Granola

One of our favorite breakfast cereals is granola.  But finding inexpensive dairy free granola can be a challenge.  I have found that if I want granola with no dairy I have to buy the expensive organic brands in the tiny boxes.  It seems to be a bit of a waste of money to me when I can easily make my own.  I have made it several times, but I tried this recipe recently and wanted to share it with you all.


                                    Easy Granola*

• 2 teaspooons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups whole oats ( I like the Trader Joes Brand)
• 1/2 cup Rice Twice cereal ( or other crisped rice)
• 1/4 cup flax seeds or flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup dried cranberries ( I used the orange flavored ones from Trader Joes)

If you look real close at the TV you will see the severe weather alert crawling across the screen.  We had some wild storms roll in while I was putting this together. 

First things first, preheat your oven to 300F.  While the oven is heating, mix together your spices.  In a medium bowl whisk together the cinnamon, ginger, salt, honey, oil, maple syrup, water, and vanilla.

Add in all your dry ingredients and coat evenly.  Spread on a baking sheet.  You can line the baking sheet with parchment paper, but I didn't have any on hand.  We are trying to lower our waste so I stopped buying things like that and am finding alternatives.  I used just a small amount of cooking spray on my pan and spread it evenly with my (clean) fingers to lightly grease the entire sheet. 

Bake until the granola is dry and crisp, but do not let it  brown.  It took about 35-40 minutes for mine to finish up.  You can stir it a couple times as well. 

Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container.  I use Ball Jars- they work perfectly!  This amount filled 1 large jar and 1 small jar.  You could easily double it.  

I adapted the recipe from the original to suit our tastes.  I omitted the pecans and added almonds, used flax seed meal instead of whole flax seed, and added in some dried cranberries. 

*Adapted from Melissa d'Arabian and Ten Dollar Dinners

Foodie Pen Pal Reveal

It's that time again- Time for my Foodie Pen Pal Reveal!  

This month I was paired up with two readers. My Pen Pal was Shannon and she sent me package filled with awesome dairy free goodies.

My first glimpse into my goodie box.

I am not quite sure how she fit all of this into that small box!

The first thing I did was read the very sweet card she included. My mom always taught me that whenever you get a gift, you always read the card first.:-)  Shannon herself is not dairy free, but she was so sweet and made sure to read all the labels and make sure that everything in the box was.  

These chips were my favorite items.  I am a huge chip fanatic- I'll take salty over sweet any day. The PopCorners Chips were so good!  I have been wanting to try them for some time, but just never picked up a bag.  They are easily my new favorite snack food!  The Pita Chips were also very good- they tasted like the fried won-tons you get in Asian restaurants.  I did share this bag with my husband since he loves pita chips.  (I did not share very many of the PopCorners though). 

       

Quinoa is easily one of my favorite grains so I was thrilled to get a brand new box of it!  It's still unopened but I have some plans for it once we get home from vacation.

I always love to try a new tea, and Shannon sent me 3 to try. I had the Tazo Rest tea one evening after dinner when I was not feeling so great (allergy season has been tough on me this year).  It tastes similar to Chamomile to me.  It is a very relaxing tea- perfect before bed or if you have the sniffles. The Cold Brew tea is being packed for the beach so I can make myself a couple glasses of iced tea while we are there.   The Yogi Perfect Energy tea I am saving for those afternoons when I need a pick me up.  (I'm a bit of a food hoarder, I like to save and savor things like this).

                                  

I had never had one of these bars before, and I tried it just the other day.  It's a very sweet, nutty bar with a coconut flavor.  I reminded me of eating a candy bar, but without the chocolate.  Very sweet, and a great snack to have in my purse. 

I have been saving this specifically for vacation.  I didn't want to open it before we left and have it go to waste, so I have wrapped it up and we are taking it with us.  I love key lime, and so does my husband.  I am thinking this will be perfect in the morning on a bagel or toast while we sit on the deck and sip our coffee.  And I wanted to be sure to share it with our friends.

So there you have it- this month's Foodie Pen Pal box.  Thank you so much Shannon for all the wonderful goodies you sent!  And for taking the time make sure each item was dairy free!  

Are you interested in participating in the Foodie Pen Pals Program?


-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.


If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.


You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

Product Review: Attune Foods Erewhon Cereal

Not too long ago I was offered the opportunity to try Attunes line of Erewhon cereal.  Their cereals are organic and made in nut free and dairy free facilities.  Both of the cereals we tried are also gluten free.   

