The Mam's Granola

We always have homemade granola.  Daniel loves it and eats it with yogurt every morning for breakfast.  Daniel's mom has a great recipe that we've been using for the past couple of years.  I love it because it is not too sweet and it has lots of nutritious ingredients.    

6-7 c oatmeal (old fashioned, not quick cook)
1 c wheat germ (raw or toasted)
1 c powdered milk
1 c bran buds or oat bran
1 c slivered almonds

3/4 c honey
3/4 c oil

1 T cinnamon
1 T vanilla
1 T brown sugar
Optional:  nuts, seeds, raisins, dried cranberries, flax seed, molasses

1. Combine dry ingredients; mix. 
2. Combine wet ingredients and mix (using a whisk makes this process very easy).
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Spread on greased or sprayed cookie sheets or broiler pan.
5. Bake 20 min at 300 degrees - stir after 10 minutes.  Cool completely before storage.

I follow the recipe pretty closely.  The only thing I do differently is decrease the powdered milk to about 2 tablespoons.  This reduces the calories and the lactose.  I've made it without the powdered milk before and it has come out fine.  

 

Ham, Green Chili, and Cheddar Quiche

My friends Ashley and Roy are visiting us this weekend.  I wanted to make them a delicious breakfast on Saturday and decided to make a quiche.  Unfortunately, it took a little longer to bake than expected, so we ended up saving it for the following day.  Good news is that it keeps well in the fridge and microwaves beautifully.

I used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe, which I use for all pies or quiche that I make.  I had the dough frozen in the fridge, leftover from the Lemon Meringue Pie that I made a couple of weeks ago.  Ina's recipe makes enough for 2 crusts.  I usually freeze whatever I don't use in a ball wrapped completely in saran wrap.  I pre-baked the pie crust at 350 for 12 minutes.  There is information on pre-baking at http://www.ochef.com/955.htm.  

1.5 cup diced ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 4 oz can of diced Hatch Green Chilies
4 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1 cup almond milk (can also use regular milk or soy milk)
1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, paprika

1. Roll out pie crust and place in pie pan.  Gently press crust into the pan.  Trim off any edges that hang over.  Pre-bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
2. After crust has been pre-baked, layer half of the cheese, ham, green chilies, and then finish layering with the rest of the cheese.    
3. Whisk together eggs, cream, almond milk, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Stir green onions into egg mixture.
4. Slowly pour egg mixture over the ham mixture.
5. Bake at 350 for approximately 40-50 minutes.  Use a toothpick to test if it is baked through.  If the toothpick comes out clean, then it is ready.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Citrus from California is the best.  When I went home to California for my niece's birthday, my dad gave me two big bags of lemons and oranges from his trees.  I stuffed them into my carry-on and brought them back to Chicago.  What a treat!  I've made orange marmalade, orange bran muffins, orange spice pancakes, lemon cookies, chicken piccata, fresh squeezed OJ for smoothies, and a delicious lemon meringue pie.

It was 9:30 on a Friday night when I decided to make the pie.  I had never made a lemon meringue pie so it was a bit of an adventure.  I wasn't sure on whether or not the consistency of the curd or meringue were correct but luckily Daniel has a keen sense for all things pie and assured me that I was on the right track.  After the pie was assembled and baked, it went into the fridge.  The unfortunate thing about lemon meringue pie is that it needs to be cool when eaten.  So, we had it for breakfast dessert the next morning.  Absolutely, scrumptious!  I used a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com.  I've listed the original recipe below and it can also be found here: Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe.  Also, I used Ina Garten's pie crust recipe, which I use for all pies or quiche that I make.  The recipe called for a pre-baked pie crust.  I found information on pre-baking at http://www.ochef.com/955.htm. 

I will definitely use this recipe again!

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 lemons, juiced and zested
2 tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks, beaten
4 egg whites
6 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and
continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Crock-Pot Lentil Soup

I was determined not to go to the grocery store and to use whatever groceries we had in the fridge and pantry to get us through the week. I found red lentils, some sad looking carrots and celery, and a couple of sweet potatoes that had been sitting on the counter for 2 weeks. I threw everything into the crock pot with some salt, pepper, and spices. Turned out to be pretty tasty and there was enough for a couple of lunches and dinners for me and Daniel.

1 onion diced
2 large sweet potatoes cubed
2 medium sized carrots sliced
4 celery stalks sliced (including the tops)
1.5 cups red lentils
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 cups water
1 tsp better than bouillon stirred into 1 cup of hot water

Layer all ingredients in order of the above list. Sprinkle the spices evenly on the top. Pour in water. Cook in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.

I cooked it overnight. It smelled delicious but the scent kept waking me up! Maybe I'll cook it during the day next time. Also the color of the soup, a pretty orange, is lovely. The picture doesn't do it justice.