Savory Granola

Granola, my favorite snack. If you know me well or have ever read this blog you know this about me. I've posted a handful of granola recipes over the years, but this one takes the cake. 

Kathleen is the one who really got me on the homemade granola bandwagon and it's her recipe that helped me finally perfect it. Last spring or so, one of our friends said she had used Kathleen's recipe to make savory granola. Baaaack up, savory granola? Yes, please, and thank you. 

You take a lot of the same components, but add fun things like Worcestershire sauce and chili powder. This savory recipe really taps into the snacking part of granola. Skeptical? Let me give you some uses.

Currently between the handfuls going straight to my mouth, I'm topping creamy butternut squash soup (coming next week) with this mix. It's great sprinkled in plain or honey yogurt. I think it could be an amazing addition to a salad or even subbed in for the cornbread croutons in my Fall Panzanella Salad. But simply, I love packing a snack bag to take to work.

Savory Granola

Ingredients:
2½ cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a roasting sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up), and set aside. 

In a large bowl combine all ingredients stirring well until everything is evenly coated. Spread out on your rimmed roasting sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Stir after the first 20 minutes. Bake for 15 more minutes, check on it to see if it needs to go longer, being careful not to burn it. The mixture may still seem a bit wet and soft, but once you let it sit it will harden up. Let cool then break into chunks. Store in an airtight container or mason jar. 

A few months ago I picked up these wasabi sesame seeds from the local Asian market. I love spicy and I love wasabi. I've been using them as a topping on salads or sprinkled over fried rice. I tossed some in my jar of granola and love the little kick it gave the granola. 

Are you a savory or sweet granola person? Give this recipe a try then tell me!

Annie

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

You knew it was only a matter of time after our Oklahoma City Trader Joe's opened that I post a recipe with cookie butter. Cookie butter isn't new to me, but now it's at arms reach (DANGEROUS). See here and here where I've used cookie butter before!

Cookie butter is great. There is nothing not to love about cookies ground up into a sweet spreadable delicacy. My everyday use for this stuff is spreading it on graham crackers for a nighttime snack, but I really try to limit my intake because it's a deep black hole once you have one bite. It pulls you down this rabbit hole where one taste turns into four or five or more spoonfuls. I've found that baking it off into sweet treats is the best way to make the jar disappear.

I'm on a cookie pizza kick! After making my sugar cookie with strawberry icing and chocolate chip M&M cookie pizza, I had been plotting what my next cookie pizza would be. 

This combo is perfection. I took my mom's ginger cookie recipe and adapted it to turn into a cookie pizza. Cookie butter already has a gingerbread taste to it, so it only makes since to turn it into a glaze and lather it all over the top! 

One big soft ginger cookie smothered in cookie butter. All the heart eye emojis!! 

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp. molasses
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
extra sugar

Cookie Butter Glaze:
1/4 cup cookie butter or biscoff spread
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a large mixing bowl or round object, about 10 inches in diameter, trace a circle on the parchment paper. Flip the parchment paper over so you don't get any pencil or pen marks when you spread out the dough.

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and molasses and mix on low. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the molasses is evenly distributed. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and mix on low until the dough comes together.

With clean hands spread the dough out on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the dough out, filling the circle shape you drew. Sprinkle the top with extra sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Start on the low end. The key to yumminess in this cookie pizza is for it to be slightly underdone! I found 11 minutes to be perfect, but that is according to my oven. Let it cool completely.

Once the pizza is cool, make your glaze. In the electric mixer with the whisk attachment or using a handheld mixer, whisk powdered sugar, cookie butter and milk until fully mixed. It should be the consistency of thick glue. Using a spatula, spread the icing over the cookie pizza leaving about a half inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

All hail Trader Joe's being in Oklahoma and all hail cookie butter! Huzzah! 

Annie

Sausage Tortellini Soup with Parmesan Crisps

I mentioned in yesterday's post how this time of year makes me nostalgic for family recipes. With the holidays coming up, I start longing for Kathleen and dad's Thanksgiving dressing, my Aunt Gina, Claire and I's apple pie, my mom's creamed corn...I could go on forever. Aside from holiday recipes there are a handful of family recipes I crave. Exhibit A, this Sausage Tortellini Soup. 

I remember growing up and this soup always showing up on that first really cold day. With the couple chilly days we've had, my taste buds immediately wanted this soup. Although, I actually made this soup on Monday when it was a near 90 degrees. Not quite soup weather... maybe my cooking will help Oklahoma get its fall weather act together!

Growing up we always had sausage tortellini soup with a big wedge of skillet cornbread. Not that I don't loooooooove my fam's cornbread, but I wanted to try something new. Raise your hand if you've had those parmesan crisps they sell at Whole Foods (hand raised high). Last week I was there and they had them out as a sample. I embarrassingly went by three times for another bite. They are just baked cheese but kind of get away as being a cracker. 

