How To: Granola

Source: sweetsugarbean.com via Stacy on Pinterest

A while back, I bought some gourmet granola for a friend. It looked wonderful: chia seeds, dried cherries, and sunflower seeds. Yogurt and granola make a fabulous breakfast, both delicious and healthy, but that store-bought granola set me back $8. Yeah... That's not an item I could afford to purchase on a regular basis. So I set about learning the basics of granola-making at home.

I started with a basic recipe from Sugar Sweet Bean, coming up with a bare bones template that could be altered for endless variation. I have enjoyed many variations on this granola theme in the past several months, and all have been lovely. (Except that one where I added the dried fruit before baking and they turned into burnt pieces of ash.)

And I have to say, it so, so easy. I will probably never buy granola again now that I know how simple it is to make at home. I basically just toss together whatever combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and spices I have in the pantry (bought cheaply in the bulk section of the grocery store). Bake it for 30 minutes and I have a new stash of wonderful homemade granola. Here's to a future of wholesome, exciting breakfasts!

Basic Granola Formula

3 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, etc.)
1/2 c. mixed seeds (sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppyseeds, flaxseeds, etc.)

3/4 c. coconut (optional)

2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-2 pinches of coarse salt
5 T. liquid sweetener (pure maple syrup, honey, agave syrup, etc)
4 T. neutral oil (canola, olive oil, vegetable oil, etc.)

1 1/2 c. dried fruit of your choice (cranberries, blueberries, cherries, apricots, dates, etc.)

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl (do not add the dried fruit yet!). Stir in the sweetener and oil of your choice. If you want it sweeter, add more sweetener; feel it needs more oil, then add more. Line a bake sheet with aluminum foil, and spread the granola evenly. In a preheated 350 degree oven, bake for 15 minutes, then stir around, and bake another 12-15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for a bit before adding the dried cranberries. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Between Dreams and Reality

I just came back from a stress-free weekend visiting family in Southern California. It was sunny and 75 degrees outside. I wore a skirt and sandals to the beach. There were strawberries in the farmer's market - both local and seasonal. Is it any wonder my entire being was screaming "No!" at the idea of coming back to the reality of work and several months before spring?

These whole wheat chocolate chip cookies helped ease me back into real life, without slapping me in the face too harshly. They are comforting enough to harken to that dreamy land of suspended reality, yet they have enough nutrients to fit into the real world where calories count and fiber is a necessary part of life.

They taste great, a little nutty from the whole grains, a little bitter, a little salty, and just enough sweetness to keep you reaching for one more. Chocolate Chip Cookies that are 100% whole grain? It's a perfect balance of escapism and what your body really needs. (Need pictures? Check out these.)

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Based on a recipe from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain

3 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips (I used Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate chunks - perfect!)

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.
Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, stirring in with a wooden spoon. Refrigerate the dough until cold, about 30 minutes.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. (I made smaller cookies; about 1 inch balls of dough.)

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes (check after 12 minutes). Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield: about 20 big cookies or 36 smaller cookies

Health Food at the Dollar Store?

A while back, I went to the Dollar Store in search of "real" food. I generally think of the food sold there as horrible both in quality and nutrition - you know, Banquet pot pies and generic soda pop. Then my co-worker told me he sometimes finds actual healthy food there, randomly. Their selection isn't consistent, but will sometimes offer unexpected pleasant surprises. He advised me to go with an open mind and see what I could find.

I took his advice and the next time I went to the Dollar Store, I wandered the food aisles. I was pleased to find a bag of whole fax seeds, an fantastic source of Omega 3 fatty acids. But what to do with them? I added some to a fruit smoothie once, but today I may have found the best use ever: multi-seed bread.

This bread had an excellent flavor and texture. I loved the subtle little crunchy bits of seeds tucked inside the slightly sweet, freshly baked bread. I have a feeling that my whole flax seeds are going to find their way into many more loaves of bread. And the best part is, they only set me back a dollar.

