Non-hippie (but crunchy!) granola

Despite attending Yale School of Forestry, I don't like granola. My dislike stems mostly from a deep-seated hatred of raisins, a fixture in most ready-made granola.

That all changed last year. I wanted to send my sister a care package at school and, while perusing the aisles of Whole Foods saw a box of chocolate granola. Though it cost $7 a box, I bought it (not surprising, given my well-documented adoration of chocolate in all forms). And then I shamefully ate it myself. It was life-altering.

Being on a student budget and all, I thought making my own might be much more cost-effective. I found this fabulous recipe, courtesy of Orangette. Some actually made it to
Philadelphia and my sister loved it. I have been making my own chocolate granola ever since. It's so cost-effective with bulk almonds, coconut and rolled oats at any health food store. Also, in a bind, you can use instant oats. It is amazing as is, but over the year, I've come up with some excellent variations:

- Adding banana chips and substituting milk chocolate for the darker chocolate
- Nixing the dark chocolate for white chocolate and dried cherries (which don't offend me nearly as much as raisins!)
- Dried blueberries and very dark chocolate
- Hazelnuts and milk chocolate

Have fun! This simple but delicious recipe lends itself to value-add creativity. And I also strongly suggest doubling the recipe! I always have some on hand. It makes a great gift if you are a houseguest or as a thank you.

Things I learned about apple crisp and the best $20 you'll ever spend

For various reasons, I found myself burdened with eight super ripe apples this week. What did I decide to do? Bake an apple crisp, of course!

I ran into some trouble a few minutes in, when I realized I lacked not only cinnamon but also oats. So I threw in some apples, lemon, water, honey, some weird 8 grain cereal my housemate has, walnuts, brown sugar and a bit of butter. How bad could it be? Apple crisp turned out to be fairly forgiving and pretty delicious, in fact. Especially with some vanilla ice cream. Doesn't seem too fattening, either. More like a baked apple dissected than a baked good.

I topped it with a bit of chocolate sauce too. I use Jacques Torres hot chocolate mix, melted with a tiny bit of milk. Actually, I use it on everything - yogurt, ice cream, frozen yogurt, cakes, mixed with fruit compote (which is just frozen fruit defrosted) when I'm feeling a bit chubs but want something sweet. It's a bit pricey (~$20 for a tin - available here) but lasts forever and is AMAZING! And, according the box, it has more antioxidants than a cup of green tea. So health-conscious.

Guilty Pasta

The last couple weeks have involved some serious eating: between the graduation of a major beef lover and all the associated celebrations, the 30th birthday of his equally hungry brother (celebrated with at least six separate meals), and a bachelorette party full of chocolate-covered everything, there was no way to justify a major meal last night. That said, I wanted a major meal. Like pasta. With butter and cheese.

In the interest of assuaging both guilt and craving, I tweaked last week's Bittman recipe for pasta with peas, prosciutto, and lettuce (visit it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/dining/16mini.html) by cutting out most of the butter, and instead of flour-based pasta, using zucchini "fettuccine" as my base. Much less labor-intensive than making true pasta, all this involved was a potato peeler and a couple of firm, fresh zucchini.

Guilty Zucchini Pasta with Peas and Lettuce

(and for the carnivores, Crispy Prosciutto)

Ingredients:

• 2 large, firm zucchini
• ~1/2 Tbs butter (more if you'd like it richer; Bittman included a tablespoon or so of evoo as well)
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2- 2/3 box of frozen peas
• 1 head of butter or boston lettuce, tough/bruised exterior leaves removed, ripped into bite-sized pieces
• ~1/3 cup broth or white wine (I used chicken broth)
• ~1/4 cup loosely-packed freshly-grated parmesan, plus more to taste for topping
• Optional: Crispy prosciutto (see the Bittman recipe- fry bite-sized pieces of prosciutto in a little oil as if bacon; drain on paper towels and use shortly thereafter)

Put on a pot of heavily salted water to boil, large enough to accommodate your zucchini. While the water warms, move on...

Make your fauxtuccine by peeling long strips-- end to end-- from your zucchini, paying some attention to the angles you create so as to peel strips of the width you want. Stop when you reach the seeds, and discard the cores. Set zucchini aside.

Melt the butter in a large pan (large because it will ultimately have to accommodate the entire dish) on medium. Add the shallot, and saute until softened.

Add peas, stirring occasionally. When peas are largely defrosted, lower heat to medium-low. Add lettuce, and stir to combine. Some pieces of my lettuce turned a less-than-appealing brown, but this did not affect the flavor. Lowering the heat will likely help to combat the brown. Complete the remaining steps swifly so that the lettuce doesn't become overly limp.

Add zucchini to boiling water. Boil for about 90 seconds- just enough to warm them up and soften them slightly.

While zucchini boils, add broth to the pan with peas and lettuce, and stir to coat. Add cheese, and stir to combine.

Remove zucchini from heat, and drain. Add the drained zucchini to the pan with peas and lettuce, and toss. Remove from heat.

Serve, garnished with additional grated parmesan, and cripsy prosciutto if you so choose.

A new leaf

Time moves fast. Gold and I haven’t touched this blog since…2008! We’ve moved on. We have boyfriends (Gold is living with hers!), inklings of careers and futures. We’ve both started feeling an irresistible urge to nest. But…we’re back in school on the East Coast. Gold’s doing a JD, I’m doing a joint MBA/Master’s. We both have two years left. So, we’re both still depressingly broke. And still addicted to the finer things in life.

Thus, the blog revival. We want a repository of our great finds – and we have so many. A place where I can find Gold’s amazing stewed veggie recipe when I’m in a bind. Where we can look up great gift ideas we had for our friends weddings. Or, where we can recall the beautiful Alberta Ferretti calfskin coat I got for $80 (more on that later) on a rainy day. These are the things that make us happy.