Power Granola

Ah, the satisfying crunch of granola. Not much like it. Especially when you know it's healthy- packed with wonderful ingredients like oats, flax seed, honey, nuts and more! One of the best things about homemade granola is it's pretty cheap- unlike its ready-made counterparts. And very versatile. You can swap the peanuts and almonds out for virtually any kind of nuts you want, add in coconut or some other dried fruit, skip the honey for a bit of maple syrup or agave nectar, replace the orange juice with something more to your liking or even swap the cinnamon for a different spice! See what I mean? This recipe is meant only to be a springboard for your taste buds and wild imagination!

I must say, I think the combination I chose is remarkably delicious, but feel free to make alterations! I can't stop grabbing little handfuls as I go by the pantry, and it is a perfect compliment to my morning Greek yogurt.

Power Granola

(printable recipe)

adapted from Myrecipes.com

yields about 4 3/4 cups

2 cups regular oats

1/3 cup flax seed meal

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1/4 cups chopped slivered almonds

2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 300.

In a large bowl, mix first 5 ingredients.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine orange juice, honey, and brown sugar. Heat and stir just until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in oil and vanilla.

Grease large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Pour juice mixture over oat mixture and stir to coat evenly. Spread in a thin layer on greased baking pan and bake for 10 min. Stir well. Bake another 10-15 min or until golden brown (granola will become more crunchy as it cools).

Spoon granola into bowl. Stir in raisins. Cool completely. Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Chicken Satay {with Peanut Dipping Sauce}

Every once in a great while, I tiptoe into the rather frightening region of Asian cooking. Something about the new and different flavors and ingredients makes my normally fairly bold cooking personae grow shy. However, when I saw this delicious looking recipe for a Thai-inspired chicken satay (which I recently learned is the name for meat grilled on a skewer and served with dipping sauce), I couldn't resist the pull of a challenge. And of course, as you know, I am a sucker for anything with peanut butter in it.

This recipe proved to be like most Asian recipes I try- full of things I don't have on hand! In particular, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sesame oil. Coconut milk was out- I'm allergic (I think) to coconut. I decided to just substitute with regular milk. Now fish sauce, that's just plain scary. The words "fish" and "sauce" should not be together. I expected some slimy, gray oily paste when I arrived in the Asian section of my supermarket. However, once I finally located said fish sauce, it was a rather innocent looking brown liquid- no more off-putting than, say, soy sauce. So it's made out of anchovies- who's to know? Other than me. Oh, well. Moving on. The last special ingredient I needed was sesame oil, but, even though I did locate it, when I spied the price tag I ended up deciding to use regular oil. I knew I wouldn't use it often enough to warrant the cost. Maybe those of you who use sesame oil on a regular basis can tell me if it's worth the extra dough!

All the fun ingredients in hand (okay, so I guess we just narrowed it down to the fish sauce), I prepared the marinade and let the chicken soak for a few hours. Then I threaded them on skewers and hubby grilled them. While he was manning the grill, I prepared the dipping sauce. The dip was a promising concoction of peanut butter, soy sauce, fresh ginger and other yummy additions. Due to my bland-food-loving-anglo-saxon roots, I decided to halve the amount of cayenne pepper. I couldn't resist snagging a sample- it was delicious! Sweet and smooth, with just the right amount of zing on the tail end.

Paired with rice and grilled asparagus, this made a fantastic meal. We thoroughly enjoyed dipping the curry and cilantro flavored chicken in the flavor-packed peanut sauce. If you feel the need to take an exotic journey to the east, look no farther than your backyard grill and a fabulous chicken satay!

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

(printable version)

adapted from AllYou Magazine

serves 6-8 (I halved it for us!)

Marinade:

1/2 cup coconut milk (or regular milk)

1 TB fish sauce

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp sugar

1 TB chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

Peanut Sauce:

3 TB soy sauce

2 TB rice vinegar

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more to taste)

2 TB sugar

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 TB sesame oil (or regular oil)

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Whisk marinade ingredients together. Put chicken in a large ziplock bag; pour in marinade. Seal bag; rub marinade into chicken. Chill for 3 hrs, turning occasionally.

If using bamboo skewers, don't forget to soak them in water for 30 min. prior to using!