Seed Bread

2 cups of warm water

¼ c. honey

2 ¼ tsp (1 package) active dry yeast

¼ c. olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 ½ c. whole wheat flour

2 ½ c. bread flour

½ c. sunflower seeds

½ c. flax seeds

Dissolve honey in warm water in a large bowl, then sprinkle 2 1/4 tsp of yeast over the top and let proof for 10 minutes. Then add oil and salt. Next, stir in all flours and seeds with a wooden spoon until flour is dissolved. Turn onto a clean surface and knead until the dough is smooth. Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour. Divide dough into 2 loaves and place in 2 oiled bread pans, then let rise again for 45 min. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Apple Cinnamon Whole Grain Waffles

Remember back in the 90's when mom's freezer was always stocked with frozen Eggo waffles? Maybe that was just me, but anyway- I liked the apple cinnamon kind the best. I've been experimenting with a couple of different whole grain waffle recipes and adding in fresh grated apple and spices. The whole grain flours make these much more substantial and filling than the lightweight Eggo waffles that never filled me up for long. Also, I found that when I froze a big batch of these guys and heated them later in the toaster oven, they made a great healthy stand in for the Eggo's of my childhood. In this fashion, I was finally able to Leggo my Eggo.

Whole Grain Apple Cinnamon Waffles

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 c. whole wheat

½ c. buckwheat flour

½ c. oat flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix all of the dry ingredients together. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together:

3 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoons vanilla

¼ c. olive oil

Next, stir this wet mixture plus 1 grated apple into the large bowl with the dry mixture. Stir until just combined and let sit for 5 minutes while your heat your waffle iron. Pour desired amount of batter into waffle iron and cook until brown and crisp on the outside. Serve with real maple syrup. Makes about 16 waffles.

If freezing waffles for weekday breakfasts, place hot waffles on a rack to cool. When cool, stack in a ziplock bag and freeze. To use, place frozen waffles in toaster oven or toaster until heated through and crispy on the outside.

Lemon-Ginger Scones with Oat Flour

One year when I was in college, a roommate and native Utahn announced that some of her friends were coming over that night for a scone-making party. Apparently this was a long-standing tradition for them, and I was elated at this information. Why, this party sounded like something straight out of "Pride and Prejudice"! How British! How proper! I was all ready to bring the tradition of afternoon tea back to America with this little band of apparent Anglophiles.
When the friends showed up, they appeared to be congregating around a pot of boiling oil, much to my confusion. Later, when my roommate came and offered me a piece of fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, I was confused and disappointed. It was then that I learned that in some places like Utah and Idaho, the term "scone" is applied to what is called fry bread, fried dough, or elephant ears in other places, and looks like this:

It was a tasty snack, don't get me wrong, but don't expect me to ever apply the term "scone" to anything other than true British teatime scones. I'm a staunch traditionalist in this respect.

One of my favorite scone flavor combinations is lemon with crystallized ginger. Ever since I began cooking from Kim Boyce's "Good to the Grain" cookbook and realized how delicious whole grain flours can be, I find it hard to justify using all white flour in any recipe. So I tweaked a recipe for scones to include oat flour.

As you can see below, the scones are delicate; crunchy on the outside and soft inside, dotted with chunks of warm crystallized ginger and sprinkled with coarse sugar. Enjoy with with a cup of lemon ginger herbal tea and you'll be feeling British by breakfast.



Lemon and Ginger Scones

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oat flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
7 T. unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped into small pieces
Zest of 1 large lemon
2/3 cup buttermilk (I substituted almond milk plus 1 tsp. lemon juice)
Coarse sugar to sprinkling on top

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped crystallized ginger and lemon zest. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar.
4. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Don’t you love it when you discover you really do like a food you thought you hated - and realize that you just never had a “good version” of that dish before? Pancakes were like that for me. I never much cared for the pancake breakfast events we attended while I was a child. The Bisquick pancakes served were dry, tough and bland- until you doused them with artificially flavored syrup that was too sweet and gave me a headache.

