Good stuff!

I ran a test on Twitter last week that pretty much confirmed what I thought was true. I sent out a quick Tweet asking for people to send me their favorite granola ingredients. Here’s a quick sampling of the dozen or so responses I got:

- @jessicabair: Honey & Blueberries
– @lowrha: Maple syrup, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and dried strawberries.
– @gardenvarieties: coconut, dried fig & apricot, pecans.
– @outlawdiva: Sesame seeds, oats, flax seeds, walnuts, cashews, raisins (all colors), currants, honey, maple syrup.
– @onmaggiesfarm: Maple syrup, almonds, unsweetened coconut. I mix up the flavor with spices: cardamom, nutmeg, ginger.
– @melissamauk: Applesauce, pepitas, brown rice syrup and oats.

Honestly, it was probably my most responded to tweet ever. People have opinions about granola and all their opinions are different!

So I called my theory confirmed… my theory, of course, being that you can put almost anything in granola.

Because of this, it’s the perfect way to clean out your pantry and use up extra nuts, spices, and fruits. So let’s make some!

Kitchen Sink Granola

Yield: 9-10 Cups

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

6 Cups rolled oats
2 Cups of any nuts that you have on hand (I used peanuts, almonds, and pecans)
1 Cup Sweetener (maple syrup, honey, agave, rice syrup, etc)
1-2 Cups dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, etc)
1 Teaspoon cinnamon (always a good idea)
1 Teaspoon salt (necessary)
Up two 2 Teaspoons of other spices (cardamom, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, etc.)
Various seeds (poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds...)
Up to 2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Grind any whole spices you are using and roughly chop nuts.

2) Add spices, seeds, and nuts to oats and mix well to combine.

3) Add sweetener to mixture and stir well.

4) Spread granola out onto two baking sheets. Make sure there is an even layer on both sheets.

5) Bake granola at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 3-5 minutes. Keep a really close eye on it.

6) Remove granola once it's golden brown and let it cool for a few minutes.

7) Add dried fruit to granola and let it cool completely.

8) Stir in a large plastic bag and serve with yogurt or milk.

Cleaning house

This might surprise you, but I have a pretty ridiculous pantry on any given day. Because I make a very wide range of dishes here on Macheesmo, I have a drawer full of almost any spice you could want, a full inventory of nuts and seeds, various dried fruits, and a ton of other random stuff.

And sometimes, I need to clean house. This is the perfect recipe for such a task. Out of all the things in my kitchen sink granola, I only bought two items: Oats and agave syrup. I had honey and maple syrup in my pantry also, but I wanted to try agave so I picked some up.

So I encourage you to use what you have for this recipe and not copy me exactly. It’ll be good. Trust me.

Go crazy.

The Method

While it isn’t really all that important what you put in your granola, it is important how you make it. You’re shooting for a nice crunchy granola that’s toasted, but not burned. It’s a very fine line.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, I needed to grind up some whole spices. If you have them, use them, otherwise don’t. I wouldn’t buy new spices just for this recipe frankly.

All are pretty optional.

Mix your oats with all the spices and seeds very well. I had a spice attack for this version!

Get it?

The Agave

I’ve never used agave syrup before and it’s becoming the talk of the town so I figured I’d jump on the bandwagon.

Since agave is the same stuff that Tequila is made from, I was pretty sure this syrup would make me puke and blackout, but it did nothing of the sort. Probably because it doesn’t have alcohol in it, but still. I was worried.

Really the only purchase I made...

In actuality, it’s a really good syrup. It has a very unique flavor and it isn’t quite as sweet as honey. I think it worked great for granola.

Once I had all my spices, nuts, and seeds mixed in with my oats, I added my agave and stirred it all together!

The sweet stuff.

Baking the granola

Ok. The tricky part is baking this stuff. Spoon out the granola mixture onto two baking sheets and try to make sure the granola is in a pretty even layer over the sheets. This will make sure it cooks evenly.

Nice and even.

Bake this stuff at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Stir it every few minutes, five at the most. This is really important because the edges will cook slightly faster than the center and if you don’t stir it often, you’ll end up with burned edges.

As it gets closer to being done, check it very frequently, every three minutes or so. You definitely don’t want to burn the stuff, but you do want it to be golden brown. It’s a bit tricky, but as long as you keep an eye on it, you should be okay.

In short, this is not a recipe where you can walk away from the kitchen and do something else for 30 minutes and expect to come back to anything edible.

But if you keep an eye on it and stir it frequently, you’ll be well rewarded with some beautiful granola.

Careful not to burn it!

The Fruits

Once your granola comes out of the oven, let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then toss in any dried fruit that you want to add to it. Again, I added some dried cherries and cranberries because that’s what I had on hand.

Some dried fruit.

Once the granola is cooled completely you can store it in a large freezer bag.

This stuff will keep for weeks without a problem.

