Sometimes, you just need some granola for breakfast. It’s easy, it’s delicious, and it keeps breakfast interesting. And, if you happen to keep random nuts, oats, or seeds around (like we do) then you might have what you need on hand to make a quick granola.

Luckily, granola is also very easy to make – just put whatever you have together, add a sweetener, a little olive oil, and stick in the oven for about 15 minutes, and you’ve got breakfast for a week (or more!) that is full of energy (and will keep your mornings flavorful, as well.)

This is what I used:

Oven temperature: 375 degrees

Ingredients:

1 cup oats
1/2 cup sunflowers seeds
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds, hulled)
1/4 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil

Directions:

1. Put oats, sunflower seeds, pepitas, walnut pieces, agave nectar, and olive oil on a cooking sheet. Mix well, and put in oven for 15-20 minutes, until just starting to brown.
2. Remove from the oven, then let cool for about 10 minutes. Add in cranberries and raisins, and then store in a jar and eat at room temperature whenever you feel like it!

What would you like to see in a granola – something sweeter? A couple more nuts? A different seed?

Scotcheroos are a long time obsession of mine. They’re everything you didn’t know you wished a traditional Rice Krispies treat could be. I’ve made them for friends, I’ve made them for hundreds of people in my industrial bakery days, but I’ve never tried to make them healthy.

Don’t worry, I haven’t done that this time either, but I did attempt to make them lighter on the corn syrup and just a little simpler and, lets face it, gluten-free-friendlier. Rice Krispies are one of the plethora places gluten is surreptitiously hidden – this time as barley malt – just to keep us gluten-freers on our toes.

Instead, I used EnviroKidz Chocolate Koala Crisp Cereal. The result: delicious. And the exact taste I know and love in just a bit crumblier a form – almost like bark or puppy chow.

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter (I love organic and chunky)
½ cup agave
6 cups of Chocolate Koala Crisp Cereal
1 cup chocolate chips (I use high quality chocolate just for kicks)
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Have a sheet pan greased and standing by.
2. In a large pot, melt the peanut butter and agave over low heat.
3. When combined and warm, turn off heat and fold in the cereal.
4. When well coated, turn mixture out onto sheet pan.
5. Spread evenly across the pan and press firmly until nicely packed. I like to use my hands and a spatula but a fork dipped in cold water works nicely as well.
6. Place in refrigerator.
7. Now to make the topping – using a double boiling method (simply a pot of boiling water with your bowl of chocolate on top), melt down the chocolate and butterscotch chips together. I let it sit until I can see it melting and then start stirring. I also always forget, but am telling you now to remember to put the butterscotch on the bottom – it melts much slower than the chocolate.
8. When nice and smooth, pour and spread over your chilled peanut butter and cereal mixture.
9. Let set. I put back in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.
10. Eat! Preferably with friends and until you get sick (which is basically what we did).

Make sure if these are for a party to put them to the side and not cut into them, because if you do, then you might end up eating the entire pan and have none for the party…which will make you happy…but not your guests.

Either way, it’ll probably make everyone happy if you serve them with ice cream.

Cauliflower, believe it or not, is somewhat in vogue right now. Not only is it a cruciferous vegetable, which means it packs a wealth of health benefits, but it’s also incredibly versatile. It can be grilled, roasted, sauteed, or pureed and cooked into just about anything. Of course, we prefer to keep our veggies looking like themselves and we’ve always been fond of roasting.

There was a decadent roasted vegetable dish on the menu at the French restaurant where I worked in college. It consisted of roasted winter vegetables, served over basmati rice, and topped with cream. Real cream. It was so simple and so rich. That served as our inspiration for this cauliflower dish, but it was necessary to come up with a slightly healthier version.

We combined cauliflower with red onion, carrots, and parsnips and roasted them until slightly browned and crispy, then whipped up a kefir-based “cream sauce” with saffron, citrus, and shallots.  My mouth is still watering over the results.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower, chopped
2 parsnips, sliced
4-5 carrots, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Arrange chopped vegetables in a single layer in roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until onions and cauliflower begin to get brown and crispy.
4. Serve over rice with lemon kefir sauce.