I fell in love with these pancakes, however. I wanted to find more uses for the package of oat flour I bought for another recipe, and on the back of the Bob’s Red Mill label I found a recipe for oatmeal pancakes. They came out light, fluffy, with some chewy texture from the quick oats and a mild, pleasant flavor. Drizzled with a little real maple syrup and topped with sliced strawberries, I was in weekday breakfast heaven.

Next time I would double the recipe, because as it is, it yielded 10 medium-sized pancakes. I'd like to freeze a bunch and re-heat them in my toaster oven for a quick breakfast throughout the week.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Recipe from Bob's Red Mill

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Oat Flour
3/4 cup Quick Rolled Oats
1 cup Nonfat Milk (I used almond milk)
2 T. Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 Egg Yolks, beaten
1 T. Vegetable Oil
2 Egg Whites

Directions:

In a small saucepan heat milk till hot; stir in oats; let stand for 5 minutes.

In a mixing bowl combine oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add oat-milk mixture.

In a small bowl combine egg yolks and cooking oil; add all at once to flour-oat mixture, stirring just till combined.

In another bowl beat egg white till stiff peaks form; fold into the batter. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook till golden brown, turning to cook other side when pancake has a bubbly surface and slightly dry edges.

Use a 1/4 cup measure as a handy scoop for transferring pancake batter from the bowl to the griddle. If you want smaller pancakes, switch to a 1 tablespoon measure. That will put just the right amount of batter on the griddle for dollar-size pancakes. Makes 12 pancakes.

A Healthier Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

There seem to be two camps when it comes to rhubarb: the anti-rhubarbites and the rhubarb fanatics. As for me, I worship the pie plant as an unparalleled rite of spring.

Around the same time each year, the little strawberry stand down the street from my parents' house opens for business, proffering their ruby gems that outshine anything found in the grocery stores. I can’t imagine any better welcome to spring than the tart firmness of rhubarb mingled with sweet soft berries in a warm crisp.

The strawberry-rhubarb recipe I have often relied upon, tempting though it was, seemed a little heavy this year. It called for two layers of white flour-based crisp, and the filling called for a mind-boggling amount of white sugar. I have been trying to reduce my sugar and refined carb intake where possible, and was sure that I could come up with a more healthy version that I would still enjoy.

A homey dish like a fruit crisp lends itself well to whole grain flours, and I felt that whole wheat and oat flours worked marvelously for the topping. For the filling, I replaced the white sugar with a little honey, some lemon zest to brighten the flavors, and some vanilla for fragrance. I added a little cornstarch for thickening, but not enough to make the texture gloppy. The resulting crisp was delightful. Instead of masking the natural flavors of the fruit with an excess sweetness, the flavors shone through. If you're a rhubarb lover, I hope you enjoy the season as much as I am right now!

A Healthier Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Topping:

½ cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup oat flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. kosher salt
5 T. unsalted butter

Filling:

4 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 pint strawberries, trimmed and quartered
2 T. honey
1 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and kosher salt. Cut in the 5 tablespoons chilled, diced butter using a pastry blender (or, if you don’t have one, rub the butter in with your fingers). Place the mixture in the refrigerator.

3. Grease a 9×9-inch pan. Set aside.

4. In another medium bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, honey, cornstarch, zest, and vanilla. Spoon the mixture into the buttered dish or dishes. Blanket the strawberry-rhubarb mixture with the chilled topping. Bake for 40 minutes or until bubbling underneath and brown on top.

Mostly Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

My husband made the pizza above last Friday and it was delicious. He made the sauce from scratch and topped it with fresh mozzarella, sauteed red bell peppers, and mild Italian sausage. (I kinda dreamed this combo up, but he made my dream pizza a reality!) We made the mostly whole-wheat pizza dough that morning and let it rise all day while we were at work. Here's the recipe below, thanks to Mark Bittman.

