Granola bars make me angry. It is constantly hammered into our brains that eating oats is ideal as part of a healthy diet, making kids, and the grownups who force them, eat bowl after bowl of yummy gruel-like porridge as our breakfast. I happen to not be one of those who feels forced, I actually really enjoy my oatmeal breakfast, but it can be said that a fair amount of people consider a bowl of oatmeal to start the day as a good meal; for a horse. Yet, they endure, forcing the slop between their reluctantly parted lips, saying to themselves, healthy healthy healthy!

When the invention of granola and granola bars came along, shoppers flocked to their nearest store, in hopes of obtaining the oat health factor in a package that tasted like dessert. Now that there was a way to eat oats without having to bribe your child, or force it down in gulpfuls, chased by sugared coffee or orange juice, everyone forgot about the virtue of a bowl of oatmeal to start your day. But we all forgot to read the labels now, didn’t we? An average granola bar contains sugar, high fructose corn syrup and more high fructose corn syrup. Yes, it still has the oats which we all need in our diet, but they are completely overshadowed by the artificial ingredients that make up the majority of the product. So an average person is possibly under the impression that they are making a smart food choice by consuming granola bars, when in fact they may not know the hidden ingredients that aren’t such a good choice. Hence, my anger.

Homemade granola bars were my way of venting my frustration with commercial products. I made them out of spite and discovered that they were so delicious and easy to make, there was no way I could be angry with the granola bar any longer. As long as I made them my way. The Barefoot Contessa gave me the basic idea; from there I expanded to make it my own. These bars are full of yummy dried fruit, heart healthy oats, almonds and flax and local honey in place of corn syrup. They still have sugar in them, don’t get me wrong, but I tried to keep in minimal, and they really don’t need much. Store bought granola bars; eat your heart out.

Granola Bars That Don’t Make Me Angry

1 ½ cup old-fashioned oats
¾ cup sliced or slivered almonds
¾ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup flax meal
2 Tbs unsalted butter
½ cup plus 2 Tbs honey
2 Tbs canola oil
¼ cup brown sugar
Kosher salt
½ cup chopped dried apricots
½ cup chopped dried cherries
½ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup cocoa nibs (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. Lay a piece of parchment into a 8×8 baking dish and press into corners.

Combine the oats, almonds and coconut and spread onto the baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, shaking the pan once, until light golden in color. Remove from oven, pour into a large bowl and mix in the flax meal. Set aside.

Lower oven to 300 degrees. In a small sauce pan, combine butter, honey, canola oil and brown sugar and bring to a low boil. Cook a minute or two then pour over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Add the fruits, cocoa nibs and a pinch of salt and mix well. Pour into prepared pan and using your hands, press the mixture down into the pan so that it is evenly distributed. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool in pan for 2 hours, and then remove using parchment as handles. Cut into bars or crumble to make granola. Store in an airtight container for several days. Makes around 10-12 bars.

Note- this recipe is easily double, simply use a large rimmed baking sheet instead of an 8×8 dish.

I am a sucker for nostalgia. I had a pretty cool childhood, especially in retrospect, and I enjoy partaking in foods that bring me back to that time. Cooking the chicken and dumplings that my mom use to make us, or spending hours making gnocchi, just like my Nona used to do, puts me back to a time where the days were lazy, I would ride my horse for hours in the mountains, and modern technology was all of 3 channels, if we moved the bunny ears just right.

Chocolate pudding is one of those memory-inducing foods, not so much for its ingenuity, but because it was and is a dish that is incredibly easy, requires few ingredients (box of pudding mix, milk) and satisfies those intense chocolate cravings I must satiate from time to time. We always had a box of Jell-O pudding mix around the house, and on those occasions when there was no milk, we would use water. It works fine. When I starting working in the food industry, there were times when I would make pudding out of the box and silently berate myself for taking the easy route. I mean, didn’t I spend a small fortune on culinary school? Shouldn’t I be able to make pudding from scratch?

