Recipies

D.I.Y. granola bars

I love granola bars. Granola has been a favorite snack of mine since I was a kid. When I found out that making these glorious snacks are not only healthier but EASY... I couldn't resist stocking my fridge on a regular basis. The great thing about granola bars is that you can put whatever you want in them and make them exactly how you want. Great right!?

Here is my simple recipe for homemade granola bars.

My ingredients are:

1 cups steel cut oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup chopped cashews

2 tbsp flax seed meal

peanut butter

honey

blueberries

I use a 9x9x2 inch baking pan but if you double the recipe you can use a bigger pan.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Flax seed meal is basically two tablespoons of crushed flax seeds combined with two tablespoons of water. You let it sit for about five minutes and it becomes gelatinous. It's a great binding agent that you can use in vegan baking to substitute eggs.

Put the flax meal, two tablespoons of honey and blueberries to the dry ingredients. Put in as much or as little blueberries as you want.

Then add two tablespoons of peanut butter.

To help bind the bars even more I add some milk with whole wheat flour. I don't really measure this, it's really just however much will make the mixture sticky.

Stir everything together.

Put the mixture in the sprayed baking pan.

To help pack the granola I put aluminum foil (you can also use parchment paper) on top and press down with another pan. If you don't have another pan with the same dimensions you can use anything flat to press down and compact the mixture.

Put the pan in a 350 degree oven and let it cook for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the mixture turn a golden brown. Once the granola bakes let it cool down and put it in the fridge for about an hour to bind the granola even more.

Cut out the bars. If you have a cookie cutter you can cut out whatever shape you want. 

Voila! You're very own granola bars!

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ACQUAPAZZA

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cups dry white wine

salt

1 handful of baby spinach

4 small fillets of snapper or salmon (4-6 oz. each)

30 cherry tomatoes

1 cup basil leaves

zest of 1 lemon or 1 lime

2 tbsp capers, rinsed

2 tbsp flat parsley leaves, torn

1 lemon sliced into wedges

• In a large saute pan over low heat, cook crushed garlic in oil until garlic is light brown. Add wine, 2 cups of water and 1 tsp salt; bring to a rolling boil.
• Simmer for 5 minutes, add baby spinach, let it wilt, then gently lower fish fillets into stock. Add cherry tomatoes, basil, lemon or lime zest, and capers and continue simmering for another 5 minutes. Carefully turn fish; simmer until flesh falls apart when poked with fork, about 6 more minutes, depending on size of fillets.
• Transfer fish to warm bowls. Bring the stock to a boil, then spoon it over the fish. serve topped with parsley and lemon wedges.

As you can see from the small amount of bullet points, this recipe is quick. Overall it took me no more than 30-35 minutes to make. I love poached fish so I was excited to make this and couldn't wait to eat it. My family really loved this one and I plan to keep this in my regular recipe file. We love to eat salmon but have stuck to the same way of cooking it over and over, this was a nice change of pace. I didn't add the lemon wedges but it didn't take away from the dish at all. The recipe had great flavor and wasn't too "fishy". I'm definitely making this again!

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RAGU BOLOGNESE

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled, finely chopped

6 oz. ground beef (85% lean)

6 oz. ground veal

3 oz. thinly sliced pancetta, finely chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine

3 cups beef or chicken stock, divided

3 tbsp tomato paste

salt

pepper

1 cup whole milk

1 lb. tagliatelle or fettuccine

Finely grated Parmesan for serving

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onions, celery and carrots until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add beef, veal and pancetta; saute breaking up, until browned, about 15 minutes. Add wine; boil 1 minute, scraping up browned bits. Add 2 1/2 cups stock and tomato paste; stir. Reduce heat and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.
• Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan; gradually add to sauce. Cover with lid slightly ajar and simmer, stirring occasionally, until milk is absorbed, about 45 minutes, adding more stock by 1/4-cupfuls to thin.
• Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until 1 minute before al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid. Transfer ragu to a skillet over medium-heat. Add pasta and toss. Stir in reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if sauce seems dry. Serve with Parmesan.