I have never been a huge breakfast eater, especially as a kid.   My kids, on the other hand, LOVE breakfast and especially cereal.   The minute their feet hit the floor in the morning they are looking for breakfast.  One of the challenges is finding cereal they will like that is still healthy.  So far we have been pretty successful at keeping the junk cereals out of the house but they get tired of the same old thing. So we are always on the hunt for something new, tasty, and healthy.  They were just as excited as I was when our box of cereal arrived in the mail.  We got to try the Rice Twice and the Strawberry Crisp. 

Even though I have never been a huge fan of cereal, as I have gotten older I have found that there are a few types that I  really like. I have pretty high standards and won't eat just anything. Actually, I am super picky about cereal.  I don't like super sugary cereals, or ones that get soggy quickly. I want my cereal to be healthy, but to not taste like cardboard. See?  High standards.  

The first box opened the morning after it arrived was the Strawberry Crisp.

I was especially excited about this one because it is similar to an old favorite of mine that happens to contain dairy. (Why would corn flakes with strawberries contain dairy anyway??  That doesn't make sense to me.  But I digress...)
 My Middle One was the first to dig in to her bowl and she gave it Two Thumbs Up.  That's our rating system for food, by the way.  If something gets two thumbs, it's really good!

 We also tried the Rice Twice cereal.  We gave that one to the Littlest One.

This still sleepy little monkey also loved her bowl of cereal.

Of course I had to give it a try too, so I had a bowl of the Strawberry Crisp with  almond milk.  It was so much better than my old favorite!  The flakes stay crispier, and there are a ton of the strawberries. I seldom finish a bowl of cereal, but I certainly finished this one.  Sadly, I have already eaten the entire box.  I am still on the hunt for it at my local grocery store but have not had much luck.  As soon as I find it I will be stocking up!

 I have been wanting to make a batch of homemade granola and I had found a recipe that called for crisp rice cereal as part of the ingredients. I will be sharing that recipe soon, but I will tell you that this worked perfectly!

I will also be using the Rice Twice to make those marshmallow treats for the kids from now on. 

As a Mom, I am thrilled to find a wholesome, great tasting cereal that my kids love.  As a dairy free consumer, I am so glad there is a company out there that is catering to the needs of those with food intolerances.
For more information visit the Attunefoods website.

Gazpacho

As a family we try to do at least one meatless meal each week.  We actually have a few nights of the week themed to make meal planning easier: Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Fun Friday, and the one night my oldest daughter gets to cook.   Last week's meatless meal was Gazpacho with homemade croutons and lemon basil aglio olio.  The Gazpacho recipe was from Ina Garten ( one of my favorites) and it was so simple. I love her recipe because there is no cooking involved at all!  No blanching, no peeling, very little chopping.  The food processor does all the work! I couldn't ask for an easier meal. I did change a few ingredients to match what I had on hand.

Ingredients:

• 6 Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped*
• 1 English cucumber, chopped
• 1 white onion (or purple) roughly chopped**
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 23 oz tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar*
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• dash cayenne pepper*
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• Handful fresh basil for garnish

*Changed from original recipe.

**I  used half of an onion because a whole onion seemed overpowering.  

Roughly chop each vegetable. Put each veggie into the food processor separately and pulse it until it is coarsely chopped.  Do not over process. I did the tomatoes first, then the pepper, cucumber, and the onion last.

Combine them in a mixing bowl.  Add your garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.  Mix well, and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour.  The longer the soup chills the better the flavor gets.  

Not the best idea to use a red bowl for this- oops.

 While the gazpacho was chilling, I made some homemade croutons to go with it.  I cut up a loaf of Italian bread, tossed the cubed pieces with garlic infused olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then I baked them at 400F until they were toasted and slightly browned.

Be sure to spray your pan with a little cooking spray to prevent sticking.

 We served the gazpacho with the croutons and some fresh basil from our garden.  Paired with my Lemon Basil Aglio Olio (recipe to come soon), this was the perfect meatless summer meal.

You can also serve this as an appetizer.  I made gazpacho "shooters". for dinner with my parents and served them in small ball jars while the rest of the meal was cooking.  They were just the perfect appetizer size (and healthier than chips!)

You can kick the spice up in this by adding more cayenne, or some Tabasco.  I kept it pretty mild since the girls were eating it too.

To keep this completely gluten free, you can omit the croutons, or make them out of gluten free bread.  Or you could toast and spice some nuts- walnuts or almond slivers would work great- and use those as a garnish.

What is one of your favorite easy summer time meals?

Recipe Adapted from: The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Copyright 1999