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Homemade Granola Recipe
for not overly sweet or fattening granola.
(I do everything organic below, btw.. buy purchasing in bulk, even maple syrup, it comes out to about $15/ recipe w/ goodies at third section, which is about 5 boxes of Trader Joe's granola in price/weight, but is way too sweet, and doesn't have any of the goodies that really make it great.):

drymix
4 c. thick cut oats (whole foods has the best price)
1 c. flax seeds (ditto the this, and the pumpkin seeds)
1.5 c. pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1.5 T ground nutmeg

8 oz slivered almonds (trader joe's package or whole foods bulk)
or 8 to 16oz of some nuts chopped like walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews

wetmix:
1/2 c. maple syrup (whole foods just had a sale on organic maple syrup)
1/2 c. oil (i like to use sciabica's orange EV olive oil, but canola will also do)
2 T vanilla
1/2 c. water

Additional goodies:
-- 2 cups raw cacao (berkeley bowl has the best price on organic ones in their bulk food section.. $16/lb but that is about 6 cups)

chopped dried fruits - do about 2 - 3 cups as well for one recipe:
-- white or green or purple figs (whole foods bulk seems to have best price on these at around $7/lb for organic.. )
-- french prunes (ditto these from whole foods)
-- sour dried cherries (Berkeley Bowl has great price on these organic cherries at $10/lb, but Whole Foods bulk has them as well)
-- dried blueberries, strawberries (again, WF bulk)
-- golden raisins (whole foods has these for abt $2/lb)
-- apricots, nectarines, peaches (farmer's mrkts or make your own.. haven't really found much beyond apricots at any stores)

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Put wet ingredients into a small pan, heat on stove to low simmer, remove, and pour over the granola. Stir thoroughly. Then, put mix into a deep cookie sheet or a large metal baking pan, sprayed with a little canola oil (you can get a hand pump sprayer at William Sonoma and put in organic canola from trader joes and cut out the waste of buying spray oils which are not organic and far more expensive, plus environmentally unsound). Granola mix should be no more than 1.5 to 2 inches thick in pan in order that the mix bake properly. A pan around 16x20 should do it.

Bake on 225 deg. F for 45 min but stir at the 30 min mark. At 45 minutes, add 2 cups cacao, plus about 2-3 cups of dried fruits. Fold in thoroughly. Bake for 15 min, fold all ingredients again, and then bake another 15 min.

Everything should be nicely toasted but there should be no liquid and it should be mostly dry.

Let cool, store in sealed containers, and serve, with things like strawberries, blueberries, peaches or nectarines.

One of my favorite versions is to do 2 cups of dried sour cherries with 2 cups cacao. Or 2 cups of dried white fig and 1 cup of french prunes with 16 oz of cashews (in dry section) and then 2 cups cacao. Note that a lot of times the fruit seems too much or odd (the french prunes in particular), but once its chopped and in the mix, it gels, and gets very nice. Whatever you choose.. it's all delicious.. and much lower in fat or sugar than granola's from the store, healthier and more flavorful. Also, seeds and nuts are great for you and often not in store bought items or at that concentration.

Haven't made a fun dinner like this in a while! Hurray for days off! Fettuccine is delicious! Kabocha is delicious! Hurray for Fall! Oh dear!
Here's the recipe.
As usual, ogled a bunch of different recipes to develop a general idea of proportions, then threw together this little number. Decided to try making this without cream, because cream is expensive and the rest of the carton always goes bad before getting used. In the end, this was totally rich and creamy and fine with just plain milk (and a bit of butter).

For one hungry person.

100g Fettuccine
75-100g Peeled, steamed and mashed Kabocha* (leave some chunks)
(*Pumpkin is fine if you have no kabocha where you are!)
1-2 tsp Butter
1/2 Chicken Breast, cut into bite-sized cubes
Handful of Shimeji mushrooms
100ml Milk (not non-fat)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Small ladle of pasta water

Melt butter in pan and add chicken and mushrooms, as well as a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of garlic powder. Saute until cooked and chicken is slightly browned.
Lower heat to medium-low-ish. Add mashed kabocha and mix around a bit, then add milk and mix until the kabocha and milk have thoroughly blended.
While cooking the sauce, begin cooking the fettucine in properly salted water until al dente.
While waiting on the fettuccine, simmer the sauce until slightly thickened, mixing often, and seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Add al dente fettuccine and a small ladle of the pasta water and mix thoroughly and quickly so as not to overcook the pasta until pasta is coated nicely with sauce and chicken and mushrooms are distributed.
Plate and season with more fresh ground pepper and powdered or grated parmesan cheese to your liking.


The soup pictured is a simple onion and thyme soup that was a great compliment to the pasta!
I just seasoned as I went, but the recipe for two would look something like this...
1 onion, sliced to your liking
1 tsp butter
Couple pinches of salt
2.5 or so cups of water
2 packets of chicken consome powder
Splash of red wine
Splash of Worcestershire Sauce
A few grinds of black pepper
A generous sprinkling or so of dried thyme
Sprinkling of garlic powder
1 Bay Leaf

Saute the onions in the butter with a pinch of salt until slightly carmelized and golden. Add the rest, adjusting to your taste as you go, and simmer with the lid until tasty.