It blends in pretty well actually!

I like to eat mine with milk, but Betsy likes hers with yogurt.

It also happens that I made granola that almost exactly matches the counters in my kitchen.

Am I right or what?

I like it as a cereal.

If your pantries are looking slightly overrun these days or if you’re just sick of your normal breakfasts, this is a really good way to use stuff up and change stuff up!

So, I have to ask. What’s your favorite granola ingredients? Leave a comment!

Normally, when I make oatmeal I add in lots of butter, brown sugar, and other healthy stuff. It’s delicious but also kind of weighty if you know what I mean. Of course, it’s possible to make oatmeal in an extremely healthy way also, I just tend toward the other end of the spectrum when I do it.

I love this version of oatmeal because it tastes much more decadent than it actually is. It’s healthy. It’s really flavorful and, as with any oatmeal, you can pile on toppings and customize it to your liking!

Such a great breakfast!

I learned this recipe from, hands down, the expert on everything oatmeal-related, Kath from Kath Eats. She’s been writing her site for years and it’s really an awesome resource if you need some great ideas for meals. I especially go to it first when I’m looking for a delicious oatmeal situation. I mean… just check out her Tribute to Oatmeal!

Ok. Let’s make it.

Banana Whipped Oatmeal

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup rolled oats
1 Cup lowfat or skim milk
1 Cup water
1 large very ripe banana. You could use two if you want it super banana-y
Pinch of kosher salt
Dash of vanilla (like 1/4-1/2 Teaspoon)
Toppings: Any dried fruits, any nuts, brown sugar, any nut butter at all, go crazy.

Directions:

1) Get the milk and water simmering over medium heat in a small saucepan.

2) Slice the banana thin and add the banana and oats to the pan.

3) As the oatmeal cooks, whisk like crazy to mix the banana in with the oatmeal. The banana should disappear. Add a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla at this point.

4) After about 7-8 minutes, the water should be evaporated. Add the dried fruit about a minute before the oats are done.

5) Serve immediately and top with whatever toppings you choose!

Adapted from Kath.

The basics for this dish are pretty standard.

Basics plus a banana.

Before you start cooking, think about your add-ins and toppings also. Just because you want to serve the oatmeal as soon as possible and you don’t want to be fiddling with this stuff.

For this version, I went with some dried cherries, pumpkins seeds, brown sugar, and almond butter. I literally just used stuff I had left over in my pantry. This recipe is a great use of leftover nuts and stuff that you have.

Go crazy here people.

They only thing I would say is don’t use instant oats. You want something with some weight to them to absorb some of the banana mush. I use normal rolled oats and they work fantastically.

Heaping cup will do the trick.

As far as the banana goes, the riper the better in my book. I like mine to be right on the borderline between getting mushy. It should smell really ripe!

Chop it up into pretty thin slices which will help with the whipping part.

A bit over ripe is fine.

Add your milk and water to a medium saucepan and and get it going over medium-high heat. When it’s just starting to simmer, add your oats and also the banana slices.

Don't worry. This will work.

Then get out your favorite whisk (What? You don’t have more than one whisk?) Just start whisking like crazy. As the oatmeal cooks, the banana will whip up into almost a creamy consistency and basically disappear. It’ll start smelling really good.

Add your dash of vanilla and pinch of salt now!

Get whiskin'!

After about 7-8 minutes, all the liquid should be absorbed. I also added in my dried cherries about a minute before the oatmeal was done so they would plump up a bit and get hot. I also added a pinch of brown sugar because I’m crazy like that.

The final product was really creamy and delicious.

7 or 8 minutes later.

Divide the oatmeal evenly between two bowls, top with your desired toppings, and serve. I’m telling you that if you make this for someone and don’t mention that you did the banana thing, they’ll be blown away by the taste and while it’s really creamy and a bit sweet, it’s actually hard to identify the exact flavor.

It’s a really awesome breakfast.

A great way to start the day.

There are literally thousands of variations you could make on this dish and trust me… once you make it, you’ll want to try all of them.

Start to finish this probably takes 15 minutes to cook and it’ll kick your day off right!

The version I photographed for this post was the sweet potato version.

Almost too healthy.

Quinoa, if you’ve never used it before, is an awesome grain. It’s packed with fiber and protein so it’s a great food if you’re vegetarian. It also happens to be delicious so even carnivores shouldn’t be afraid of the stuff. I’ve used it a few times on Macheesmo before, but this is by far the most quinoa-packed thing I’ve made.

Quinoa Salad

Yield: Serves 6-8.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Cups dried quinoa, rinsed
2 large sweet potatoes, cubed and blanched (or sub 1 medium butternut or acorn squash, halfed, roasted and cubed)
1 Cup dried cranberries
1 Cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
Juice from one lemon
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Teaspoon paprika (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Rinse Quinoa with cold water to remove dirt. Drain the quinoa and add it to a pot with 2 cups water for every 1 cup quinoa. Bring to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Be sure to check your cooking instructions on your quinoa as cooking times might vary a bit.

2) Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork and bake them at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until they are tender. Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes when they come out and then peel and dice them.

3) Mix cubed potatoes in with quinoa.

4) For dressing, whisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, and paprika together. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and pour it over your quinoa. Go light on the dressing. You might not need all of it.

5) Stir in cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

6) Taste for salt and pepper and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Making the quinoa

Quinoa is like any grain really. To cook it, just soak it for a few minutes in a bowl of cold water to remove any dirt. You don’t need to soak it overnight or anything.

Take a bath quinoa!

Next, add the quinoa to a large pot with cold water at a ratio of 2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa. Simmer on low heat, covered, for about 10 minutes until the water is absorbed and the quinoa has turned translucent. That’s how you know it’s done! Also it’ll be tender and tasty!

Nice and fluffy.

The Sweet Potatoes

Unlike some previous sweet potato experiments I’ve embarked on, for this salad the potatoes are pretty simple. First, stick your sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and poke a few holes in them with a fork. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes until they’re very tender.

By the way this is the same process I used for both the butternut squash and the acorn squash. Just chop them in half, poke some holes in the skin, and bake them for 50-60 minutes.

Let your potatoes cool for a few minutes after they come out of the oven and then peel and slice them into about 1/2 inch strips.

Love these guys.

Then cube them into even cubes! Each one of these should be pretty tender, but not mushy at all.

Nice and even.

Next, just mix your potatoes or squash with your cooked quinoa!

Simple.

The Dressing

I didn’t want a heavy dressing for this salad, but I felt like it needed something to add some flavor to it. The recipe I gave above is a pretty good start I think, but feel free to experiment.

A great dressing.

I just whisked all my ingredients together and then poured it over the quinoa and potato mixture. Stir everything together to make sure the grains and potatoes are evenly covered. Go light on the dressing people. You don’t want pools of dressing at the bottom of the bowl.

Next, add your dried fruit and pumpkin seeds. Of course, you could add any dried fruit that you wanted (cherries, chopped mango, etc.) and any seeds as well (sunflower?).

It's as simple as pouring stuff into a bowl.

Stir it all together and definitely taste it for salt and pepper. My versions always needed a big pinch of both.

Really easy people.

The salad is good warm or cold and keeps in the fridge for about a week.

Pretty and tasty.

This is a really healthy salad. Every time I brought it in for lunch, I felt like I had lots of energy in the afternoon which is always helpful. Not to mention that it’s really a cinch to make.

Leave a comment! Do you know of any other variations that would work with this?!

If, somehow, you don’t know what a blondie is, it’s basically a brownie but instead of chocolate, it has a brown sugar base. Blondies have these light caramel flavor that is heaven to me. The other good thing about blondies is you can mix in all kinds of extras into the batter.

Dense!

You could go crazy with add-ins for blondies (I almost did). One add-in that I think would be a good one would be some sort of nut, like walnuts maybe. I didn’t add them because I was planning on selling these guys and adding nuts to things sometimes makes them harder to sell because of nut allergies, etc.

Blondies

Yield: 9x13 dish. About 12 blondies.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup unsalted butter, plus a tiny bit to grease the pan
2 Cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

My Add-ins:
2 bananas, mushed
1 Cup dried cranberries
1 Cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Over a double-boiler, add the butter and brown sugar and whisk it together until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

2) Let this cool for a minute until it's warm to the touch then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour last. Try not to over-mix the batter.

3) Stir in the mix-ins.

4) Pour batter into a lightly buttered 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes depending on how firm you like your blondies.

5) Let them cool for 20-30 minutes on a wire cooling rack before digging in.

Adapted from a How to Cook Everything recipe.

Starting the Blondies

This is one of the easier batters to make honestly. It’s just got a few simple ingredients. Since it’s really so few ingredients, I decided to upgrade the butter from my normal butter to a European brand that has a bit more flavor. It added a richness to the bars that was awesome. You could use any unsalted butter though.

Basics for blondies

Over a double-boiler (also known for me as a pot with some water simmering in it and a metal bowl sitting on the pot), add your butter and brown sugar and whisk it all together for a few minutes until the butter is completely melted and the sugar is dissolved.

At this point, it will look really dark and be basically a simple caramel sauce.

A caramel sauce basically...

The Add-ins

As I said, just like brownies, you can add all kinds of fun things to these guys. I decided to do chocolate (because everyone loves chocolate), dried cranberries (for flavor and texture), and bananas. The bananas were interesting. I liked them mixed in. Betsy was on the fence about it I think.

The banana was interesting.

I gave my cranberries a very rough chop and mushed up my bananas.

Chopped and whipped

Back to the batter

Let your batter cool for a minute until it’s warm to the touch. Then whisk in your eggs, vanilla, salt, and finally your flour. Don’t over-mix the batter. It should be pretty moist.

