Beets!

I love beets. I would happily eat them every day.

Granola season

Those of you crunchy types who went to Oberlin might remember Ket and John's famous granola. I do. I've made two batches recently based on what I can remember of their recipe, and both turned out well.

This granola is for people who like clumps, not individual oats. It can be modified infinitely to your liking. You just need two bowls, as it is important to mix the wet and dry separately. The coconut really adds a lot, and does not make the granola taste like coconut. So even if you don't like coconut you might want to give it a try. I'm sorry the quantities are so vague

Wet - safflower/sunflower/canola oil, maple syrup (2 or three times as much as the oil), splash of vanilla, a bit of warm water

Dry - a couple handfuls of flour, about 3 times as many oats, unsweetened shredded coconut, chopped raw pecans, lots of raw flax seeds, salt (more than you think, a couple spoonfuls), pinch of cinnamon

Mix both separately. Add the wet all at once to the dry and mix thoroughly. Spread in an even layer on cookie sheets, and bake at 350.

Remove once the edges start to look golden, or just very slightly toasty. The granola will firm up as it cools, and be perfect, even though the middle might seem a little too soft.

Like Carla, I recommend adding raisins or other dried fruit at the end, when you are transferring the baked granola to a storage bin.

Tuna 180

I used to really hate tuna fish. The thought of eating canned tuna seemed no different to me than sitting down to enjoy a tin of Fancy Feast, and the smell of someone else eating tuna made my stomach turn.

This has all changed.

I LOVE tuna. I think it is because I discovered it 27 years later than most people that I have such tuna enthusiasm. I have started making a tuna salad sandwich with one can of tuna (Trader Joe's brand or Genova in water), shredded beet, shredded carrot, minced celery, finely chopped red onion, s&p and a little mayo. Then I quickly expanded to tuna melts, and have been inviting my friends over to cook them tuna melts. They have been patient with my tuna love. Thanks, guys.

We ate this tuna melt with baked sweet potato fries, and a little salad with miso dressing.

Cabot factory tour

I went to a cheesy tourist attraction in Vermont, and it was actually pretty fun. First of all, I learned that butter is only made at the factory in Massachusetts. Second, I learned it is really easy to make cheese, and pretty quick. This guy is making basic cheddar with tomato basil. The curds are poured in one vat, and the whey is poured off through a pipe and saved. Then the curds are churned, and salts and flavorings are added.

Once everything is well mixed and ready, the cheese gets compressed into big blocks to get rid of any air bubbles, and these blocks are shrink wrapped. Then they go to a storage site and sit on shelves until the cheese is properly aged. Cheese testers come along and take core samples from every batch. They sniff and taste the samples to decide if the cheese is mild, sharp, extra sharp, and so on. Then the cheese is repachaged in smaller blocks and we eat it!

Then we are happy, like this:

Grape grafts

A new discovery was made in Vermont. One grape half green, half red. Interestingly enough, the same effect can be accomplished with two people:

Frittata

In addition to the apple crisp, Connie and I made a frittata with onion, green pepper, tomatoes, and some cheese. Although I just did a little reading about frittatas, and I don't really think we made a true frittata. We whisked together eggs, milk (actually I used a little yogurt and water), s&p, and the filling, and then poured this into a dish and popped it in a hot oven, and let it bake until it was set.

I read that a real fritatta is poured in a hot skillet and started on the stove top, then finished in the oven. Maybe I will try this next time.

Carla originally turned me on to frittatas. I'm not really sure if I even knew what they were until Carla started making huge vats of frittata for the hungry-hungry hippies of Oberlin.

Apple crisp

Last week my parents and I went to Vermont, and we were kind of obsessed with farm stands and farmers' markets. We bought a big bag of tart apples (4 varities) for $1.50, and last night, back in Dorchester, Connie and I turned a bunch of these apples into an apple crisp with an oat topping. We added a splash of maple syrup to the standard oat topping (oats, flour, butter, salt, sugar) to contribute to the Vermont theme.