Granola

This might be the best granola I have ever had, love the texture. Adopted from an Alton Brown recipe. I’m sure I won’t leave well enough alone (the original recipe called for cashews). It’s a bit on the sweet side, but perfect mixed into plain yogurt!

Granola

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Add the oats, nuts, and brown sugar and mix well.

Pour onto 2 sheet pans covered with parchment paper. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

Remove from oven, cool and put into airtight containers.

Just FYI, I figured the nutritional values (per 1/4 cup): calories - 180, added sugar - 7g, protein - 5g, fat - 10g, fiber - 2g.

Favorite Pizza Combo’s

We are a little off schedule this week, and had pizza on Sunday night. Just crazy. But we had one of my favorite combo’s tonight (salami and corn, one of those sweet-hot things), so that was a good reminder to follow-up on the pizza post:

Hot salami, fresh corn and onion. Cut fresh corn from the cob for this.

 Bacon and potato. Saute bacon pieces until the fat just renders out, and slice potato VERY thin (this takes about a half a potato). I like thyme as an herb for this, cheddar or jack works well for the cheese 

Mushroom, red pepper, onion, and sausage. This is my basic combo. Usually I use a link of left-over chicken sausage. Sometimes I throw some baby arugula or spinach on top right when out of the oven.

Roasted red pepper and 4 cheeses. Use whatever 4 cheeses that need to be used up! I usually fire up the grill to roast the pepper, you can also do using the broiler. 

Zucchini (or yellow summer squash) and sausage. Slice the zucchini very thin and put on top.

Grilled eggplant, goat cheese, and pine nuts. With basil as the herb.

Caramelized onion and goat cheese. Slowly cook 2-3 sliced onions plus a clove or two of garlic over low heat with some olive oil and salt. Add lots of thyme. Put this directly on the dough. Sprinkle with a couple of ounces of goat cheese and fresh ground pepper.

What are your favorites?