No-Work Mostly Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
From Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. bread or all-purpose flour (plus more as needed)
1/2 tsp. instant yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil

Combine first four ingredients plus 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 c. water. The dough should be relatively sticky and wet, like biscuit batter. If not, add a little more water.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover, and put it in a warm spot. Let the dough sit for at least 6 or up to 12 hours.

When you're ready, heat the oven. Generously oil a baking sheet or a large ovenproof skillet. Dust your hands with a little white flour and fold the dough over in the bowl a few times. It will be sticky, but don't use too much flour. Dust your hands again only when absolutely necessary and use a light, gentle touch. Gently press the dough into the skillet or onto the baking sheet.

Brush the top of the pizza with a little olive oil, cover, and let sit while you get the toppings together, but no more than 60 minutes or so.

What To Do With Wheat?

Last weekend, I attended a class on how to prepare wheat. Those who are interested in storing food for use in case of an emergency or disaster often rely heavily on wheat because of its nutritional value and durability. When properly stored, whole wheat (or wheat berries as they're called nowadays) can last for upwards of 30 years. But then storing it is one thing, but preparing it in a variety of interesting ways is another. So off I went, to learn the ABCs of cooking wheat.

Most obviously, wheat can be ground into flour for baking purposes. Many find freshly ground flour superior to store-bought because (as with all foods) the fresher it is, the more nutritional value it will have. On display were are a ton of different mills, grinders, flakers, etc., in all variety of price ranges and sophistication. I'll show you one of the coolest ones I saw below.

Also shown to the class were a variety of whole grains, along with several forms of wheat, including wheat berries, cracked wheat, and bulgur. Cracked wheat and bulgur can be used in cooking with ground meats to make a small amount of meat go further, because it blends right in with the meat, bulking it up without altering the taste. Wheat can also be popped like popcorn!

The demo included a bread-making session using freshly ground 100% whole-wheat flour, plus extra wheat gluten (which helps the dough rise) and dough enhancer (which extends the shelf life of the bread).

We watched a demo on how to sprout wheat. If you follow up by planting some sprouts in soil in a sunny window, you will soon have a sustainable source of wheatgrass for blender smoothies. This wheatgrass is just 10 days old and look how hardy it is already!

Here is the amazing device I mentioned before, which seamlessly combines physical fitness and food preparation. As you pedal the stationary bike, it powers the motor of the white flour mill on the floor. Just pop your wheat berries in the opening, hop on the bike for some morning exercise, and when you get off, retrieve your bowl of freshly milled whole wheat flour. I thought this was a hilarious idea!

Finally, we all left with a packet full of recipes ideas using wheat (of course!). Today, I made my first batch of wheat berries for breakfast in the slow cooker (1 cup of wheat berries+2 1/2 cups of water + pinch of salt= 2 servings of wheat berry cereal after about 8 hours. I topped mine with dried currents, honey and almond milk. The wheat berries were chewy and filling, a great breakfast dish. I will be continuing my experimentation with wheat, the staff of life!

Turn Leftover Jam Into A Quick Breakfast

I would estimate that my current supply of jam should last me the next several years. Our refrigerator always contains several varieties of jams and preserves at any given time, and I am always open to new ways to use up this surplus.

Like many working couples, we are always rushing out the door in the morning. So when I came across a recipe for healthy jam-filled muffins that can be frozen ahead of time and thawed for a fast morning meal, I had to try it! (Actually, I used to make a similar muffin with all-purpose flour, before my days of whole grain worship!) I totally forgot to add nuts to the top of them, but they were still tasty, and would be ideal for a light breakfast/snack. I used blueberry lavender jam - delicious!

Jam-Filled Muffins

2 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. buttermilk (or 1 c. milk + 1 tsp. lemon juice)
1/4 c. orange juice
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
jam of your choice

walnuts

Preheat oven to 400F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.

Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Add buttermilk, orange juice, oil and vanilla; whisk to blend. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until moistened.

Scoop half the batter into the prepared pan. Drop a generous teaspoonful of jam into the center of each muffin. Spoon on the remaining batter, filling each muffin cup completely. Top each muffin with walnuts.

Bake muffins until tops are golden brown and spring back when touched lightly, 15-20 minutes. Loosen edges and turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Good to the Grain

My latest favorite thing to do in San Francisco is to get Burmese food (because really, where else are you gonna find it?) and meander around Green Apple Books, which is located in the vicinity of several good Burmese places.

During my last such trip, while looking through the impressively massive selection of used food-oriented books, I spotted a nice copy of Kim Boyce's highly acclaimed Good to the Grain.

A former pastry chef at LA's Spago (a restaurant by Wolfgang Puck), Boyce describes the history and use of each grain, then offers various recipes to complement their subtleties. Wheat is only the beginning here - she details all kinds of flours including less common, less known varieties such as kamut, amaranth, spelt, and teff. She offers insights such as this: "With a scent that is strangely reminiscent of ripe apricots, barley flour is almost tart." Who knew?!

I'm just getting started, but already her recipe for Oat Molasses Sandwich bread helped me produce a gorgeous golden, raised, finely textured bread. Slices of it were dynamite today with sliced turkey, cream cheese and some homemade chutney.

Whole Wheat Bread - The Minimalist Way

My husband knows me too well. He was dead on in his birthday gift for me last week, picking out a cookbook that I hadn't even mentioned to him but is, nonetheless, the kind of thing I am totally into: Mark Bittman's "The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living". Most of the recipes involve vegetables, whole grains, and occasionally a small garnish of meat. Better for the environment, for the world, for our bodies - doesn't that sum up most of our New Year's Resolutions?

Known as the Minimalist in his food column for the New York Times, Bittman has a way of simplifying cooking. Take, for example, his recipe for REAL whole wheat bread (no cheating using part bread flour; this is what he calls an "honest loaf"!). His method requires no kneading, merely a process of "stir-wait-pour-bake". The resulting bread is dense and flavorful, and I love that it's so low-maintenance you could mix it in the morning on a work day and bake it when you get home. We ate ours with Stew and Minestrone Soup. Thank goodness there's still such a thing as an honest loaf in this world!

Real Whole Wheat Bread

3 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. instant yeast
2 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil or vegetable oil

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 c. water and stir until blended; the dough should be quite wet, almost like a batter (add more water if it seems dry). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for at least 12 (or up to 24) hours. the dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Rising time will be shorter at warmer temperatures, a bit longer if your kitchen is chilly.

2. Use some of the oil to grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Scoop the dough into the loaf pan and use a rubber spatula to gently settle it in evenly. Brush or drizzle the top with the remaining oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, an hour or 2 depending on the warmth of your kitchen. (It won't reach the top of the pan, or will just barely.) When it's almost ready, heat the oven to 350F.

3. Bake the bread until deeply brown and hollow-sounding when tapped, about 45 minutes. Immediately turn the loaf out of the pan onto a wire rack and let cool before slicing.

Porridge: Not Just for Goldilocks Anymore

I hope that, like Goldilocks, you will find a warm bowl of porridge just right for a cool morning. One bowl of whole grains, mixed with nuts, fruit and/or seeds, will keep you full for hours. It's also a good way to use up those leftover bits of whole grains that may be all lonesome in your pantry.

You may be wondering why you should mix all these grains together; why not just have oatmeal? Oatmeal is high in fiber, but using a mixture of grains gives a unique texture to your morning meal, and additional nutrition. For example, in my mixture, quinoa contributes protein and flax seed adds Omega-3s.

