EBTKS Granola Bars

I'm just going to come out and say it.
I'm a culinary hoarder.

I thought I would feel better saying it out loud but now I just feel kind of ashamed about it.

But, my shame is your gain.

I accumulate different oddball ingredients that I only need for one recipe and then I'm stuck with a whole lot of things like golden syrup or ground cardamom or turmeric or any variety of nuts. And then every time I open the cupboard, it's a glaring reminder of my wasteful consumerism.

Wasteful consumerism be damned, I was bound and determined to use up my really lovely ingredients and I found these granola bars to do it with. They have everything but the kitchen sink. Have no fear, I didn't use turmeric or ground cardamom in these, although that sounds like a bit of an Iron Chef challenge. Maybe I'll save that for a later post.



This recipe is really quite easy and not too time consuming and honest to pete, they are super tasty.
"Better than store bought?", you ask.

Well, if you're looking for a Kudos kind of granola bar, you're better off just buying yourself a candy bar, but if you're looking for Kashi type, slightly chewy/slightly crunchy bar, then yes, I would say these are better.

But that's just my opinion, man.

You start by toasting the majority of the ingredients. I left out the pistachios because they were already roasted, the raisins and the oat bran.


While they are toasting away in the oven you can combine the binding ingredients in a medium sauce pan over low heat. This is the glue that will hold it all together. The tasty, tasty glue.



During the toasting process things will start to smell heavenly.



I, amazingly enough, have never toasted coconut before, but after this, I might have to make it a regular occurrence.

After everything has been toasted, you throw it all in a large bowl.



And pour the binding concoction over the whole mess and quickly, but ever so carefully, mix it all together because that mammajamma is super hot and super sticky.

Spread the whole hot, sticky, and soon to be extremely tasty mess into a parchment lined pan and bake it for 25 mins.



You just have to let them cool, take them out of the pans, and cut into bars.

Now, I know when you take the pans out of the oven and smell that glorious, nutty, sweet smell, you'll  immediately want to take them out of the pan and cut them up to then stand over the kitchen sink while stuffing them into your face.

Wait, you don't have the urge to do that? You have better self control than that?

That's weird.

Well, if you did have that urge, fight it with all you've got because until they're completely cooled, they're still highly malleable and you'll just end up with  crumbly piles of granola instead of nice little neat bars. Which really is okay, if that's what you're going for.  It's not like I know from experience or anything.



Wrap them up in plastic wrap or put them in a plastic container and they'll last a little longer than a week. That is, if you have that much self control. We obviously have some self control issues to address up in here.

Enjoy!

EBTKS Granola Bars

Adapted from Alton Brown's Recipe

Like I said, the ingredients below were chosen simply to use up what I had in my pantry.
You can swap any of the nuts, seeds or dried fruit to adapt the recipe to compliment your tastes.

Makes 10-12 bars

8 Ounces Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
2 Ounces Roasted Pistachios
3 Ounces Slivered Almonds
1 Ounce Flax Seeds
2 Ounces Raw Sunflower Seeds
1 1/2 Ounces Oat Bran
3 Ounces Golden Raisins
3 Ounces Sweeten Shredded Coconut
6 Ounces Honey
1 3/4 Ounces Brown Sugar
1 Ounce Unsalted Butter
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Fine Sea Salt


Prepare your baking dish by either lining it with parchment paper or buttering. You can use a 9 x 9 dish or, as you can see, I used 2 large loaf pans.
Set oven racks to the 2 center positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the oats, slivered almonds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds out on a shallow baking pan. Do the same with the coconut.

Place these two pans in the oven and toast for about 15 mins, rotating and stirring occasionally. The coconut will take less than 15 mins so just keep an eye on it and as soon as it starts to turn golden brown, remove from oven and let cool.
After oat mixture is done toasting, remove and let cool and reduce oven to 300 degrees.

While ingredients are toasting in oven, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and sea salt in a medium sauce pan over low heat.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until brown sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is just starting to bubble.

Immediately add the brown sugar mixture to oat mixture and stir to combine.
Carefully turn mixture out into prepared pan(s) and press down with spatula, making sure mixture is evenly distributed.
Bake for 25 mins, rotating half way through.
Remove from oven and as cautioned before, allow to cool completely, cut into desired shapes and wrap  individually in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container for up to a week.

Satisfying Mediterranean Salad

I'm writing this to make up for the earlier cookie post.

I'm sorry. That wasn't fair.

Everyone is working so hard and diligently on their new years resolutions of eating healthier and losing weight and overall improving themselves. And then I come along and drop that chocolately, melt in your mouth confection right in the middle of your computer screen. Totes not fair.

