Tag Archives: honey

Homemade Granola

The inspiration behind making my own homemade granola: spotting a $1.99 bag of coconut flakes in Trader Joe’s this weekend. First of all, do you know how delicious coconut flakes are all on their own? The second these were spotted, my friend Stevie told me how they would be perfect in granola. What a brilliant friend I have!
So I bought a bag and was told that Sunny Anderson’s granola was a fantastic recipe to go off of. But, if I’m going to make some homemade granola, I’m going to make it with the ingredients I love most. Inspired by Sunny’s recipe, I took the base of her granola and molded into my own personal Happy Trails granola combo.

homemade granola recipe

Here’s how I made it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. On the stove, heat up 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/2 cup maple syrup (the good stuff, folks. no Aunt Jemima crap) + 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Whisk these 3 ingredients together just until they start to bubble. Remove from stove and let cool
  3. In a mixing bowl, stir together 3 cups rolled oats + 1/4 dark brown sugar + a pinch or two of salt +1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  4. Once cooled, pour the vegetable oil/maple syrup/cinnamon combo over top of the mixing bowl ingredients. Be sure to mix these well.
  5. In a small bowl whisk together 2 egg whites and pour over top of the other ingredients. Mix all ingredients well.
  6. Spread the granola out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  7. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and flip the oats. Repeat this 4 times. This will take a total of 40 minutes.
  8. Remove granola from the oven and let the ingredients cool.
  9. Once cooled, add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries + 1/4 cup coconut flakes to the mixture.

If you want more flavor — here are a few other fabulous ingredient ideas: dried banana chips, dried mango (for a summer-time granola), slivered almonds instead of walnuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and honey. And if you have a massive sweet tooth — throw in some chocolate chunks!

This granola on top of just regular plain yogurt is to-die-for! But of course it tastes fabulous on raspberry yogurt too!

Honey in the Hive

I always keep a jar of honey (that includes honeycomb) in my kitchen. As as much as possible, I use honey when baking (and even cooking) because honey is such a natural way to sweeten up a meal. Even Michelle Obama would agree with me on this one. Did you know that the Obamas are the first first family to have bee hives at the White House? Whether or not I have outdoor space I know that’s something I could never pull off having. A fresh convenient little herb garden — yes. A collection of bee hives — no.

Whether it’s used in the kitchen, or used as inspiration around a home — I think the honeycomb pattern is gorgeous and is a fantastic way to incorporate the beauty of food into your decor. Take a look at a few ideas:

What a fantastic way to put the honeycomb pattern in a bedroom! The shape’s edges are curved and soft so they aren’t a stiff hexagon! (Not to mention, the color is fantastic!)

Look closely here and you’ll see what looks to be a renovated park fence type of wall decor. What an incredible way to hang items on a wall too!

I couldn’t help it — I had to include a piece of jewelry! So simple and elegant, the shapes from a honeycomb make the perfect necklace!

(Note: these photos were taken from Pinterest. Take a look on my site for further references! And be sure to follow me, I’ll follow back! I’m always interested to see what everyone is pinning about!)

Unusual Ingredients of My Life…

Since I recently started my Tumblr… I have been able to see some of the most glorious photographs that people are taking around the world. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite photographs this week from other Tumblr accounts — they are either food related, NYC related, or overall just pictures that put a smile on my face.

Notice: I was able to spot that someone else out there in the world makes Skillet Cookies! And I couldn’t help but notice they are making it at home! (See the slide show for the picture, you can’t miss it!)

Tumblr has also given me some great ideas for creating some new plates at home. Your culinary curiosities will come alive when you join in on Tumblr. I strongly encourage everyone to explore!

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Living Without Cheese? Impossible!

Vermont Creamery's Bijou goat cheese, bread, and organic honey and pieces of honey comb. Heaven.

I quite possibly could be a vegetarian if I wanted to (possibly, but I don’t want to be a vegetarian)… But one thing I KNOW I am not capable of is eliminating cheese from my diet, so being a vegan — HA! That’s a joke!
I’ve mentioned it before, the little cheese shop called Lucy’s Whey located in the Chelsea Market. I’m going to jump right to the point on this one — I’m in love with their Vermont cheese called Bijou (pronounced: bee-jew). One important thing to know about the cheese selection at this store is every item is from an American farm — great way to incorporate more local goods in your shopping (common everyone, lets support our local businesses)! This goat cheese is perfect to spread and it doesn’t crumble like the stereotypical goat cheese you may be thinking of. It’s rich, creamy texture isn’t very goaty either (at least, I don’t think it is); I shared it with a friend who “hates goat cheese from the bottom of her heart” and she fell madly in love with it. Here’s my secret, I spread a bit of the cheese on a piece of a French baguette, then I drizzle a little bit of honey on top or put a piece of honeycomb with it. I actually just read on the Vermont Creamery website that you should consider wrapping it in phyllo dough and bake it for a few minutes. Sound like perfection? I’ll get back to you on that because I plan to make it tonight!
By the way everyone, in case you don’t watch the news, the Obama family has their very own bee hive at the White House (their chefs must be giggling like children having all of these fresh veggies, and now honey, produced right outside of their kitchen). I never know how to incorporate honey into my diet, but here’s a little secret about honey: if you buy local honey you are exposed to small amounts of the local allergens, which will help you fight off your sneezing and spring-time allergies. Pretty cool, huh!