I finally did come around, but admittedly, it was a client that made me a convert. I had a request for something rich and chocolaty, and they are mostly gluten free, so that eliminates many options that would require flour. I realized that my opportunity was there, and I must, against my own resistance, make pudding that didn’t come out of a box. They are not paying me to make things out of a box. So I took the plunge, borrowing a basic outline from my good friend, the Barefoot Contessa. I expanded on a basic chocolate pudding recipe and made it a bit more unique with the addition of orange, but the pudding is wonderful on its own as well, without flavorings.

There really is no comparison to the real deal, it is so wonderfully smooth and rich and decadent, without being heavy or dense. And even though it certainly isn’t as easy as adding milk to a powder and stirring, the whole process takes about 20 minutes and there are few ingredients. But, while this recipe is altogether very simple, it does take a bit of patience, since it is important to constantly stir the mixture over low heat, until it begins to thicken. I put on the Glee soundtrack and dance around at the stovetop, it’s ridiculously amusing to see, I imagine. I can just picture my neighbors glancing through the dining room window and seeing me in my sweatpants, rocking out to Don’t Stop Believing, and stirring a pot on the stove.

Chocolate Orange Pudding

2 cups 2% milk
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder (I use Ghirardelli)
¼ cup corn starch
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup chopped, high cacao, bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs grand Marnier, triple sec (optional)
2 tbs heavy cream
½ tsp grated orange zest

Bring the milk to a low simmer in a medium saucepan. Take care to heat the milk slowly to avoid scorching.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until light in color and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the cocoa powder, corn starch and salt and mix to combine. Carefully pour the hot milk into the mixer, combine thoroughly and the pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
Over low heat, cook the mixture, stirring constantly until thickened to pudding texture. It takes 10-12 minutes (or about 4 songs on the aforementioned soundtrack) for the mixture to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients, stirring until the chocolate has melted.

Pour into individual serving containers and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding (this prevents it from forming a “skin”). Chill at least 2 hours. Serves 4.

I have the luxury (and occasional downfall) of living with a man who works for Budweiser. While this ensures that we will always have plenty of beer in our fridge, this also means we always have plenty of beer in our fridge. Taking up valuable space in our fridge more accurately. I am certainly not one to complain about always having a beer to offer guests, or to enjoy during a Sunday football game, however, we always have more than we can possibly drink, and I just don’t seem to have enough willing participants to take it off my hands. I thought it would be easier to give away premium lager, but it just comes in faster than we can give it out. Enter my opportunity to be creative in the kitchen and find new ways to incorporate beer into dinner, only on the plate instead of in the glass.

I have used beer in many recipes before, my favorite being a beer braised cabbage. I have used it as a simmering liquid to poach chicken, and I even tried it in place of wine in risotto once. That one didn’t turn out so great. Another way I have been known to use it, and listen up here curly-haired sister friends, is to wash my hair. Yes it sounds weird, but it was recommended to me in my teens and it actually does help with the frizz factor. But I digress; this is a cooking blog, not a hair care blog. Back to the kitchen. This recipe was inspired by a cooking competition I saw on food network years ago. I put a whole bunch of kitchen staples in a pot together with a bottle of beer and let it cook down into a lovely thick syrupy glaze, then added some shredded chicken. This is not a recipe that needs to be followed to a T either, some of the ingredients are specialized, so don’t feel pressure to go out and buy pomegranate molasses. Tweak as you see fit.

Beer BBQ pulled chicken

2 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
1 tsp olive oil
1 bottle of good quality beer, not mexican (I prefer German lagers, pale ales, or Belgian wheats,)
¾ cup ketchup
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs BBQ sauce
2 Tbs cider vinegar
2 Tbs pomegranate molasses (optional or you can substitute cherry preserves)
¼ hoisin sauce
½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder (a bit of cinnamon, cloves and ginger can replace this)
¼ cup orange juice
Juice from 1 large lime
1 minced garlic clove
½ tsp ground ginger
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs honey
Kosher salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken breasts on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 35 minutes and then set aside to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin then shred the chicken with your fingers. Set aside.