Okay first let me say that I didn't do quite a bit of the things that were in this recipe and it still came out great. I didn't use beef or veal but used ground pork and turkey instead. I also had no red wine in the house but I always have white cooking wine so that's what I used. Also in the recipe it says to simmer the milk in a separate pan. I simply took out the amount that I needed and let it get to room temperature and slowly added it to the sauce. Anything to reduce the amount of pots and pans is a must. For the third step there was something about transferring the sauce to another pot. Once again, I don't like to do extra dishes so I didn't transfer the sauce. I kept the pasta and the sauce separate and assembled them in the bowls. 

This was such a hit with the family that I HAD to put it in the favorite file box. I prepared the vegetables ahead of time and that cut down quite a bit of time. I think it took me about 30-35 minutes (minus the prep time) to make this recipe. It was DELICIOUS!


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CHICKEN MEATBALL AND VEGETABLE SOUP

The recipe:

6 oz ground chicken

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

6 tbsp finely grated Parmesan

4 cloves of garlic, 2 minced, 2 thinly sliced

2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 large egg

salt

pepper

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 leek, white and green parts only, sliced into 1/4"rounds

5 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup ditalini or other small pasta 

1 cup 1/2" rounds peeled carrots

1 cup baby spinach

chopped fresh basil

• Mix chicken, breadcrumbs, 3 tbsp Parmesan, 2 minced garlic cloves, chives, egg, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a medium bowl. Form into 1/2"-diameter meatballs.
• Heat oil in a small pot over medium heat, cook meatballs until golden all over, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate' set aside.
• Add leek to pot and cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and 2 cups of water; bring to a boil. Stir in pasta and carrots; simmer until pasta is almost al dente, about 8 minutes. Add meatballs; simmer until pasta is al dente, carrots are tender and meatballs are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and remaining 3 tbsp Parmesan; stir until spinach is wilted and Parmesan is melted. Season with salt and pepper.
• Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with chopped basil and Parmesan. 

I am a HUGE soup lover and I could not wait to make this recipe. I live in South Florida where it's constantly hot but I couldn't help imagine sipping on this soup during an cold autumn or winter day. I prepared everything together and this recipe took me about 45 minutes to make. Instead of ground chicken I used turkey and instead of chicken broth, I used vegetable broth. I wasn't able to find the type of pasta they were talking about, so I used a bow tie pasta which worked just as well. 

If you are a fan of the Italian wedding soup, then you will LOVE this recipe. It had tons of flavor and between three adult sized women, the entire pot was emptied that night. Great soup to make!


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LAMB CHOPS SCOTTADITO

*Note: This is a picture from the magazine. I forgot to take a picture of the lamb I made that night.

Here's the recipe:

3 racks of lamb, each rack about 1 1/2 lb. (cut into chops)
2/3 cup of lard (I didn't use lard I used butter Earth Balance vegan butter to be exact)
Sea salt 
Pepper
1 lemon, halved

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees and put a heatproof platter inside.
• Gently pound each chop between 2 sheets of parchment paper until 1/4" thick.
• Melt lard with oil in a small saucepan over low heat until translucent but not hot (or just melt some butter). Remove from heat and dip each chop in lard (or butter) to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let sit.
• Heat a 12" heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Season chops with salt and pepper then brown in batches of 4 turning over once, about 4 minutes total per batch for medium-rare. Transfer chops to as cooked to heated platter.
• Squeeze lemon halves over hot chops and serve immediately.

I made this with brown rice and asparagus and it was delicious! I've never made lamb before so I was scared to say the least but this recipe was so simple that there was no way that I could screw it up. All in all this recipe took no more than 10-20  minutes including the prep time. Try it out and let me know what you think!