Then fold in all your mix-ins. I added my chocolate last, but I don’t think it really matters what order you add them.

A pinch of chocolate.

Cooking the Blondies

Lightly butter a 9×13 inch baking dish and add all your blondie batter. Gently smooth out the top so they bake evenly.

Bake these at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes depending on how done you want your blondies.

After 30 minutes

Cooling The Blondies

Maybe the most important step in cooking these blondies is cooling these guys. If you’re like me, a slightly undercooked blondie/brownie is really the only way to go. There are still some crispy edges, but the interior parts will be a little gooey.

The only downside to under-cooking them slightly, is you can’t eat them right away unless you prefer to eat them with a spoon! So just cool them on a rack for 30 minutes or so and if you really under-cook them, you might want to even put them in the fridge for 30 minutes to set-up even more.

These were really tasty and laced with all kinds of good stuff.

These are stackable!

Wrapping the Bars

Of course, for a bake sale these all had to be individually wrapped. The last time I had to individually wrap something for a different bake sale, I maybe went a bit overboard, so I decided to go more minimalist this time around. Just parchment paper and butcher’s twine!

Wrapped and Ready!

I’m actually not sure if my blondies sold out… I don’t think they did just because there was SO MANY baked things there. But trust me, these are worth your time. They’re great for an office get together or anytime you just want some variety from the standard brownie (is that even possible?).

I changed my tune because I recently happened to have all the fixings for some muesli so I thought I’d whip some up before I left for work one day. I very loosely followed a recipe from Bon Appétit, but there is barely a need for a recipe.

This was my resulting bowl of health!

Kind of a humble thing.

You know why I think this stuff rocks and is perfect for a weekday breakfast? You don’t have to watch it! It’s not like normal oatmeal or eggs where you have to hover over the stove. Just throw some things in a bowl and then come back in a few minutes after a shower or something and breakfast is ready!

Fruit and Honey Muesli

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cup rolled oats
3/4 Cup milk
3/4 Cup lowfat yogurt
1 Teaspoon vanilla
3/4 Cup orange juice
1/3 Cup honey (or adjust for your sweetness desires)
1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, raisins, etc.)
Pinch of salt
Sunflower seeds or some other nut (optional topping)

Directions:

1) Toss your oats, yogurt, milk, and vanilla in a bowl and stir it up really well.

2) Let this sit for at least 5 minutes

3) In a separate bowl, mix together your orange juice and honey. Add your apples and dried fruit.

4) Let that sit for about 5 minutes to let the apples absorb some flavor.

5) Toss everything together, let it sit for 5 minutes, then enjoy!

Preparing the Oats

To make a good muesli, you’ll need these things. You could leave out the vanilla if you were in a crunch, but it adds a wonderful flavor to the bowl.

Oats are cheap! Vanilla... not so much.

Basically, just toss your oats, yogurt, milk, and vanilla in a bowl! Stir it up really well. It will look pretty liquidy, but your oats will absorb a good amount of liquid.

Not pictured: My skeptical glances.

Let this sit for at least 5 minutes, but you could let it sit longer if you’re doing something else. This was mine after about 5 minutes. All the milk was basically absorbed and the oats were pretty soft.

Just after 5 minutes!

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together your orange juice and honey to make sure the honey is completely dissolved. Then add your apples and dried fruit. You could sub out any fruit that you want honestly.

Kind of like sangria!

Let that sit for about 5 minutes to let the apples absorb some flavor and then toss everything together!

Kind of a mess.

The longer this sits the softer the oats will get and the less moisture there will be. I let mine sit for another 5 minutes or so before digging in!

The sunflower seeds add some good texture to the dish. Totally optional though.

Coffee is the drink of choice.

Quick, simple, and healthy. And also delicious! Ok. Maybe not cheesy omelet delicious, but a different kind of delicious. The kind that leaves you feeling ready to tackle the day ahead.

Try this next time instead of your normal oatmeal. I think you’ll be happily suprised.

And for me, there’s nothing like a good plate of stuffing. It’s the perfect side in so many ways. Since I usually brine or deep fry my turkey, I never actually stuff the bird with the stuffing. Instead, I always bake it separately.

My friend worked out a recipe last year that I continue to use and still say is one of the best I’ve ever tried. This year though, I decided to add some roasted chestnuts to it.

Very hard to beat this.

I posted on chestnuts in ravioli form a few weeks ago and there are some more detailed photos on how to prepare them in that post. You can also buy them jarred. Here’s the thing about the chestnuts in this version of the stuffing though: they are subtle.

Like almost invisible.

There are so many competing flavors going on (which trust me is a good thing) that the chestnuts get a bit lost. They do add some nice texture to the dish, but if you want a really big chestnut flavor to shine, you might consider doubling the chestnuts in the below recipe and eliminating the sausage.