For the sauce:

1-1/2 cups kefir
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup minced shallots
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lemon, zested and 1/2 of its juice
1 pinch saffron threads
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, saute shallots in butter over medium heat.
2. When shallots are soft and translucent, add white wine and lemon juice to pan.
3. Slowly add kefir to mixture followed by lemon zest, saffron, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve warm over roasted vegetables.

We can’t wait to try this kefir sauce with other dishes and to experiment with more fun ways to eat cauliflower this winter! Do you think you’ll give this one a try?

Happy New Year Folks! So, 2014 has begun and I hope it’s starting off wonderfully for all of you. With the start of a new year, we all inevitably attempt to change some of our habits, particularly around the portions of our life relating to health and wellness. The holidays are over and the treats and sweets are being swapped out for lots of veggies and fruits.

Alcohol, while enjoyable when had responsibly, can add to your calorie count in a big way.  We tend not to think about it so much, but a normal cocktail will run anywhere between 250 and 450 calories, depending on the sugar content. So, in the spirit of the New Year I have worked up a few lower calorie cocktail recipes that hover around the 180 to 200 calorie range. When you are trying to lose those holiday pounds, every calorie can count but there is no reason that the cocktail enthusiast inside of you can’t have something tasty.

Pineapple Gin Fizz

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Servings: 1

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups diced fresh pineapple
1.5 ounces gin (1 Shot)
2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup ginger ale

Directions: 

1. Drop 1 cup of diced fresh pineapple into your blender and puree the fruit. Save the remaining 1/4 cup for garnish at the end of the recipe.
2. After the puree is complete, strain the juice into an ice filled glass.
3. Add the gin, the lime juice, and the ginger ale to the glass and give it a quick mix.
4. Then add a few pieces of the remaining pineapple to the glass as garnish.

Russian Mango Iced Tea

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Servings: 1

1 black tea, mango flavored, tea bag
1 cup of water
1.5 ounces of vodka (1 shot)
1 ounce of sweet vermouth
1 orange wedge for garnish

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil and pour water over the tea bag in a mug.
2. Allow the tea to seep for 5 minutes, then remove the tea bag and put the warm mug of tea in the fridge to cool for about 10 minutes.
3. Once you remove the tea from the fridge pour the contents into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
4. Add the vodka and vermouth and shake the mixer vigorously for a couple seconds.
5. Pour the contents of the shaker into a ice filled glass and add the orange wedge for garnish.

Sea Breeze

Prep Time: 2 Minutes
Servings: 1

Ingredients:

4 ounces grapefruit juice
1.5 ounces cranberry juice
1.5 ounces vodka (1 shot)
1 mint leaf for garnish
1 lemon wedge for garnish

Directions:

1. Grab a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
2. Add the grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, and vodka to the shaker.
3. Shake the contents for a few moments and then pour the mixture into a chilled glass.
4. Add the mint leaf to the drink and add the lemon wedge to the side of the glass.

Remember to please drink responsibly and good luck with whatever your New Year Resolutions might be.

Good Spirits Folks!

We love soup, you guys. We don’t always get to eat it because it is hot here a lot (I know, I know, #californiaproblems) but when there is a cold snap here in Southern California, all we want is soup! And, to make matters more serendipitous, we had a few friends who were sick, so we able to dole out this magic elixir and everyone immediately felt better (ok, maybe not immediately, but you get the point.) Here’s the recipe – it is super easy, I promise.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb chicken thighs
4 large carrots
5-6 stalks of celery
1 yellow onion
1/4 cup white wine
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp dried basil
fresh parsley
1/2 lb uncooked pasta (short)
s/p

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pan sear chicken thighs, three minutes each side (we use our cast iron which can also go in the oven!) Add white wine, then roast chicken in oven for approximately 20 minutes (while you chop all your veggies – cut your celery and carrots into rounds, and the onion into half-moons)
3. Saute onion. When onions turn translucent add the carrots. Cook for five minutes.
4. Remove chicken from oven, and cut chicken into chunks (may only be partially cooked – that’s ok.)
5. Add to stock pot with celery and cooking juices.
6. Add broth, noodles, and seasoning and bring to a boil. Let simmer for one hour, and serve hot with fresh parsley!

What do you guys crave when you’re sick? Do you want soup, or do you just want ice cream and perhaps a smoothie?