Sunday breakfast that will last all week

Ahhhh weekends. Today I made a huge batch of homemade granola that will last my little family of two at least 2 weeks. We usually have granola with plain yogurt with whatever fresh fruit we have, along with our morning coffee. Quite a lovely and convenient daily breakfast. (You can see a bit of my tiny kitchen from the granola picture. Just goes to show that you don't need a spacious updated kitchen to make scrumptious food!)

I also had some lentils in the pantry that I needed to find a use for. This lentil soup from Moosewood Cookbook did the trick. It's a fat free soup full of protein and doesn't require a ton of chopping and dicing.

Let me know what you think of the recipes. Also, lentils always confound me. If you have full-proof lentil recipes, please share!

Mom’s (as in Sam’s Mom) Hippie Granola
*All amounts are approximate. Use whatever you have.
1 canister of 42 oz. oats
1 bag of sweetened coconut
1 cup unshelled sesame seeds
1/3- 2/3 cup dry milk
½ cup ground flax seed oil (we leave this out just because we don’t have it around)
½ cup canola oil
1 ½ cup honey
1-2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp allspice
2 tbsp nutmeg
2 cups of peanuts

Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingredients in two large baking dishes. Cook 10 minutes.
Add peanuts. Cook 5-10 minutes longer.
Remove from oven. Press granola flat down in dish.
Allow to cool before breaking apart into chunks.
Enjoy! One batch will provide a quick and delicious breakfast for weeks!


LENTIL SOUP
3 cups dry lentils
7 cups water
2 tsp salt
6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups chopped onion
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
black pepper to taste
2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, chopped

Place the lentils and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and let cook 20- 30 minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and spices. Simmer another 20 minutes.

Heat a medium pan full of water to boiling. Drop in tomatoes for 10 seconds. Take out, peel, chop up, add to soup. Cook the soup at least 5 more minutes.

So maybe I'm going a little overboard today

A day off work means a day full of food. I can dice, cook, bake, and taste for as long as I gosh darn please! It's mid afternoon and I've already made 2 loaves of the best banana bread I've ever tasted for breakfast, homemade all organic minestrone soup with mozzarella grilled cheese for lunch, and organic cranberry sauce to snack on throughout the week! Best part: I have food for days now. There's a quart of soup left over, the second loaf of banana bread is being saved in the freezer for another week, and the cranberry sauce is jarred and in the fridge for whenever we feel like nibbling on it. Have I mentioned that I really life autumn? It's true. Autumn and cookbooks. Glorious. Here are the recipes! The bread is glorious, the cranberry sauce is yummy and easy, and the soup was delicious- it was the first homemade soup I've ever made and I didn't think it was intimidating at all. Just takes about an hour of loving attention.

BANANA BREAD
The spices and the orange zest do wonders. Plus, no gooey middles!
1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened but not melted
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla plus 1/4
tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. grated orange rind
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana pureed with 2/3 cups black coffee banana pureed with (honest, it's tasty!)

Instructions:Beat in large bowl, beginning with sugar or honey and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add remaining ingredients and beat until light in color. Add flour mixture and banana mixture alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.After each addition mix gently to combine, but do not over mix. Generously butter 2 loaf pans. Divide batter and bake at 350 F. for 40-50minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

MINESTRONE SOUP
Keeps you warm and well-fed.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup celery -- minced
1 cup carrot -- cubed
1 cup eggplant -- cubed (Or zucchini)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
1 can canneli beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dry pasta
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
2 cups tomato puree
3 1/2 cups water or stock

In a soup kettle, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until they are soft and translucent.Add 1 tsp. salt, carrot, celery and eggplant.(If you use zucchini, add it with the green pepper.) Mix well.
Add oregano, black pepper and basil.Cover and cook over low heat 5-8 minutes.
Add green pepper, stock, puree, and beans.Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Add tomatoes and remaining salt.Keep at lowest heat until 10 minutes before you plan to serve.
Then, heat the soup to a boil, add pasta, and boil gently until pasta is tender.
Serve immediately, topped with parsley and parmesan.

WHOLE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Incredibly simple sweet treat.
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You're done!

Recipe coming soon...

Shockingly Simple

When I think of rich decadent desserts like chocolate mousse, I assume there must be some complicated work required to make it. Usually, I'm totally wrong.

Last night I made chocolate mousse in about 15 minutes while watching clips of Tina Fey on SNL. Incredibly easy. I just left it in the fridge over night and it was amazing. Try it. I swear, it's a cinch.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

• 8 oz dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp rum
• 1 cup of cream, whipped

1.) Melt chocolate in a small pot over boiling water.

2.) With electric beaters, beat eggs and sugar for 5 minutes.

3.) Fold chocolate and rum into eggs and sugar.

4.) Fold in whipped cream.

Spoon into ramekins or glasses and let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Unrelated

We went to the Italian Festival a few weekends ago. I was looking forward to cute children, happy people, funny stuff, gnocchi, tiramisu, and espresso. Unfortunately, the festival was pretty lame. The thing that saved it: I convinced Sam to join the pasta eating contest! Very amusing.

Yummy in my tummy. That's right. I said it.

It's been a while. Does anyone still read this?

Anyway, I just made a glorious pizza. Basic pizza dough, with homemade pasta sauce on top, a slices of fresh mozzarella, followed by chopped spinach that had been sauteed with garlic, and topped with a whole container of feta. Yum.

Dessert: I'm whipping up a batch of gingerbread people. I made soft gingerbread cookies a while ago and LOVED them but the hubby prefers a harder ginger snap or ginger person, so I'm giving this recipe a go. The dough is sitting in the fridge until morning, so we'll see what happens then.

While cooking, you should listen to archived episodes of This American Life so you're never left waiting for the next week's episode to come out as a podcast. Wonderful public radio.

Enjoy your weekend, mystery readers!

Bicycles, Aubergines, and Lounging

Sam was making eggplant parmesan for dinner. YUM. A baked version. Baked is almost always better than fried.

Anyway, he didn't have the parmesan, so I hopped on my bike and rode to the grocery store to stock up on produce, spices, and the always essential orange juice. SO much better than sitting in traffic. The weather was great; very pleasant ride overall. I think it's funny that now that gas is always on the rise people act like it's not so crazy to ride your bike. The idea that a young adult would ride her bike for the sheer joy and convenience would still seem crazy to most... I think.

Anyway, eggplant parmesan, Moosewood Cookbook Page 132 style: Yummy.

Don't be fooled by the gross Olive Garden version. This was a million times better than what you'd get in most restaurants. Try it!

Someone typed out the recipe here if you don't already have this cook book.