Place remaining ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Cook for around 30-40 minutes, until mixture is quick thick. It should coat a wooden spoon or spatula and a line should remain when you run your finger down it. Season to taste, add chicken and stir to combine. Serve on buns or better yet, with sweet potato biscuits, which you can find the recipe for here.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sneak in the kitschy title here simply because over the years I have had so many experiments gone awry. This time however, something quite magical came about. It all started because of the need, as many of us have, for dessert. A dinner party for one of my regular clients was looking like it was going to be a culinary success. Smoked salmon blinis and zucchini fritters; check. Butternut squash soup; check. Roasted fillet of beef with port reduction; check. And then, all of a sudden, 4 more guests arrived and those coconut macaroons I had made earlier were just not going to be substantial enough for the mood of the dinner party. With no form of chocolate anywhere to be found, I couldn’t do a nice soufflé or cake. What to do? Well, my first thought went to berries, I have a go-to cobbler recipe that is fool proof and doesn’t require much that isn’t in most pantries. However, since this was a fancy dinner party, we decided that a rustic cobbler wouldn’t be quite as appropriate as other options. Don’t get me wrong, a giant heap of cobbler dumped in a bowl, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla gelato, is top of my dessert list. We needed something a little more presentable for this instance though.

Bars were the next thing that came to mind, lemon to be specific. But alas, I had less than two hours until dinner with still quite a bit of work to do and lemon bars take a considerable amount of time and detail. Since the client can only eat blueberries, and there just so happened to be a Costco sized container of fresh blueberries in the fridge, I knew I had to go with that. I decided to make a blueberry bar, something I had never done before. I went with my standard lemon bar crust since it is 3 ingredients and takes about 2 minutes to prepare and get cooking. The berries I knew I would have to cook, so I threw most of the container into a sauce pan with sugar and some sliced lemons. Since I didn’t have time to let the berries cool enough for them to thicken properly, I threw in some flour and then added the remainder of the whole berries. Then I simply poured the whole thing over the crust, threw on a crumble topping and popped it in the oven, able to do nothing more than cross my fingers, and toes, that this would be an edible product. The tray was picked clean by the end of the evening, I guess I did alright.

Blueberry bars

For crust:
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 9 baking dish by either spraying thoroughly with non stick spray or laying foil to lift out. This makes for easy removal from pan and is highly recommended. To do this, take a long piece of foil and lay it lengthwise in the pan. Then take another piece and lay it crosswise in pan, then spray with non stick spray. This allows gripping the foil and simply lifting the entire concoction from the pan to let cool and then easily cut. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse about 10 times, until ingredients come together and mixture turns pale yellow. Dump into prepared pan and using the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup, pat mixture evenly over pan, pushing into corners and slightly up the sides. Bake for 20 minutes, until just starting to brown. Set aside until ready to use

For Filling and Crumble Topping

1 lb fresh blueberries
¾ cup sugar
2 whole lemons cut in half, seeds removed as best as possible
¼ tsp kosher salt
1 cup 3 Tbs all purpose flour, divided
¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into small chunks and softened

Place ¾ of the blueberries, the sugar, salt, 3 Tbs flour and lemons in a medium saucepan and add ¼ of water. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until blueberries are broken down and sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add the remaining blueberries, stirring to combine. Let cool 30 minutes. Combine remaining flour, brown sugar and butter in bowl and combine with fingers until ingredients start to come together and look crumbly. Pour blueberry mixture over crust and sprinkle crumble evenly over entire surface. Bake 30-40 minutes, until blueberries start to bubble and topping in browned. Remove from pan if using foil bed, or place pan on cooling rack. Let rest 15 minutes, then cut into squares and serve. Makes approximately 16 two inch squares.

The day after christmas brings us all sorts of emotions. There is sadness because the present giving, and more importantly the present receiving, is over. There is joy from all the post holiday endorphins still coursing through everyone. There is courage, from those of us who dare to brave the post holiday crowds at the nearest mall, in the hunt for holiday bargains. There is relief for many because they are going or coming home and perhaps they no longer have to deal with relatives that, um, test their patience. The emotion I experience most on december 26th is ambivalence. I am still with my mom and sister, enjoying our rare time together and not looking forward to heading back home and missing the days of relaxing by the fire and wallowing in the array of wonderful gifts I have been given. I rarely have the desire to go holiday bargain hunting, as my mom has usually gone overboard with the presents and I have no need to add any new possessions to my already strained suitcase. I simply Am, and that is a wonderful way to be. I have new toe socks on my feet, family that I love around me, no need to change out of my pajamas and plenty of delicious food to experiment with in the kitchen.

