Got Granola?

Bark More:

A guest post by the Cooking Assistant (the dog picker or Finn, if you prefer)

I found this recipe buried in a pile of papers. Dotted with grease stains it still held faint traces of maple syrup and cinnamon. I inhaled and detected toasted nuts, oats, and vanilla. Wasn't hard to guess--granola.

Before I knew it the paper was in my teeth and I was placing it on top of the pile.

Neither one of the management team has ever suspected us hounds of moving things to enhance our advantage. But seriously, what do you think we do when management is out? Sure we read a lot, who wouldn't with all that time on our paws?

Lately I've been into dog stories. I love to identify with the protagonists--the classic is Kafka's "Investigations of a Dog." Of course there are others--A Dog's Life and The Art of Racing in the Rain come to mind, but the latter strikes me as a phoney dog memoir. I mean, dogs do not want to be reincarnated as people, really, only a person would assume that.

I digress, the thing is, we hounds are hardwired to focus on what's right under our collective noses--where the biscuits are kept, whether the pantry door is locked, and whether pockets hold treats. Scents lure us. Which brings me back to granola.

When management breezed through the door, the lady picked up the recipe and I wasn't a bit surprised. After all I've been doing this sort of thing since I was a pup, I had some good teachers.

A Dog Eat Dog World

My love of the hippie cereal goes back to when all us puppies were all clamoring for the management's attention. We all wanted to go to a good home, and apparently I wasn't the only pup who'd caught the maple nut aroma on her clothes. But I was the only one with the audacity to lick her hand when she reached in the enclosure.

I stuck close by that hand until she picked me up. I snuggled close and I knew I had her. The other puppies yipped as I snuggled close. Easy chairs, squeek toys and home baked treats were within a paws reach. I went all mushy inside when the lady said, "I'll take this one." The easy life yawned before me.

What a rude shock I had sharing my new backseat with a smelly geezer dog, who apparently was part of my package deal. The old fogey was silent and all the way home the smell of rotten teeth and bad skin overwhelmed me. This dog was ancient, and as born optimist, I held out hope smelly old bitch woke she might play with me when she woke.

It never happened. And once we arrived home, two more geezers appeared. I'd landed in a retirement home--and the gruff blue-eyed geezer growled and when management wasn't looking, he snapped at me, letting me know he was onto my game plan. I was an interloper.

I stood my ground. I growled back.

That strategy didn't win any brownie prizes from management who continually sided with the geezers. If you were to ask about the most difficult part of my life, this was it. Fights errupted and I wasn't even sure I'd be allowed to stay, especially when I knocked the old bitch off her feet one afternoon. But what was I supposed to do? Roll over and take it?

I'd expected to be in a one dog home and there I was surrounded by arthritic bonebags trudging around like zombies. (To be continued . . .)

Got Granola?

The good news was that the granola was as sweet as I'd imagined, even better than it had smelled. If only I hadn't tried to steal more. But I can't help myself when food is at hand. Okay, I got off to quite a rocky start, and I didn't recieve the kind of welcome I'd expected, but I still think of granola as my comfort food from the puppy years.

A version of this recipe came from Cheryl Harrison of Skagit Valley Co-op. Management claimed was supposed to be in The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook, but when the manuscript was due, management couldn't find it. Obviously she didn't enlist us hounds to find it. Humans are way too busy with their many meaningless activities. It's no wonder they forget sandwiches on tables and apples on counters.

Can't find your keys? Next time check the dog's bed. Forgot about your sandwich? Don't even ask.

We dogs have a distinct advantage when it comes to getting just desserts, and that includes granola.

One thing you need for granola is walnuts. Local walnuts have the best flavor, and the best walnuts I've ever tasted come from Grouse Mountain Farm. I can practically crack them with my paws.

I'm pretty sure you can get the honey, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and wheat flour from local farms. And as for the fruit, use local fruit that you've dried yourself--apples, pears, tart cherries, nectarines, peaches or apricots--it's all good.

For canine companions--avoid raisins or chocolate, these are toxic.