After much test-tasting I decided that the sausage is what masked the chestnut flavors.

Chestnut Stuffing

Yield: 13x9 Pan. Serves 6-8.

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Breading:
1/2 loaf white bread, cubed
1/2 loaf wheat bread, cubed
Note: You can totally just use one or the other, but I like the mixing.

Sausage Base:
1 pound pork sausage. Spicy is good, but not essential
1/2 large onion, diced

Aromatics:
1 Cup celery, chopped (about 3 stalks)
1 Tablespoon fresh sage, minced
2 Teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
1 Teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

Other Flavorings:
1 Golden delicious apple, cored, peeled, and cubed
1 pound roasted chestnuts (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 Cup dried cranberries
1/3 Cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Cups turkey or chicken stock (this varies depending on your breading. More on this later)
1/3 Cup melted butter
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Cube bread up into relatively large pieces and toast it in a 300 degree oven until it’s super-crispy and dry for about 20-30 minutes. Give it a quick stir halfway through just to make sure it’s cooking/drying evenly.

2) Cut an X on all of chestnuts and roast them (you can do it at the same time you are toasting your bread) for about 20 minutes or until the shell peels back nicely on each chestnut.

3) When they are roasted, halve each nut and then handle each half basically like a clove of garlic. Gently smash it with the side of a knife, the chestnut will pop right out. Do that for each one.

4) Take the casings off sausage and cook over medium-high heat in a large skillet. If sausage is on the leaner side, you might need to add a tablespoon or two of oil just to help it out.

5) After it cooks for a few minutes and starts to brown, add diced onion to the pan.

6) When the sausage is completely cooked and the onion is translucent, add celery and cook for just a few more minutes.

7) Toss all of this stuff in a bowl with your roasted chestnuts. Add other aromatics (herbs) and flavor ingredients to the sausage mixture and then toss that all together with your bread mixture.

8) Stir it together well to make sure the bread soaks up as much moisture as possible from the sausage and onion.

9) Add stock and butter in 1/2 cup batches and stir well after each batch (approximately 2.5 Cups of stock). Add a big pinch of salt and pepper.

10) Pour stuffing mixture in a 9 x 13 pan.

11) Bake at 350 degrees with foil cover for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Prepping ingredients

The chestnuts are definitely the hardest part of this recipe. As for the other stuff, cube your bread up into relatively large pieces and toast it in a 300 degree oven until it’s super-crispy and dry. You don’t want it burned, but it should be crunchy like a crouton.

This should take about 20-30 minutes. Give it a quick stir halfway through just to make sure it’s cooking/drying evenly.

A white and wheat bread mix is good.

Then you can prep the stuff for your sausage mixture. This includes your sausage and onions. While you are at it you can chop up the aromatics also.

Sausage is optional I guess.

For the chestnuts, cut an X on all of them and roast them (you can do it at the same time you are toasting your bread) for about 20 minutes or until the shell peels back nicely on each chestnut.

This is a picture pre-roast. For more details on the chestnuts, check out the ravioli recipe.

Chestnuts roasting on a metal sheet...

When they are roasted, I halve each nut and then handle each half basically like a clove of garlic. Gently smash it with the side of a knife, the chestnut will pop right out. Do that for each one and you’ll have a big bowl of wonderful.

A good amount of chestnuts.

Cooking the sausage

Take the casings off your sausage and get it started cooking over medium-high heat in a large skillet. If your sausage is on the leaner side, you might need to add a tablespoon or two of oil just to help it out.

After it cooks for a few minutes and starts to brown, add your diced onion to the pan.

When the sausage is completely cooked and the onion is translucent, add your celery to the party and cook for just a few more minutes.

Toss all of this stuff in a bowl with your roasted chestnuts!

Just four ingredients, but a lot of flavor.

Bringing it all together

Add your other aromatics (herbs) and flavor ingredients to the sausage mixture and then toss that all together with your bread mixture.

Stir it together well to make sure the bread soaks up as much moisture as possible from the sausage and onion.

Then add your stock and butter to the party.

Add your stock in 1/2 cup batches and stir well after each batch. You want each bread cube to be well soaked, but there shouldn’t be any liquid left at the bottom of the pan. I probably used about 2.5 Cups of stock for my version and then mix in the melted butter last.

Also, add a big pinch of salt and pepper to the party. There’s no harm in giving this a taste at this point although it will be kind of room temperature. You are basically just tasting for salt and pepper levels.

Just remember, if it’s good now, it’ll be great later.

Warning: This will smell amazing.

Baking the stuffing

Pour your stuffing mixture in a 9X13 pan. You can really pack it in.

Ready for the oven.

Bake this at 350 degrees for a total of an hour. Bake it covered with foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 30 minutes.