Which brings me to the relevance of this blog, the day after christmas culinary creations. Since our christmas feast usually consists of a large roast of either pork or beef provenance, it is inevitable that there will be leftovers for many days. Since no one wants to eat the same thing over and over, I like to save some of said cow or pork product to make into stew the following day. Stew is easy, it requires ingredients that are most often already in the vegetable drawer and cupboard and it is incredibly comforting, especially when the mercury level is in the 20’s, which it has been here in Portland recently. For us California ladies, that is practically death weather and clutching a steaming bowl of stew while testing Just how close I can stand to the fireplace is my idea of a perfect post-christmas, emotion-free day.

Chile con Carne

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 lb of boneless pork shoulder, or boneless beef, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 inch chunks
Kosher salt
4 slices of thick cut bacon, diced
1 sweet or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, halved, seeded and finely chopped
3 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs cumin
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
4 cups water or chicken stock
1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup sour cream

This dish is even better the second day, so feel free to make a double batch and reheat the extra in saucepan over medium heat.

Pat meat dry and sprinkle with ½ salt. In a large, heavy saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add meat and cook on each side until well browned, in two batches if pan gets crowded. Remove from pan and set aside. Reduce heat to medium and add bacon, stirring often, until crisp and brown. Add onions and pepper and cook 5 minutes, until softened. Add chili powder and cumin, stirring to evenly distribute and cook 1 minute. Return meat to pan with any accumulate juices, add tomatoes with their juice and water or stock. Bring to a simmer, partially cover and cook 2 to 2 ½ hours, until meat is fork tender. If liquid level gets low, add another ½ cup of water or stock. Add kidney beans and cook 10 minutes. Season to taste, ladle into bowls and top with a generous spoonful of sour cream. Serves 2-4 main portions.

I must admit; I don’t particularly care for biscuits. Yes, let the hate mail commence. I know they are as American as apple pie and that no stew is quite right without them. I have just never found them all that special. They always taste chemically to me and the baking soda that is so necessary for them to rise always taste so strong and off-putting. Plus, more often than not they come out dense and heavy and I would much rather take up valuable stomach space with something that doesn’t remind me of a hockey puck, thank you very much. Considering my unabashed love for all things bread, this has never boded well that I can’t seem to enjoy a good old fashioned biscuit.

Then I discovered the sweet potato biscuit. Oh my how I came around to the biscuit party after my first taste of one of these. Light, fluffy melt on your tongue sweet potato goodness masquerading as my long time nemesis. I was sold. Over the years, I have tried my fair share of sweet potato biscuit recipes, eventually creating one I thought trumped all about a year ago. Then this past summer when I was working for America’s Test Kitchen, I tested recipes for sweet potato biscuits and a new one emerged that far surpassed my previous winner. A perfect companion for any soup or stew, or for simply smothering with apple butter or strawberry preserves, which is pretty much how I end up eating the entire batch over a period of a couple hours. Hey, they are made with sweet potatoes after all, so they’re good for you.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Country Magazine

5 medium sweet potatoes
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
3 ¼ cups cake flour
¼ packed brown sugar
5 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
8 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
4 Tbs cold vegetable shortening

Prick potatoes all over with fork. Microwave on large plate until potatoes are very soft and surface is wet, 15 to 20 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes. Cut slit in potatoes to release the steam. When cool enough to handle, scoop flesh into bowl and mash until smooth. Reserve 2 cups worth and save leftover for another use. Stir in vinegar and refrigerate until cool, about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chilled butter, and shortening in food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to bowl with cooled potatoes and fold with rubber spatula until incorporated.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth, 8 to 10 times. Pat dough into 9-inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Using 2¼-inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut out biscuits and arrange on prepared baking sheet. Pat remaining dough into 1-inch-thick circle and cut out remaining biscuits. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Makes 16 biscuits.

