Typical Wednesday

What am I up to today? Oh, you know.

Just lying on the floor, taking extreme close-up photos of my dog's nose.

And you?

Coconut-almond granola

A jar of granola, some out-of-season tomatoes, a really filthy window, and thou.

I feel like all of my recipes should come with a disclaimer: This is just how I made it. Feel free to make it however you want. I'm definitely the type of cook who regards a recipe as a sort of loose guideline/framework rather than a blueprint that must be followed exactly. This is mostly because I'm lazy; if I have all the ingredients except one for a particular recipe, I refuse to go all the way out to the store (a whole .6 miles from my house)(see? LAZY) for that one thing. I would rather scrounge through my fridge/pantry to see what I already have and then make a substitution. Usually this works out okay, like substituting green onion tops for chives in an egg dish. Occasionally it doesn't, like the time my dad tried to make creamed cucumbers with powdered non-dairy coffee creamer. But, you know. That's how you learn.

I don't like to think of myself as a food snob -- I mean really, I will eat ANYTHING -- but I do have strong opinions when it comes to food, along with some weird prejudices. On the subject of granola, I don't like it too clumpy or too sweet, I prefer crispy to crunchy, and I refuse to put flavoring extracts in my granola. I don't know why; that's just how it is with me. This particular recipe makes a dry, not very sweet, delicately flavored granola, which is just how I like it. Please see the notes at the bottom of the recipe for ingredient explanations and possible substitutions if dry, not terribly sweet granola isn't your bag.

Coconut-Almond Granola

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup roughly chopped almonds
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar granules
generous pinch of salt
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to coat. Spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15 minutes; stir, rotate sheet 180 degrees, and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until well-toasted. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

NOTES:

• I use Bob's Red Mill unsweetened shredded coconut, which can be ordered online if your store doesn't carry it and is fabulous added to any sort of baked goods, oatmeal, smoothies, etc. So don't worry that you won't use a whole bag -- if you like coconut, you'll use this stuff up fast.
• Coconut chips are those big shaved bits of coconut, also called flaked coconut. They will get very brown/toasty in the oven. If that weirds you out, don't add them until halfway through the cooking time.
• I do NOT recommend substituting sweetened shredded coconut for either of the above -- it will burn and get weird. Also, I don't like it. But you do whatever.
• Coconut palm sugar -- it's what I had. Don't feel like you have to go out looking for this stuff -- just substitute brown sugar. Or, if you like your granola a little bit sweeter/clumpier, use a liquid sweetener like honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup or agave nectar -- whatever you have, basically -- and increase the amount to 1/3 cup.
• Coconut oil is fabulous stuff and will really boost the coconut flavor of this granola, but if you don't have it, you could certainly substitute melted butter or a neutral-flavored vegetable oil.
• Feel free to stir in some chocolate chips or chunks after the granola has cooled completely. Because that would be amazing.

Around here

Squirrel!

We are having a very busy February at our house. I'm sort of glad it's almost over. Is it just me, or has this been a weird winter? It's been very mild here most of the season. Mild and wet. And yesterday and today it's like 90 degrees. In February! WTF?

I've developed a few obsessions this month. The first is coconut. I cannot get enough coconut right now, both scent-wise and flavor-wise. I have a coconut-almond granola recipe I'll be sharing with you very soon, I swear. I think I have it perfected now, and I can't stop eating it. And it smells so good that it practically qualifies as edible potpourri.

The second obsession is tea. There is something about having the crud that makes me want tea instead of coffee. Hot tea. Spicy tea. I finally made this recipe for spiced chai tea concentrate that I pinned forever ago, and it is so good. I did make a few changes, though: I used rooibos tea to make it naturally caffeine-free, and I cut the brown sugar back to 1/3 of a cup because I am not a fan of sweetness (unless it's this Sweetness). I mix this 1:1 with So Delicious Coconut Milk (Original flavor)(which does not taste at all like coconut, although obviously I WOULD BE OKAY WITH THAT) and heat it in the microwave and it's a caffeine-free, dairy-free (leave out the honey and it's vegan!) cure for everything! Except things that can be cured with caffeine and dairy (and honey, if you went that route).

Third, I cannot stop eating this salad: mixed baby "spring" greens, cubed grilled chicken, walnuts, dried cranberries and a tiny sprinkling of bleu cheese. With this dressing: dijon mustard, honey, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. I CRAVE this salad. I, like, go to bed at night all excited at the thought of eating this salad for lunch the next day. If I weren't making it myself from scratch, I'd swear there was crack in it. So weird.

I'm not obsessed with my garden, but I am a tiny bit excited about getting it going again. I used to grow vegetables and stuff but that awful dog in the photo above put the kibosh on that, because he eats everything. EVERY. THING. So now I pretty much only grow herbs on my awesome dog-proof herb table and flowers in the front beds where the dog can't get them. Last weekend I pruned my roses and cut back a bunch of dead stuff, and today I bought some lavender and cilantro to replace what died in the inferno last summer. I came thisclose to buying basil and some patio tomatoes, but it could still freeze here so I restrained myself. Barely.

My daffodils are up! Well, three of them are, anyway. That may be all I get this year.

In other news, thanks perhaps in part to all that chai tea, my annual February Crud has reached the point where I no longer FEEL sick, but I still SOUND like I have tuberculosis. So, that's fun for me and all the other people in line with me at the grocery store.

Alrighty! That's all for now. Gotta get back to driving somebody somewhere for something. Oy.

The ramen diaries

Hello, I haven't been posting because we have been sick, and that's boring. We get sick every February the way some families go to the beach every summer. It's tradition. If I don't feel that little tickle in my throat by February 2nd or so, I kind of feel like I should go around licking doorknobs or something just so I can get it over with.

This year it started at the very end of January with C, who went to school one morning with a bit of a sore throat and came home in the afternoon sounding like Froggy from The Little Rascals. He missed two days of school and gave it to H, who also missed two days of school. Now, nearly two weeks later, P and I are in the thick of it and it JUST. WON'T. GO. AWAY. Just like every February. Argh.

The only good thing about being sick (if you're not tummy-sick, which we are not, thank goodness) is the food. I am all about the spicy, brothy goodness of ramen when I have some rotten head/nose/throat crud that won't go away. Ramen is so cheap the store practically pays you to take it off their hands, and you've gotta love anything that cooks in three minutes, right?

I throw away the little "flavor" packet that comes with packaged ramen, because that's crap, and boil the noodles in broth instead. Then I just toss in any random combination of the following:

• leftover cubed/shredded meat
• fresh garlic
• fresh ginger
• lime juice
• sliced jalapeno
• cilantro
• baby spinach
• shredded carrots
• miso
• soy sauce
• mirin
• chili oil
• sriracha
• sesame seeds
• green onion

So, so good. The spicier and more aromatic, the better. This is exactly what my body craves when I'm sick. I love that it's such a blank canvas -- you can add virtually anything to it and it comes out awesome. The possibilities are endless, really.

Just like this freaking head/nose/throat crud. Oy.