To make it up to you (and my waistline) I'm delivering this vibrant and healthy salad to you.

Wait, did I just hear a groan? It's only January 12th and you're sick of salads already? This is not good.

Well, you are lucky, my friend. This is not just a sad lettuce and veggie salad. This salad has pasta in it.

Ok, good, there you are. I knew the promise of pasta would bring you back.



And sauteed onions and peppers. Just the smell of that would make anyone happy.



Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Those darn veggies.



I've just started appreciating chickpeas. They add that element of meat but they're healthier than meat. Amazing.



And the dressing is zippy and robust and the best thing... no mayo



This will leave you satisfied and satiated without feeling like you need to take a nap. Plus, it saves enough calories so you can have one of these for dessert. Sneaky, right?

Satisfying Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

Serves: 6 very hungry or 8 kind of hungry people

Salad:
1 Cup Prepared Orzo Pasta
1 Cup Canned Chickpeas, drained and rinsed**
1 Medium Yellow Bell Pepper, Diced
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, Diced
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Medium Cucumber, Diced
1 Cup Grape Tomatoes, Cut in Half

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Juice and Zest of 1 Lemon
1 Clove Garlic, finely minced
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/2 Teaspoon Honey
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Dill
Salt & Pepper

Prepare Orzo as directed on package and allow to cool.

Heat the 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and saute the onions and bell peppers until onions are slightly translucent and bell peppers have softened. Approximately 15-20 mins.

Combine all dressing ingredients except salt and pepper in small, tight fitting lidded jar, and shake vigorously.

Combine all of the salad components in large bowl and drizzle the dressing over the top. Toss, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve over a bed of baby spinach with a side of crusty bread. Enjoy!

**For the chickpeas, the canned variety are incredibly easy but I far prefer the dried, soaked overnight and prepared version. They take a little more forethought but I find them far less gritty than the canned kind.

To prepare the dried kind, soak 1 cup of dried chickpeas overnight in 6-8 cups of water.

After soaking, drain and rinse and combine in medium stock pot with 6-8 cups of fresh water over medium heat. Bring to low boil and let cook, covered, for 1- 1 1/2 hours or until chickpeas are tender.

Remove from heat and let cool. Rinse cooked beans before using. This amount will leave you with more than enough for the salad recipe. That way you can find interesting ways to use the leftovers.

Who doesn't like chocolate?

There are actually quite a few people who don't like chocolate.

I don't think you should trust any of them.

You also shouldn't trust people who don't like camping or Steve Miller Band. These are just tried and true litmus tests for trust worthy people.

If you're one of those people who doesn't like chocolate, now is the time for you to click away because this is what one pound of chocolate looks like:



Yep, that's an entire pound.



That's maybe a whole pound minus a couple of ounces.

It's called quality control. Lay off me.

It's a major weakness of mine.

You know what else is a major weakness?

Cookbooks.



This cookbook was ordered as a christmas gift for someone and K had already ordered a present for said person so it just kind of accidentally got absorbed into my collection. Ooops.

It's a pretty sweet cookbook. It has a wonderful assortment of recipes and tips and illustrations. This was an awesome mistake.

I wish I could say that I also accidentally ate 2 scoops of the uncooked dough of these cookies, but that was no accident. I poured a glass of milk and totally intentionally ate those two full scoops of dough. It was awesome.
I don't condone eating raw cookie dough. It's not safe. It is, however, amazingly delicious. I'm a daredevil like that.


These cookies are just as awesome when they're baked too.



I would suggest you bake up some of them yourself.


Thick and Cakey Triple Chocolate Cookies

From Cooks Illustrated Cook Book

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Pound Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Chopped
4 Large Eggs
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
10 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 1/2 Cups of Packed Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Cups of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Add the chopped chocolate to a heavy bottomed medium sauce pan over low heat and stir occasionally until only small pieces are left in the melted chocolate. Remove from heat and stir until remaining chocolate pieces have melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together butter and sugars at medium speed.
Reduce speed to low, add eggs and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
Add melted chocolate in a steady stream and mix until combined, scraping sides while mixing.
With mixer still running, add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
With a spoon, mix in chocolate chips.
Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rest at room temperature for 30 mins until consistency is scoopable.

In 2 tablespoon portions roll dough into balls and space 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake for 10 mins, rotating cookie sheets half way through.

Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 10 mins and transfer to wire rack.

If you don't want to make all 4 dozen cookies at once, you can place the baking sheets with the rolled dough in the freezer for a few hours or at least until they're frozen solid and then place the uncooked balls in a freezer bag and put them back in the freezer.
That way you can pop them into the oven, still frozen and add an addition 2 minutes to baking time and you will have fresh baked cookie goodness whenever you want.