I have to admit; I love products with defects. Odd shaped tomatoes, mine. Gnarly potatoes, sold. If something has gone awry in a product I use on a regular basis, I must have it and talk about it. So when I halved an avocado the other day for my salad and discovered that it had two pits, I was ecstatic. This avocado was meant for greatness, not just another bowl of rabbit food for a basic lunch. I had been curious about making an avocado based soup for awhile and figured since it was soup month for the blog, what could possibly be a better time for experimentation?
After some interesting concoctions, I discovered the most delicious result came from letting the avocado stand on its own without too many additional flavor profiles. I original made it using guacamole as my jumping off point, creating a puree of cooked tomatoes, red onion and cilantro and pureeing in the avocado. The result was unattractive to look at and it was strange to be eating guacamole with a spoon and no tortilla chips. Since I wanted a creamy soup full of avocado flavor, I used only what was necessary to enhance that and to create a thick and luxurious soup.
Note: As they love to do, the avocado base in this soup will discolor if left standing for a while. Best to serve promptly.

Avocado Soup

1 large ripe avocado
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
½ cup crème fraiche or sour cream
2 cups chicken stock
Kosher salt
2 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Halve and pit the avocado and coarsely chop in a food processor. Add the lime juice, a pinch of salt and 3 Tbs of the crème fraiche and puree until smooth. Heat the stock in a large saucepan until almost simmering and stir in the remaining crème fraiche. Add the avocado puree to the stock and heat gently for five minute, being careful not to bring to a boil. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with cilantro and season to taste. Serves two for a hearty lunch, but easily doubled.

Fall has always been my favorite season. Even after living in Los Angeles for the past 8 years, where “fall” is 75 and sunny, hasn’t sullies my memories of autumn. I grew up in the boonies and the leaves on our 20 acres of property would become a kaleidoscope of colors which I could stare at for hours on end. Riding my horse on our endless trails during fall season will always be in my top ten list of favorite things. Fall was harvest time for us and even though our garden of irises would be just ending, and the tomatoes would be finishing as well, all my favorite vegetables would be coming into season. Butternut squash is at the top of that list and it seems only appropriate that I kick off soup month with my absolute favorite go to recipe for butternut squash soup.
When I first started experimenting with this soup, I tried numerous variations of flavors and methods which to cook the squash. I found simmering it in the pan with the onions and apples didn’t bring out the deep flavor of the squash and it became overpowered by the apple flavor. Roasting any kind of vegetable at high heat is, in my opinion, is the most effective way to bring out the most flavor in vegetables. The high heat causes caramelization and brings out the sweetness of the product. I also tried a few different spices in the soup, cumin, curry powder and I once added roasted garlic as well. While these additions were not bad at all, I found the simpler I kept it, the more flavorful it was, concentrating all the taste buds on the power of the squash. Simplicity always wins, it seems.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large chunks
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
¼ cup dry white wine
1-2 cups of chicken stock
¼ cup of heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place squash on rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil and ½ tsp salt. Toss to evenly coat. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes, until squash is fork tender and browned on bottom side. Set aside.
In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, set over medium heat, add remaining tbs olive oil, onion and apple. Stir occasionally, until onions just start to brown. Add wine and stir, using a wooden spoon to scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan. Turn heat to low, cover and cook until apples are softened, about 15 minutes. Add 1 cup of stock and squash to pan and cook 1 minute longer. Using either an immersion blender if you have it, or a regular blender, puree soup, adding stock as needed to achieve desired consistency. Return to pot, add cream (if using) and salt to taste. Serves 4.

Home made chicken stock

4-5 pound of chicken (wings, backs, whole, legs)
2 large onions, quartered
1 whole garlic clove, left unpeeled and cut in half
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced

Combine all ingredient in a large stock pot and add 10 quarts of cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered 4-6 hours, skimming foam occasionally. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding solids. Pour into quart containers or large Tupperware and refrigerate overnight. The fat will rise to the top and solidify, remove the following day. Will keep in fridge for one week or in freezer up to six months.