I did my best to recreate those coveted parmesan crisps so I didn't have to hand over nine bucks for a box of something I could make at home. I bought a cheap wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano at Trader Joe's then grated it on a box grater. I love the way they turned out and they pair perfect with this soup!

Sausage Tortellini Soup with Parmesan Crisps
yields 10 cups

Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian sausauge
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
3 (14½ oz) cans beef broth
2 (14½ oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup dry red wine
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsps. dried Italian seasoning
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 (9 oz) pkg. refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini
*Parmesan Crisps

Directions:
Discard sausage casings. Cook sausage, onion and garlic in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink; drain and return to pan.

Sir in broth and next 6 ingredients, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 30 minutes. Skim off fat. Stir in zucchini and tortellini, simmer 10 minutes. Serve each bowl with a parmesan crisp!

*Parmesan Crisps:
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Black pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

Using a box grated, great your parmesan cheese. I used a combination of two sizes of grates. Drop heaping tablespoons of parmesan onto the lined baking sheet. Pat out into 2 1/2 inch circles. Sprinkle with black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them, they may need less time. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Gently lift off, be careful they are delicate. 

Family recipes really are the best. I've been on a kick of remaking some of my favorites from growing up. What are some of your favorite family recipes?

Annie

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread, there's nothing better. Pumpkin bread is the quintessential pumpkin food. It's been around waaaaay longer than PSLs, pumpkin spice puppy chow, pumpkin protein bars, pumpkin spice cookie butter and all the other commercialized pumpkin foods. 

This time of year makes me nostalgic for old family recipes. With the holidays coming up, I've been digging through my mom's recipe binder to resurface some of my favorites like her ginger cookies, sausage tortellini soup (more on that later this week) and this pumpkin bread. It's the best darn pumpkin bread around and deserves to be shared. 

I baked up eight, count 'em, eight loaves this weekend. Six of them were sent off to be used as gifts, but two are taking home in my freezer to be pulled out when the pumpkin bread hunger strikes! It took a few loads into my KitchenAid to complete all the bowls of batter, but well worth it, that is my kind of therapy. Follow below to snatch this family tested, Annie trusted and fall approved recipe!

Pumpkin Bread
yields 2, 9 inch loaves or 3, 8 inch loves

Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1, 15oz can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsps. baking soda
1 1/2 tsps. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
2/3 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Generously grease and flour 2, 9 inch or 3, 8 inch loaf pans and set aside.

Cream shortening, gradually add sugar beating well. Add eggs, mix well. Stir in pumpkin and water.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Fold in nuts, reserving a few. Spoon into loaf pans. Top with extra pecans. If using 8 inch pans bake for 55 minutes, 9 inch pans will bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the toothpick trick comes out clean.

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe? Mine 100% is this bread!

Annie

My Go To Work Week Lunch

Work week lunches are hard. It's the point in the day when you are starving and have to have something that will satisfy you all the way through dinner. It needs to give you energy to power the rest of the day without making you want to take a nap afterward. Lunch is asking for a lot and usually falls short. 

I used to be a basic salad girl. If I loaded it up with enough goods it would usually fit the bill. It's a good filler meal for when I need to clean out the fridge, but nothing excites me for lunch when I know I just have a salad packed. 

When I was doing Whole30 back in August, lunch was hard. A salad would definitely not cut it. I came up with this easy work week lunch that has stuck with me for the months to follow. It's easy to prep the night before and so filling/satisfying. I eat it about 3 times a week and with a few ingredient tweaks here and there I'm not getting sick of it. 

It's a healthy take on a charcuterie/crudite/cheese board. My "lunch board" as I like to call it! 

Basic components include:

2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 granny smith apple
3-4 pieces of charcuterie (prosciutto, salami, chorizo, pepperoni etc)

Items that change depending on taste and what is in season:

4 figs
stem of grapes
handful of snap peas, tomatoes carrots or bell peppers
crackers if you need the carbs
veggie dip or almond butter if you need the extra protein
 

Pictured above is how I take it to work. Hardboiled eggs unpeeled (I make a bunch at the beginning of the week), 1/2 apple uncut to avoid overly browning, meat, veggies and a side of veggie dip. I pack a little baggie of salt and pepper for the eggs and a small knife to cut the apple and eggs when I put it together at lunch. 

Give this lunch a try. It's well balanced and hits on all the taste buds. Tart apple, salty meat, sweet fruit, bright veggie, and filling eggs! It's just the thing to get me through the day and I get weirdly excited for lunch when I know I have this packed.

Get creative and make your own version of my lunch board! Share your lunch board pics with me via snapchat or tagging me on insta and using the #takeabite hashtag!

Annie