Maple-Nut Granola

(Makes about 8 cups)

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or use whole almonds)

5 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup dried chopped fruit (apples, apricots, pears--no raisins)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients together in a saucepan. Heat gently until well combined and very liquid.

2. Cook and combine nuts, oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flour, sea salt and cinnamon, while wet ingredients cook.

3. Pour honey-maple syrup mixture over oat-nut mixture. Spread on baking sheets, and bake for 15 minutes. Stir gently, then return to oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. Mixture should be lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before transferring to a bowl. Not stirring encourages plenty of big clumps. Carefully mix in dried fruit.

4. Enjoy for breakfast, snacks or as a topping for coconut sorbet.

Nutty Cinnamon Granola

I officially declare that 2014 will be my year of living frugally. 

I'm paring down the things I spend money on, and saving for things I want. I'm also padding our emergency expence fund, because last year, medical bills were dicey and shocking.  Hopefully "Affordable Healthcare" will really be affordable this year, but  I think what's easier than worrying and stressing about bills, is to learn how to live frugally now rather than panic when big bills happen.

Living frugally doesn't mean giving up good healthy breakfast, eating mush for a year or dining on store brand cold cereal.

It doesn't mean cutting back on great calendars either. Check out the variety I got this year.  

I thank everyone who sent or gave me one, they are all so different and interesting. The only problem is finding a space for all of them.

One of my favorites is from Ayers Creek Farm in Oregon.  Check out this post about the bobcat and chicories on their farm.  Anthony and Carol Boutard have a bee theme for their calendar this year, and each photo and paragraph tells a little the bees on the farm.  For example, January's photo is a photo of an Oregon junco foraging.  Boutard writes, "Among the debris left from the harvest, our native bees and other insects take shelter until springtime."

A scientist for the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect Research Unit identified many of the wild bees around the farm--the black tail bumbleee, yellow-faced bumblebee and the fuzzy horned bumblebee--and that's just the bumblebees.  They mention the death of 50,000 yellow-faced bumblebees by a neonicoitinoid insecticide in a Wilsonville shoping center last May that planted the idea of a bee theme calender this year.

Each month tells a mini-story about bees and wildlife on the farm.  As calendars go, it's a keeper because it tells me things I don't know about bees. It's interesting how we take food for granted and don't often give thanks to the bees who help make our fruits and vegetables abundant.

In my last post I mentioned I'd like to have more breakfast recipes. Let's face it, most people, including me, tend to choose the same things for breakfast.  It can get boring, and I plan on branching out this year, sampling new options.  Yet my first choice granola is quite traditional, but making it instead of buying can save some money, and here's why:

Many of the ingredients to make granola--oats, nuts, dried fruit and even honey--are already in your pantry.  Sure you can make it with maple syrup but it's not a product you'd necessarily see in a frugal shopper's cart and compared to honey in the cupboard, it's going to be an expensive purchase. 

Walnuts from Grouse Mountain Farm

Rule #1 for frugal foodies:  Eat what you already have before you shop for special ingredients. 

Another tribute to bees?   Who knows but I found a jar of Tahuya River honey that I'd gotten a few years ago and I decided to use it.  Tahuya River was one of my favorite places to stop at the U-District farmers market.   Roy the beekeeper shared compelling stories about beekeeping, and later  his son Josh took over selling and he always had a smile and jokes to tell.  They sold amazing beewax candles, which I still have also. The scent of these candles is heavenly.  One year Tahuya River lost a lot of hives from vandals, and in another year they lost bees to a disease or virus.  They wern't anywhere near agriculture but hard being a beekeeper when replacement costs eat into your bottom line. Tahuya River still has this website with wax and candles but no honey. 

You can put whatever you want into granola. Some varieites at the store had yogurt chips, coconut flakes and chocolate chips.  Some were as pricey as almonds or pecans per pound and none were actually in "frugal" territory.   If you have raisin, cranberries, or any kind of dried fruit, you can use it. Pistaschios and almonds?  Go for it.  I cut up dried nectarines and added banana chips that I had leftover from our Thanksgiving trip to Pismo Beach last year.  