Make sauce: combine all sauce ingredients in a pan and bring to boil over med. heat, whisking until smooth, about 2-3 min. Thin with more broth if desired. Remove from heat, let cool.

Preheat grill to medium. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Thread each piece of chicken onto a skewer. Grill for 5 to 7 min., turning once, or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink. Serve with sauce.

Taco Pizza

As many of you know, Hubby and I have a little routine of pizza & a movie every Friday night. We go to the gym, work out like crazy people (I do Zumba!), then come home, have pizza and snuggle up to a great film. It is a fantastic tradition, and unless I get some crazy aversion to pizza later in life, I hope we never stop.

One thing I am challenged with, though, is how to keep the pizza regimen fresh. You know, not pepperoni every week. Last week I was inspired by a recipe I spied in my AllYou magazine, and made a few tweaks to suit me. I have had taco pizza before- at a delicious pizzeria in Cannon Beach- and I have made something close to it before, but this looked fantastic. And it was! Using refried beans and salsa for the "sauce" was pure genius and the fresh veggies and cilantro on top gave it that slam-bang finish.

If you don't have a favorite homemade crust, check out the link to my easy whole wheat thin crust- it's my staple! It only takes about 15 min. to make and has a great wheat flavor (and since it's a thin crust, it's quite a bit lower on calories than most!).

Taco Pizza
(printable version)

makes 1 pizza (mine is a 15")

adapted from AllYou magazine

(no measurements- fix it to your liking!)

1 recipe pizza crust

refried beans

salsa

shredded cheese

corn (frozen or canned)

olives, sliced

1 lb. hamburger meat

1 recipe taco seasoning

iceberg lettuce, chopped

tomatoes, chopped

fresh cilantro, chopped

Make crust. Preheat oven to 500 (or whatever your crust recommends). Spread refried beans over crust. Top with salsa, spreading evenly. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Brown hamburger, add taco seasoning and a little water. Simmer about 15 min. (You will only need about a 1/4 lb of the meat, so  you can freeze the rest for tacos!). Top cheese with meat, olives, and corn.

Bake 12-14 min or until crust is browned.
After baking, sprinkle pizza with lettuce, tomatoes and cilantro. Slice and serve!

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

On a gorgeous spring day, when the hummingbirds are buzzing at the feeder, the swallows are nesting, flowers are opening and dappled sunshine is lighting your kitchen, what sounds more refreshing than a delicate shortbread cookie infused with the sparkling brightness of lemon?

These buttery rounds lightly straddle the fence between crisp and soft and with the zing of lemon zest, they would perfectly compliment a nice tall glass of iced tea.

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

(printable version)

adapted from The Daily Meal

makes 4 dozen

2/3 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling

2 TB grated lemon zest

2 cups flour

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

6 TB heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Using a mortar and pestle or a clean spice grinder (or, like me, the thick handle end of the pizza wheel!), grind together the sugar and zest.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, combine flour, butter, salt and baking soda and beat on low speed until it resembles cornmeal. Add the lemon sugar, cream and vanilla and beat until just clumped together (do not overmix!).

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log about 8 in. long. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 min. or several hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Unwrap log and slice into 1/4 in. thick rounds. Place on cookie sheet about 2 in. apart. Sprinkle with sugar. In between batches, keep remaining dough refrigerated.

Bake 10 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool several minutes on sheet, then cool completely on wire rack.

Spiced-Rubbed Pork Chops

The past week or so, our weather here has been absolutely fantastic. I mean, between 70 and 80 degrees almost every day! That is not super common for this part of the country in May! So we have been enjoying it! Hubby's been out working in his garden (we have a couple of raised beds), I went all crazy and planted some clematis to climb up the beams on our front porch (a dream of mine for awhile now), and we've been grilling. I am so excited about the advent of the grilling season! It is such a nice "shake up" to my usual recipe routine- it opens wide doors of new possibilities! I am amazed that we lived our first 2 married summers without a grill (well, we sort of had one the first summer, but it doesn't really count because it wasn't really ours and the side of it was broken off, plus we only lived there for two months- and we didn't grill much...did you really need that explanation? Oh, wellll...). I am also reminded how delicious food tastes fresh off the grill. Any food. Fruit, bread, meat (of course), pizza (so I've heard), vegetables, you name it.

See? Massive chops.

So for a fun change, I took this simple and scrumptious pork recipe that is intended for the frying pan (and is fantastic that way as well) and grilled it instead! It worked great. The pork chops I bought were huge, so they took a bit of extra time (almost 20 min. on the grill), but they were delicious. Juicy, with a yummy coating of spices and sweetness.
You'll be wanting that recipe now?

We served our pork with grilled garlic bread and artichokes. Yum!

Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

(printable version)

adapted from MyRecipes.com

serves 2

2 boneless pork loin chops

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp olive oil (if pan frying)

Conventional Method: Combine all rub ingredients. Heat skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle 1 side of each pork chop with spices, using half the mixture. Allow to sit a few minutes; turn and sprinkle other sides with the other half of spice mixture. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat. Add pork to pan and cook 2 min. or until browned (longer if your chops are thicker than 3/4 in.). Turn over and cook another 4 min. or until done.

Grilling Method: Spray grill rack with non-stick grill spray. Heat grill to medium heat. Follow preparation method as above. Grill pork 15-18 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches at least 160 degrees, turning halfway through.

Meals for a Month {May-June}

Welcome to my menu! Hope this leaves you feeling inspired. It does me- I am so excited about the grilling season! So many fun new recipes to try! And now that we have entered the good weather season, I've retired Soup Wednesdays in favor of Salad Saturdays! Happy cooking!

Week 1 (May 15-19)

Tuesday

Entree: Grilled Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

Side: Artichokes with Herb-Butter Dipping Sauce

Wednesday

Entree: Ground Beef Meat Sauce Spaghetti

Side: Green Salad and French Bread

Thursday

Entree: Tilapia Fish Tacos

Side: Avocado Salsa and fresh Mango

Friday

Entree: Taco Pizza

Side: Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Saturday

Entree: BBQ Chicken Salad

Side: Grilled Italian Bread

Week 2 (May 22-26)

Tuesday

Entree: Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Butter Dipping Sauce

Side: Grilled Asparagus

Wednesday

Entree: Turkey Hot Dogs

Side: Chips and Baked Beans

Thursday

Entree: Sloppy Joes

Side: Fresh Fruit

Friday

Entree: Pepperoni Pizza

Side: Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Saturday

Entree: BLT Salad

Side: Garlic Bread

Week 3 (May 29-June 2)

Tuesday

Entree: Grilled Salmon

Side: Grilled Asparagus

Wednesday

Entree: Turkey Burgers

Side: Chips and Fresh Fruit

Thursday

Entree: Crock Pot Butter Chicken

Side: Pasta and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Friday

Entree: Pepperoni and Olive Pizza

Side: Fresh and Veggies

Saturday

Entree: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Side: Grilled Italian Bread

Week 4 (June 5-9)

Tuesday

Entree: BBQ Pork Chops

Side: Rice and Asparagus

Wednesday

Entree: Turkey Burgers

Side: Green Salad

Thursday

Entree: Spicy Garlic-Lime Chicken

Side: Roasted Mexican Potatoes

Friday

Entree: Pepperoni Pizza

Side: Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Saturday

Entree: Mom C.'s Doritos Taco Salad

Side: Bread

{Soft} Ginger Cookies

These are not gingersnaps.

For the record, gingersnaps, packed full of molasses and ginger though they may be, "snap". These do not. These delicious cookies are spongy and plump.

In fact, the only "snappy" thing about them is their spicy, rich flavor. Now that's snappy.

These remind me of a delectable slice of soft, spongy gingerbread in cookie form.

They would be awesome with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Or hot coffee.

Or cold milk.

Or just about anything else.

Soft Ginger Cookies

(printable version)

from Cooks.com

makes about 3 dozen

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter flavor shortening

3/4 cup molasses

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup hot coffee

Preheat oven to 400.

Whisk together flour, salt, ginger and cinnamon in large bowl.

In separate bowl, cream sugar and shortening. Add molasses and egg and mix thoroughly. Incorporate wet ingredients into flour mixture.

Stir baking soda into hot coffee until dissolved. Stir into mixture until combined.

If dough is too sticky, chill 30 min. or until slightly firm.

Drop by spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 min. or until edges are firm and middles are still slightly wet.  Allow to cool slightly before removing to wire racks to cool completely.