Spring Grape Salad

This is a great fresh salad to serve as a side or even have as a dessert. It's improved by slightly sweeter grapes for the sweet-toothed, but if you have slightly tart grapes, the tart & sweet is also delish. I got the original recipe as a bonus with the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor. 

Ingredients:
1 cup sliced red grapes
1 cup sliced green grapes
1/4 cup vanilla Silk soy yogurt
1 tbsp granola

Directions:

1. Toss grapes and yogurt together.
2. Chill for at east 30 minutes.

Notes:

• Serves 4
• You can also top with brown sugar, nuts, or ground cinnamon instead of the granola, or in addition to the granola.
• I also ate it for breakfast. 

Sweet Potato Granola

It's fun to do something more interesting for breakfast. I got this one from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor. I'll tell you a secret, I ate it with both a warm sweet potato AND warm granola. Tomorrow, I'm having leftovers of the cold potato and granola.

Ingredients:
1 cup dry rolled oats
6 tbsp chopped almonds
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
4 cooked sweet potatoes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, combine oats, almonds, and maple.
3. Spread mixture into a single layer on baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from oven to cool completely.
5. Crumble granola.
6. Slice cooked sweet potatoes in half and top with prepared granola.

Notes:

• Serves 4
• Per serving: 284 calories, 6g fat, 52.8g carbs, 7g fiber, 19.9g sugars, 6.9g protein
• Add yogurt or a side of fruit.

Oat Crumbles

These never last long at my house. I need to double or triple the recipe. You are supposed to use them as a topping -- on anything. If nothing else, this is a super basic granola you could always add other things to, like craisins or ... something else granola-y.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

5 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350ºF. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan on the stovetop. Stir in the brown sugar, rolled oats and chopped walnuts and mix well.
2. Transfer the oat mixture to a baking tray and spread it out evenly. Place in the oven to toast for 15 minutes, stirring occaisionally, until the mixture is dry and an even golden brown color. Store the crumbles in an airtight container and use as required. (Eat them as is.)

Notes:

• makes 1 1/2 cups
• Use vegan butter. 
• Use this as a sprinkly topping for fresh fruit compotes, yogurt or curd cheese dishes. You can layer the mixtures together in tall glasses for a parfait effect if desired. Leave the dessert to stand at room temperature for an hour before serving, to allow the flavours to meld.
• Mix in other nuts such as almond, brazils or hazels according to your own taste. Some people like to stir in 1/2 tsp warm spice such as cinnamon or nutmeg as well. You could also add a few tbsp of small dried fruits such as sultanas, blueberries and cherries.
• This mix is similar to granola and could be used as a granola base while adding your favorite other bits. You can make it a nice cereal served with milk and berries. Add as leftovers into your morning bowl of muesli for added crunch and flavor.
• To make a solid crumble topping for a hot baked fruit puddings, omit the oven toasting process. Use 1 cup butter and stir in 2 cups plain or wholemeal wheat-type flour in addition to the oats to make a loose, crumbly dough. Pat it over the top of the prepared fruit that you have placed in an ovenproof dish and bake for 40-45 minutes at 350ºF.

Breakfast: Caramel Walnut Chocolate Chunk Granola

Need a snack to put out on the morning of Thanksgiving while every one waits for the turkey (or tofurkey)? This is a sweet, breakfast cereal-like granola. This is the first granola I ever attempted to make (partially because I had every ingredient on hand.) It is also probably the first recipe I attempted out of Robin Asbell's The New Whole Grains Cookbook. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup walnuts, broken into large pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chunks (about 4 ounces)

Directions:

1. Line 2 large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, and spray the parchment with vegetable oil spray. Preheat the oven to 300F. In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, and salt. In a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together the water and sugar. Over high heat, bring to a boil, moving the pan to keep it mixed, rather than stirring. Cook until the syrup turns a medium amber, then take it off the heat and add the butter carefully - it will foam and bubble. Stir in the butter with a heat-safe spatula, and then stir in the vanilla. Scrape into the oat mixture and stir immediately. The caramel mixture will start to harden and clump, but it will melt while baking and disperse.
2. Scrape the oat mixture onto the prepared pans, and spread it out into rough chunks. Place one pan in top quarter of oven and other in bottom quarter. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir well and switch pan locations. The caramel will be liquefied and soaking into the oats more evenly. Bake for 15 minutes more.
3. Remove to cooling racks. When cool, break the granola into chunks, mix with the chocolate chunks, and store in jars or zipper-top bags.

Other details:

• Makes about 9 cups 
• Nutrition per cup
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• This granola was not initially posted as vegan. However, I recently tested it (the picture of the granola in the bowl) using sugar in the raw (sugar), Earth Balance buttery sticks (butter), with confirmed vegan dark chocolate. Everybody loved it! Some members of the house do not like the nuts, others don't like the chocolate. In general each person eats the components they like leaving more of the other for those who enjoy them!

Breakfast: Daily Granola adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast

This summer, I discovered tasty granola at a farmer's market. It was a little pricey. So I learned to make my own. I made granola once a week for a few months. Only a few made the cut. This recipe came from a suggestion in the comments of a friend's status update on her facebook page. That's right - I got it from a friend of a friend.

Daily Granola

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats

2 to 3 cups raw almonds or pecan halves, or a mixture

1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds

¾ cup sesame seeds

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:

¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/3 cup brown rice syrup

¼ cup maple syrup or agave

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, such as canola or safflower

Directions:

1. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F. 
2. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Stir to mix well. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Stir to mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and stir well.
3. Spread the mixture evenly on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Set a timer to go off every ten minutes while the granola bakes, so you can rotate the pans and give the granola a good stir; this helps it to cook evenly. When it’s ready, remove the pans from the oven, stir well – this will keep it from cooling into a hard, solid sheet – and set aside to cool. The finished granola may still feel slightly soft when it comes out of the oven, but it will crisp as it cools. 
4. Scoop cooled granola into to a large zipper-lock plastic bag or other airtight container.
5. Store in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Other Details:

• Yield: about 10 cups
• Nutrition information per half cup. 
• Original Recipe
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• Original recipe called for honey instead of maple syrup. I tested with maple syrup 12/31/12 and it's still good. I know some people like agave so that could work too.

Breakfast: Alton Brown's Granola

I went on a recent granola kick. I do sometimes eat granola for breakfast, but I'll admit that granola is mostly a snack food in our house. Alton's Granola is the best one I've made so far - but that could be my technique is improved. Our major tweak was not to include dried fruit. Cardinal rule: raisins ruin everything. I could try dried cranberries, which we do like, but we opted out this time.

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins (or substitute dried cranberries, dried cherries, or dried blueberries)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.
4. (A tip: put your sheets in top 3rd and bottom 3rd of oven. Every 15 minutes when you stir, switch pans in their positions.)
5. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. 
6. Add raisins (if you so choose) and mix until evenly distributed.

Other Details:

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• The nutrition guide at right is per serving. Honestly, we eat more like 1/4 cup when we eat granola - probably about 1/4 of a serving. This is when I wish I had a bomb calorimeter to estimate my own per real serving Calories.
• Original Recipe
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