I found pumpkin and sunflower seeds in the freezer.  I didn't use them all, but I made a note about them, so I can use them in future recipes.

I'm learning is more about how to not spend and how to look for bargains rather than clipping coupons.  Add a bit of soymilk, a cut banana and you've got a better cereal than any packaged cereal.  My local grocery store sells cut bananas for 37 cents a pound and often you can find cut organic bananas tossed in with the non organic bananas--anything for 37 cents.  It's quite a bargain for the organic label.

Nutty Cinnamon Granola

(Makes about 7 cups)

1 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

5 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup dried chopped fruit (apples, apricots, pears--no raisins)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix wet ingredients together in a saucepan. Heat gently until well combined and very liquid.

2. Combine nuts, oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flour, sea salt and cinnamon, while wet ingredients cook.

3. Pour honey-maple syrup mixture over oat-nut mixture. Spread on baking sheets, and bake for 15 minutes. Stir gently, then return to oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. Mixture should be lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before transferring to a bowl. Not stirring encourages plenty of big clumps. Carefully mix in dried fruit.

4. Enjoy for breakfast, snacks or as a topping for coconut sorbet.

Ballard Market, Tamales, and The Patty Pan Cafe

I made plans to visit the Ballard Farmers Market last Sunday and when I checked the Website for the hours that it was open, the Website opened up to this great blog by Zachary Lyons. The most recent post listed many local things you can get as gifts for the holidays, so of course I got distracted reading them all.

I'd check the market out for gifts when I got there, but what I really wanted was tamales.They're my favorite market food and it's too bad that's what killed my grandfather or so my uncle told me last summer, but not even that story could stop me from loving tamales from the market. And so many markets have them, it's fun to compare different fillings and sauces.

I've had tamales at the Austin and Medford farmers' markets, and I ended up buying a case of tamale sauce in Austin, but the tamales I like best are from the Patty Pan Grill at the Ballard Market. You can get these tamales steamed but I like easy dinners and now almost always buy them by the bag to take home. If you want something to satisfy your hunger right now, those seasonal veggie quessadillas are to die for. Roasted beets in the winter, peppers and zucchini in summer--the thing I love about these quesadillas is they shift veggies with the seasons.

Patty Pan Grill is the creation of Devra Gartenstein, author of two cookbooks--The Accidental Vegan and Local Bounty: Seasonal Vegan Recipes. Devra has this great talent for creating simple foods with great flavors, and if you want to try making tamales, you can find the recipe in The Accidental Vegan, pages 90 to 93. While you only get two choices for fillings at the market, there are four options in the book. And, if you're as lazy as I sometimes am in the kitchen, the next recipe after tamales is tamale pie-- all the flavors of tamales without the hassle of actually making them. Look for the the book at the Ballard Market, too. It's a keeper along with Local Bounty and both are under twenty dollars--my best price category for holiday gifts.

This fall Devra opened the Patty Pan Cafe. It's open breakfast through lunch (7 to 3pm) from Tuesday to Saturday. The food is simple, delicious and totally affordable. It's a very cool neighborhood cafe and if this place was in my neighborhood, I'd seriously conjure up reasons to go there.

When I went there for lunch, I got this great spicy pumpkin soup with bread and the spice was smooth and hot. It was one of those meals where I wanted more and felt like I should have ordered a larger portion. I dreamed about the flavors of that soup for days. I've already invited some friends to go there and enjoy this great simple food for themselves.

Unlike Devra's books, the cafe isn't totally vegan. I heard a rumor that meat products are on the menu, but I'm sure it's all sustainably raised, grass fed and all that, plus a wider menu selection would accomodate meat-eaters who dine with vegetarians, like Tom and I.
On my way out of the cafe, I noticed this granola that looked so inviting, all freshly made with primo ingredients. I can't take that stale stuff that passes for granola in the big bins in natural food stores. I took this picture, but wished I could have taken the granola to go instead.
When I returned home, I had little to show my eager Cooking Assistant, except the usual carrots and apples I'm always bringing home these days. Here's the HoneyCrisp apples I got from Jerzy Boys and an amazing-sweet tart Newton Pippin from Grouse Mountain Farm that I took from my "root celler" experiment. The apple scent was so overpowering I'm sure my Assistant completly forgot about my market excursion.
He was only really satisfied when I cut the small apple into thirds for him and his friends who are always waiting for something good to drop in front of them.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

