins and pineapple. Allow the granola to cool completely. Store the granola in an airtight container for up to three weeks.

What's For Breakfast: Juice!

It's official. I've become one of those people that juice. I blame all the blog posts I read in early January as everyone jumped onto the healthy New Year resolutions bandwagon. I admit I was swayed by all the bright green juices and endless options that come with juicing a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

I tried to get D to jump on the bandwagon with me, but he decried our lack of kitchen storage space. Then we watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, a documentary about an Australian named Joe Cross who (spoiler alert!) turned around his health with a (medically-supervised) 60-day juice diet. Though Joe's story was interesting, the truly inspiring story was that of Phil Staples, an overweight truck driver who ("coincidentally") shared the same immune system disorder that Joe had. Long story short, Phil decides to give juicing a try, and over the course of 60 days, he loses a significant amount of weight, and more importantly, is able to become more active and achieve a positive outlook on life. In the end, Phil gives up his sedentary truck driver job for a position at the local Y and teaches community classes about the benefits of juicing.

The documentary totally sucked us into the world of juicing. About five seconds after it was over, we were on Amazon checking out our juicer options. In the end, we decided to pool together some gift cards from Crate & Barrel (thanks, Chrashley!) and go for the Breville Compact Juice Extractor (which is the highest-rated juicer on Amazon). Thanks to super-fast shipping from Chicago, our new juicer arrived on our doorstep just two days later. (Hooray!) That afternoon I headed to Golden Harvest to pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables to juice, and we were off.

While neither D nor I have significant amounts of weight to lose, we are always looking for more ways to introduce nutrient-packed fruits and vegetables into our diet. And, with my New Year resolution to find ways to waste less food, I figured juicing might be a good answer to that problem, as instead of letting those leaves of kale wilt in the refrigerator, I could instead use them to make a healthy juice. 

I have to admit though, I am kind of intrigued by Joe's idea of "rebooting." I think it would be interesting -- if not challenging -- to give a short-term all-juice diet a whirl. (We're talking three days, nothing crazy.) Thus far D and I have just been replacing a meal with a juice or supplementing our daily meals with a juice. And I have to say, of all the juices we've experimented with thus far, none have been bad. I like that there is an endless variety in juicing -- there's no reason to drink the same juice twice, unless you really want to. 

Purple Juice (aka Spinach, Carrot, Beet, Cucumber, Lemon, Apple and Ginger Juice)
(printer-friendly version)
makes about 1 1/2 servings

large handful of spinach leaves
3 carrots
1 beet
half large cucumber (or 1 small cucumber)
1/2 lemon (with peel on)
1/2 apple
1" ginger

Juice the spinach, carrots, cucumber, lemon, beet, apple, and ginger. Serve in large glass (over ice, if you prefer). 

What's For Dinner: Curried Carrot Soup

I have been all about making soups from scratch lately. I guess I never realized how easy soup-making can be. I always imagined making a soup necessitated standing over the stove for hours at a time, furiously stirring and adding seasoning. Turns out, if you have all the ingredients on hand, making a soup from scratch can take less than 30 minutes. And we all know that I like to cook meals that take the least amount of time possible. Case in point: I fully intended to bake up a batch of cinnamon rolls this weekend, but the 2-3 hour length of time (at least) that it would take to do so was just too daunting. I am definitely a culinary wimp when it comes to recipes that take more than an hour (unless of course, we're talking about something that I can easily toss together in a slow cooker and then forget about it for the rest of the day -- but I suppose such recipes belong in a whole different category). Back to the soup -- it is super orange and super delicious. The curry flavor is not at all overwhelming; instead, it provides a nice counter-balance to the sweetness of the carrots.

Curried Carrot Soup (printer-friendly version)
makes 8-10 servings

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 cups filtered water
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (handily, baby carrots come in 2-lb bags...)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
coarsely chopped fresh cilantro [optional, for garnish]

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, curry powder, salt, and pepper. Saute the onions until softened, about five minutes.
2. Add the veggie broth, water, and carrots. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.
3. In several batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Be careful to allow room for steam to escape from the blender when blending.
4. Return the pureed soup to the stock pot, and reheat if necessary. Stir in the lemon juice.
5. Serve immediately; garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

(adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe)