Let's Just Graze All Day.

...And I am a foodaholic.  It is official.  I am hooked on food.  Sometimes I dream about it at night...or during the day...or not just sometimes but all the time.  Because I work around food, I often am sparked with new ideas for recipes, sauces, desserts, etc. while I am working, and then I have to try them as soon as I get done with work.  Therefore people call me crazy because I even spend my free time cooking or baking.  Ok, I am getting a bit off track.  My point is that I really, truly love food and I am very thankful that I have some self-control or I would easily be well over 600 pounds.

Anyways, for the last week I have been confined to my apartment because of some nasty virus that picked my as it's victim.  I didn't eat much for the first few days, but as soon as my fever was gone, I became quite hungry, and since I had nothing else to do, I took to looking at recipes and pictures of mouth-watering dishes on Pinterest.  And as soon as I was able to do more than stumble to the kitchen for some toast and a banana, I started using what small amounts of food I had in my kitchen in an attempt to re-create the wonderful world that I saw on my laptop.  I made some tasty Oowy Gooey 1 Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake, 5 Minute Microwave Cornbread, (note the common theme: easy, fast, and oh, easy), pasta with tomato sauce, and some killer oatmeal.  Oh feel free to follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/littlebird32/.

To sum up, now that I am feeling up to more time and labor intensive cooking tasks, I decided to buy some fresh, organic spinach from a little health food store in my neighborhood.  I washed the crisp, dark green leaves and mixed a strawberry vinaigrette of strawberry jam, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and some spices.  I topped off my salad with some slivered almonds.  Let's just put it this way: it was fantastic.

Before I made my salad, though, I decided that I needed to make some granola.  I normally make granola bars, since they are easier to grab when I run out the door for work at a painfully early hour of the morning.  During my state of delirium in bed (maybe I'm exaggerating just the tiniest bit), I found I was suddenly craving a good, solid, crunchy, nut-filled granola.  And since it turned out pretty darn good, I'm just going to share the recipe with you.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  I wanted something with lots of big nuts to add a strong texture, so I left the almonds and hazelnuts pretty big.  The banana adds a good kick of sweetness and just a smallest hint of banana without being overwhelming.  I threw in sunflower seeds, coconut, and the chopped hazelnuts just because I wanted to used up the small amounts I had.  So you could easily leave them out or substitute other nuts and seeds in their place.  Feel free to be creative!  Oh and I never measure when I'm making granola, so the amounts are a bit estimated.

Crunch-Crunch-Yum Granola

1 ripe banana

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp bran

1 Tbsp ground flaxseed

1 Tbsp sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts

1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut

1-2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup almonds, halved

1/4 cup whole hazelnuts

1.  Preheat oven to 200 C (about 380 F).

2.  Mash banana until smooth in large bowl.  Add all other wet ingredients and mix well.

3.  Add all dry ingredients and mix well.

4.  Pour granola on large baking sheet covered with baking paper or Silpat and spread out evenly.

5.  Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and stir.

6.  Return to oven and bake for another 5 minutes, but watch it as it can burn easily.

7.  Enjoy with milk or yogurt and fruit.

Ok, that's all for now, my friends!  Adieu!