I often get on a breakfast kick and stay on it for an entire season. Oh, I'll eat a few different things here and there, but mostly I like consistency when it comes to breakfast. It's like a ritual for starting the day. In the summer, I was into smoothies made with fresh fruit, almond butter and ice. This fall, it's Apple Pie Oatmeal.

When I was a child, I didn't have a clue about oatmeal. Mom ate it when she was a child and never liked it, so she never served it. I usually ate cold cereal or fruit. When I got older and tried oatmeal, it was a lame instant version that my sister and I brought camping. I hated the paste-like taste, yet it wasn't the oatmeal because I liked oatmeal cookies, the oatmeal topping on crisps and granola.

Still I felt like something was missing and I wanted to join the ranks of those who enjoy a bowl of hot steaming oatmeal, but if I was going to join the crowd, I had to tweak the flavor significantly.

I started adding things, and aside from dried friut, one of the first things I added was walnuts.
I've loved walnuts since I was a child. Now I buy them from Grouse Mountain Farm. The sweetest walnuts I've ever tasted, you can just roll them under your palm and they crack open. Then you gently pick the whole halves of the nut from the shell. I bought an entire box of them this past weekend at the market, that's how much I like walnuts.

The next thing I added was an apple. I usually pick something other than a golden delicious because I love those the best. But I only love them from Cliffside Orchards. I got some organic goldens from a natural foods recently and the flavor was disappointing. Thin and watery with a slight hint of soap, I could see why many people detested these apples.

When I told Jeanette Herman of Cliffside Orchards about the soapy flavor, she looked puzzled. Then she said it sounded like there was an aphid problem and maybe too much "Safer" (an allowed organic treatment for aphids) was sprayed. A very old-fashioned variety, goldens have thin skins, which makes them more fragile than other apples. Jeanette also said goldens are a hard sell because so many people recall the dismal golden delicious apples of their youth. Jeanette's husband Jeff harvests these apples and he said he tastes them on a regular basis before harvest to determine if the apples are ripe. I can't imagine big farms harvesting this way. but the secret of great apples is to pick at the peak of sweetness.The next thing I added was Rockridge Orchards apple cider in place of water. I've tasted plenty of cider and the thing I love about Rockridge Orchards is Wade Bennett makes a variety to choose from and the flavor is, well, it's just the best. My Cooking Assistant gives my new Apple Pie Oatmeal recipe four paws up.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Serves 1

This recipe is adapted from The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. I’m sure if I’d tried apple cider, blueberries and walnuts then, this would have been the version in the book.

1 apple (any variety), cored and diced

1/4 cup dried blueberries

1 cups apple cider

1 cup old-fashioned oats

Water to thin

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1. Bring the apples, dried blueberries and water to a boil in a small to medium saucepan over high heat.

2. Add the oats, reduce the heat, and simmer until the oatmeal has absorbed the water and is thick, about 5 minutes. Thin with water, if necessary.

3. Serve topped with chopped walnuts.

.

The Soup Project: Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup

I discovered this old recipe for Navy Bean Soup last week when I was going through files and found a thick red file labeled "Recipes." I hadn't looked the file in years, but it was thick and when I opened it, I found a treasure trove of old memories. A few recipes from clipped from old magazines, but most were my creations. Among the finds were Shiitake Pot Pie with Polenta Crust, Curried Lentil Salad, Smoked Chile Barbecue Sauce, Triple Chocolate Banana Cake and even a granola recipe from a friend's son that I'd misplaced when I was gathering recipes for The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook.