You may customize your special blend with whatever grains appeal to you (amaranth, millet, tricale, etc). When I made it, I mixed roughly equal parts of the following:

-Barley
-Bulgar (cracked wheat)
-Steel-cut oats
-Quinoa
-Brown rice
-Flax seed meal

Next, I divided the mixture into 1-cup portions.

To prepare:

Place 1 cup of whole grain mixture in slow cooker. Add 4 1/2 cups of cold water and a pinch of sea salt. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Breakfast is served. Enjoy with brown sugar, milk, and dried fruit/nuts/seeds/whatever you like. Serves 4.

Tabbouleh - Or, a Heat-Free Dinner in July

I recently signed up for weekly e-mails from The Splendid Table (brought to America by Public Radio). So once a week, I now receive an interesting, usually ethnic-inspired recipe developed by one Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Tonight, I made a fabulous Tabbouleh (cracked wheat salad). It was flavorful, meatless, a riot of colors, and required no use of either oven or stove. Now that the weather has soared to 100 degrees nearly daily in Sacramento, the latter virtue alone was enticing enough for me to have a go at it, and I loved the results. Leftovers made a great lunch the next day - you've got your grain, veggie, fruit, and protein all in one dish.

Tabbouleh

1-1/2 cups bulgur wheat

1 medium-large tomato, diced

1 medium cucumber or 2 pickling cucumbers, peeled and diced

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A few pinches each of cinnamon, allspice, and cayenne

1 large clove garlic, minced

One 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained (or 1 cup cooked)

1/3 cup lightly toasted pine nuts

1/3 cup currants, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained

1/3 cup chopped fresh spearmint

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

Put the bulgur in a large bowl and add 1-1/2 cups boiling water. Stir, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour. If necessary, drain excess water from the bulgur.

In a small bowl, combine the oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic and whisk together.

Add the tomato, cucumber, onion, garbanzos, pine nuts, and currants to the bulgur. Sprinkle with the mint and parsley. Drizzle the dressing over the tabbouleh and toss well. Let the salad stand for about 30 minutes before serving and taste again for seasoning; you may need a little more oil, lemon juice, salt, or pepper.

The salad can be prepared in advance and kept at cool room temperature, or if refrigerated, allowed to come to room temperature before serving.

Pukkolla: Quick, Delicious Make-Ahead Breakfast

I think everyone who knows me knows what a huge Jamie Oliver fan I am. This week, I’ve been watching "Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution" on ABC (perhaps one of the most important shows on TV at the moment, in my opinion). Then, my husband procured the entire BBC production of "Jamie’s American Road Trip", and so far we’ve followed him as he explored the Mexican community of east LA and cowboy culture in Cody, Wyoming. Yum!

All of this Oliver mania left me hungry for even more Jamie, so I pulled out my old cookbook "The Naked Chef Takes Off" and found a recipe that I’ve been meaning to try. It’s basically a sort of muesli, and it has a beautiful silky, not-too-thick texture. I have made muesli before, but always with yogurt; I prefer it Jamie’s way. This dish is extremely healthy, and convenient, since you can make it all ahead of time. Both my husband and I absolutely loved it.

The name "Pukkolla" is a play on the British slang "pukka", which means something like "wicked" or "awesome". He’s very informal in his measurements - it’s all part of his natural, laid-back approach. Love it!

Pukkolla
(Jamie Oliver’s Muesli)

several handfuls of rolled oats (not instant or quick)
a handful of dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, dates, etc.)
a handful of crumbled walnuts
a few tablespoons of bran meal
a few tablespoons of flaxseed meal (This was my addition for the nutritional benefits of flaxseed!)

This mixture may be kept in an airtight container for several months if you want to make a large batch and take out a smaller amount each day to prepare. Here is how you prepare it:

The night before:Cover the mixture with milk (or soy/rice/almond milk). Grate in 1 apple, stir, cover and place in refrigerator overnight.

The next morning:Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and stir. Slice up a banana and stir it into the mixture. Can add a little honey for extra sweetness if desired. Serves 2.