And the trick to baking it is to make sure you give it a good stir every 15 minutes. This will prevent the bottom from getting too soggy and make sure everything cooks really evenly. I forgot to give mine a stir on one version that I made (I’ve made this twice in the past two weeks) and it was a noticeable difference.

Also, you may need to bake it for longer than an hour. Adding 15 minutes isn’t the end of the world. The end product should be moist, but not soggy and have some browned chunks throughout.

Betsy and I ate more of this than I can admit in public.

The above picture was actually of the version that I forgot to stir throughout the baking and you can see how some parts are super-crispy and some are a bit more soggy. But guess what, it was still delicious! It’s the best stuffing I’ve ever had, this just wasn’t the best version of the best stuffing I’ve ever had. Ya follow me?

So, in review:

- If you are going to be making a stuffing outside of the bird, this is one of the best I’ve ever had in my life (I’ve never actually stuffed it in the bird although I’m sure you could).

- If you want a real chestnut flavor, I’d axe the sausage and increase the chestnuts in the above recipe.

- If you don’t care about chestnuts, just leave them out. The stuffing is great without them. (Sorry chestnuts, but it’s true.)

- Stir the stuffing while baking to ensure amazingness.

If the braiding thing scares you, you can bake this normally as a boule I guess. I think the braiding and stacking does add a certain wow factor to the final celebration bread loaf though.

Am I right?

So good for the holidays.

There’s a lot of flavor in this bread. It’s kind of sweet and heavy much like a brioche loaf, and it’s studded with cranberries and walnuts which gives it a very Thanksgiving feel to it.

Celebration Bread

Yield: 1 large loaf.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours + 4 hours for rising

Ingredients:

3 Cups (13.5 ounces) unbleached bread flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 Teaspoon salt
3 1/2 Teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon or orange extract (I used lemon because I had it.)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 Cup buttermilk or milk at room temperature
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 Cups dried sweetened cranberries
3/4 Cups coarsely chopped walnuts
1/4 to 1/2 Cup water (I used 1/3 cup)

1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water for egg wash

Helpful Equipment:
Kitchen Scale

Directions:

1) Stir together dry ingredients so they are mixed well. Add wet ingredients and 1/3 cup of water.

2) Turn ball of dough onto a floured surface and start kneading it. The dough should be soft and pliable, but not sticky at all. If it’s too stiff, just need in spoonfuls of water until it softens up a bit. If the dough is too soft, you can knead in some flour.

3) Knead in cranberries and walnuts.

4) Add dough to a lightly oiled bowl (turn the dough ball around so the entire thing is lightly covered in oil) and let it rise at room temperature for about 2 hours or until it at least doubles in size in a bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap.

5) Divide the dough into six pieces. You need three larger pieces that should be 9-10 ounces in weight and then three smaller pieces that are closer to 4 ounces in weight.

6) Take three large strands and roll them out to be about 12 inches long and even diameter. Set all the strands out on a baking sheet with parchment paper so they are parallel to each other. Then, starting in the middle, take the strand on the far right and put it over the middle strand and under the left strand.

7) Braid the bread. Take the outside strand and wrap it over the center strand. Continue to braid the outside strand over the middle until that side is done. Pinch the three strands together so they don’t come apart in the oven. Turn loaf around and then braid the other end.

8) Make the exact same braid structure with the smaller three dough pieces. Instead of rolling them out to be 12 inches though, they should be 8-10 inches long. Braid them the exact same way though.

9) Set the smaller braided piece on top of the larger one. Brush the entire loaf with your egg wash and then let it rise a second time for about 90 minutes.

10) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. After 90 minute rise, brush the loaf a second time with egg wash.

11) Bake the bread on the same baking sheet with parchment paper for 50-60 minutes, rotating the bread halfway through so it cooks evenly.

12) Let cool for at least an hour before cutting.

Recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Making the Dough

If you bake even occasionally, you might notice that this recipe has a pretty good amount of yeast in it. Actually, it has kind of a lot of yeast in it.

Looks like a lot of yeast, but necessary.

Because of the high yeast content, the dough rises really nicely and has a great yeasty flavor to it. To start the dough stir together your dry ingredients so they are mixed well.

Then you’ll need your wet ingredients. I used lemon extract because I had it, but I think it might be more Thankgiving-ish if you used orange extract.

You could use orange extract also.

Add your wet ingredients and just enough water for the dough to come together in a ball. For me, this was about 1/3 of a cup. You might need more or less though.

Turn your ball of dough onto a floured surface and start kneading it. The dough should be soft and pliable, but not sticky at all. If it’s too stiff, just need in spoonfuls of water until it softens up a bit. If the dough is too soft, you can knead in some flour.

Then you’ll need your extras. You could use any sort of nut or dried fruit really, but these two make the whole final loaf taste very Thanksgiving.

Cranberries and walnuts were made for each other.

Mixing these ingredients into the dough takes some work actually. I was able to get all the cranberries and walnuts distributed equally in three batches, kneading for a minute or two between each batch.