A version of Old-Fashioned Navy Bean Soup (with vegetables) is in my book, but this was the original recipe, typed on my old Smith-Corona about 30 years ago. It brought back memories of early soup making, when I was insecure about making stock and unsure about ingredients. I documented everything in those days and I recall wanting a soup that tasted like but better than Campbell's navy bean soup. I know, true confessions--my mom loved convenience and when I was young, I thought all soup came from a can.

I love it when recipes bring back sweet memories--like mushroom soup and our visit to the beach over Thanksgiving. (And that's coming as soon as I get some local mushrooms.)

The salty damp scents, the wind blowing the dogs' ears back as they raced across the sand, this rusty "free spirit" bike on the dock--who really wants to leave those memories behind?

Anyway, I needed something easy, something pantry-oriented because I didn't get to the market for the Cascadia Mushrooms that I'd wanted for mushroom soup.

Instead, my Assistant and I went to Woofstock--the Smiley Dog (delivery service) annual open house on Saturday. When we got there, the warehouse was all festive with hippie posters and heavy on the peace sign-tie dye theme. I loaded up on holiday gifts even got a free catnip joint for Mair Farm cat. My assistant was so happy to be in a room filled with people and dogs he went a little wild, acting like we were at a dog park. From Boston Terriers to Great Danes, Finn greeted them all.

And the cake? First time I'd ever seen a tie dye cake. It was definitely not for the dogs.

They also served the best vegan chili I've had in a long time. With grated cheese on the side, the chili had a variety of beans, carrots, corn, great flavorings and just the right amount of heat. While I enjoyed it, my Assistant tried to poke through my bags and grab his Christmas gift. Could be some coal in his stocking this year if he keeps it up, but then again he might just eat that too.

The chili put me in the mood for beans when we got home. In my pantry I found beans leftover from the markets--about a half a cup of Tarbais beans from Ayers Creek Farm, near Gaston, Oregon, and half a cup of cannellini beans from Willie Green's Organic Farm, just outside Monroe, Washington.

Any white bean works in this recipe. I originally wrote the recipe for navy beans because that's what you find in grocery stores, years ago that's all we could get, and that's what Campbell's bean soup is made with.

Navy beans are common and can be found in any grocery store, and you'll notice the cost of these conventionally grown varieties is much less (about $1.50 per pound, a dollar if you're lucky) than locally-grown organic (between $4 and $8 per pound, in Oregon a little less.) If you're on a food budget, these kinds of ingredients add up, and in that case, consider local beans as a treat, kind of like a vegetarian's version of grass-fed beef. Also consider this: when cooked these beans still cost less than a hunk of grass fed beef. Plus beans have a lot to offer--fiber, B vitamins and minerals with beans.

Shallots, celery and carrots make up the base of this soup. I got quite a few shallots a few weeks ago, and these store well over the winter in a cool room. Some farm vendors at the market still have celery, but it's fading from the local scene. Carrots are just getting sweet now because the colder it gets the sweeter the carrots become. I'm crazy about Nash's carrots, the big clunky variety , so recognizable about town.

If you have white beans from the market, use those, otherwise use navy beans from your pantry. And, it's not exactly locavore fare, but I'm crazy about South River Miso for the best flavor.

Old Fashioned Navy (or White) Bean Soup

(Serves 6)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive or canola oil

1 cup diced shallots

3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 cup navy or white beans, soaked overnight and rinsed

5 cups stock or water

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons barley miso

Sea salt

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. Heat a stock pot or the bottom half of a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add oil and shallots when hot. Reduce heat, stir and when shallots turn translucent, add garlic and continue to stir and cook for a few minutes.

2. Add celery, carrots, white beans, stock or water, oregano, basil, fennel, bay leaf and pepper. Cover and cook on low until beans are tender, about one to one and a half hours. Or if using a pressure cooker, lock lid, bring pressure up over high heat. Reduce heat, keeping pressure up, and cook for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to come down naturally, then carefully remove lid, tilting it away from you.

3. Remove 1 cup of soup. Puree with barley miso, return to pot and blend in. Add sea salt to taste. Garnish with parsley.

Heat your favorite crusty artisan bread or warm some corn tortillas and enjoy a bowl of old-fashioned comfort food.

Happy Meatless Monday.