It will seem like they won't all fit. But they will.

Once all your cranberries and walnuts are incorporated, add your dough to a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise at room temperature for about 2 hours or until it at least doubles in size. Be sure to turn the dough ball around in the bowl so the entire ball is lightly coated with oil. Make sure to cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.

Forming the loaf

After two hours, you’ll have a very beautiful ball of dough.

After a good rise.

Before you make your braid, you need to divide the dough into six pieces. You need three larger pieces that should be 9-10 ounces in weight and then three smaller pieces that are closer to 4 ounces in weight. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, just try to get them close.

All chopped up.

Take your three large strands and roll them out to be about 12 inches long and even diameter. Set all the strands out on a baking sheet with parchment paper so they are parallel to each other. Then, starting in the middle, take the strand on the far right and put it over the middle strand and under the left strand. Like this:

Get it?

Then you braid! Take the outside strand and wrap it over the center strand, like this!

Outside over middle. Repeat.

Continue to braid the outside strand over the middle until that side is done. Then pinch the three strands together so they don’t come apart in the oven. Turn your loaf around and then braid the other end.

The only difference about the other end is because of the way your braid is shaped you’ll weave the outside end under the middle strand. Again, when that end is done, pinch the three strands together.

You should end up with a good looking braid of bread.

Bottom level done.

It might sound like a lot of work, but it isn’t actually that hard once you get the hang of it.

You’ll want to make the exact same braid structure with the smaller three dough pieces. Instead of rolling them out to be 12 inches though, they should be 8-10 inches long. Braid them the exact same way though.

Then just set the smaller braided piece on top of the larger one.

Proofing the bread

Brush the entire loaf with your egg wash and then let it rise a second time for about 90 minutes.

The loaf will puff up very nicely.

This thing gets pretty huge.

Baking the bread

Before the bread is done with its second rise, be sure to preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

After 90 minutes, brush the loaf a second time with your egg wash. Brushing it twice will give it a really golden color and a crusty exterior.

Bake the bread on the same baking sheet with parchment paper. It’ll need to bake for a total of 50-60 minutes and be sure to rotate the bread halfway through so it cooks evenly.

When you pull it out, your bread should be a very deep brown and sound slightly hollow when thumped.

This was hard to cut into, because of its beauty.

Let this cool for at least an hour before slicing into it.

Fun to make. Good to eat.

I liked this bread a lot and so did Betsy. It’d be great to just have around the table during the day.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that you could make some killer French toast with it, but I didn’t actually test that theory…

As an aside, I used a photo of this bread in my 2010 Macheesmo calendar.

Ok. Sorry. Back to reality. I’ve been itching to make granola bars for a few weeks now and finally did it last weekend. Turns out that once you have the basics down for homemade granola, it’s pretty easy to make granola bars. Shocking I know.

I was in a peanut butter mood so I used that as a base flavor for the whole thing.

Better than store bought. No doubt.

So there are two basic parts to this recipe: First, make granola. Second, make granola bars. Luckily both steps are really easy and this recipe makes about 12-14 granola bars which are great to have on hand throughout the week.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Yield: 8x8 baking dish.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour + cooling time

Ingredients:

3 Cups rolled oats (can't use the instant stuff)
1 Cups various seeds and nuts (I used 2/3 Cups sunflower seeds, almonds, and cashews for this version)
1/2 Cup dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, etc)
1/2 Tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
Pinch of salt

Granola Bars:
The above granola recipe
3/4 Cup honey
1/2 Cup peanut butter
1/2 Cup Brown sugar
1/4 Cup neutral oil (grapeseed or corn works well)

Directions:

1) Roughly chop nuts and seeds and add them to oats. Add cinnamon and cocoa powder and a pinch of salt.

2) After the oats, nuts, seeds and seasonings are combined, stir together the honey and peanut butter in a separate bowl.

3) Pour that mixture into granola and stir really well to combine. Make sure everything is really evenly distributed. Spread out the mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet.

4) Cook at 350 for about 30 minutes and stir them every 5 minutes.

5) After the granola has turned a nice brown color it is done! Pull it out and let it cool.

6) Add dried fruit.

7) For bars, mix all the ingredients except the granola in a medium saucepan and put it over medium heat. Stir it just until it starts to bubble and all of the ingredients are melted.

8) Pour it straight over the granola! Mix this up well again.

9) Pack it into a square baking dish. Push down on it with a spatula to even it out and compress the oats

10) Stick this in the fridge for at least 2 hours and then you can slice it up!

11) If the granola is really hard, you can let it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes and it will soften up a bit.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything.

The benefits of a full pantry.

What’s kind of nice about keeping a well-stocked pantry is it very frequently pays what I like to call pantry dividends. This recipe is a case in point. For me, all I had to do for this recipe was buy dried cranberries. I had every other ingredient needed.

Making the granola

Granola is really simple to make and you are completely missing out if your buying the store bought stuff. It’s just so awesome to be able to customize it to whatever tastes you want.

To make it, roughly chop your nuts and seeds if necessary and add them to your oats.

Nuts and oats.

Next add your cinnamon and cocoa powder if your using them and a pinch of salt.

Please note the below photo where I made the mistake of adding my dried fruit. You aren’t supposed to add that until after you bake the granola. That’s what I get for trying to make granola, take photos, and yell at the Washington Redskins all at the same time.

A mild mistake.

After your oats, nuts, seeds and seasonings are combined, stir together your honey and peanut butter in a separate bowl.

Resist eating it like a soup.

I could just eat this with a spoon.

Then pour that mixture into your granola and stir really well to combine. Make sure everything is really evenly distributed.

Then spread out the mixture on two rimmed baking sheets.

Looks like oatmeal, smells like peanut butter.

Cooking the granola

Cook these sheets at 350 for about 30 minutes and stir them every 5 minutes. If you don’t stir them every few minutes, the peanut butter will burn and that would be very sad.

After your granola has turned a nice brown color it is done! Pull it out and let it cool. NOW you can add your dried fruit. If you are like me and you happen to mess that up, it’s okay. Just be sure to stir everything well while it’s cooking. You run the extra danger of the dried fruit burning.

Mine turned out fine though even with my mess up.

Keep an eye on this stuff.

Making Bars

The only thing you need to make bars now is a light syrup that will hold all of that delicious granola together. You can also take this as an opportunity to add even more peanut butter flavor to the party.

Mix all the ingredients except the granola in a medium saucepan and put it over medium heat. Stir it just until it starts to bubble and all of the ingredients are melted.

Then pour it straight over your granola!

The Gooey stuff.

Mix this up well again. It will be more gooey than the first batch. Pack it into a square baking dish. Push down on it with a spatula to even it out and compress the oats. Just light pressure will do. No need to show off the guns or anything.

Press it into a pan.

Stick this in your fridge for at least 2 hours and then you can slice it up!

If the granola is really hard, you can let it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes and it will soften up a bit.

Very tasty.

You can keep these in the fridge for a week or two without a problem. When I first take one of these bars out of the fridge, it’s rock hard. But after about 10 minutes it is softer but still crunchy. Just like I like them!

And the peanut butter flavor is great. It’s amazing how just a little bit of peanut butter can really flavor a lot of food.

You may note that I only used half of the granola for the bars. You can save the other half in a sealed plastic bag to either make more bars or just eat like cereal.

This is the kind of thing that I really believe is so easy to integrate into your weekly or monthly schedule and I think you’ll be absolutely shocked at how much crunchier, tastier, and healthier they are than 99% of the ones you buy in the store. Give it a shot sometime!

That goal happened to coincide with a email from a reader asking if I had ever made protein bars, which I hadn’t, so I thought this would be a good time to give it a shot. This is what I ended up with:

Popeye should have eaten these.

The problem with a lot of protein bars that you buy in the store is they are A) expensive and B) not actually that healthy for you. I tried to solve both of those problems. I took a recipe from Alton Brown and modified it a bit. These are the ingredients I used.

Great ingredients

Macheesmo Muscle Bars

Dry Stuff:
- 4 ounces protein (I used vanilla soy, but go crazy. This is about 1 Cup.)
- 2 1/4 ounces oat bran (1/2 Cup)
- 3/4 ounces wheat germ (1/4 Cup)
- 1 ounce rolled oats (1/4 Cup)
- 1/2 Teaspoon kosher salt

Wet Batter:
- 12.5 ounces silken or soft tofu. An average container is 15 ounces, which is a bit much.
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 Cup almond butter (you could use peanut butter to save some $)
- 1/2 Cup Orange Juice, or apple juice
- 2 3/4 ounces whole wheat flour (1/2 Cup)

Other stuff:
- 3 ounces golden raisins
- 3 ounces dried cherries
- 5 ounces dried cranberries
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

So this does look like kind of a lot of ingredients and I would encourage you to experiment to reduce costs and also change up flavors. Try to keep the dry/wet ratio about the same. Also, this is one of those recipes that is expensive the first time you make it because the protein, wheat germ, and almond butter if you are using that. These are sort of pricey, but if you make these more than once your costs per bar will plummet.

Also, I did this recipe by weight because I wanted to actually calculate the nutritional info in each bar. I don’t think it is that important to the recipe. I’m pretty sure you could use the approximations above and end up okay.

To start, let’s mix up our dried fruits just to get that out of the way. Also, now would be a good time to preheat your oven to 350.

Don't skimp on the fruit here.

Then mix together the dry ingredients listed above. This recipe is very easy once you have all your stuff together.

Dry stuff.

Next we need to make the wet batter. To start, whisk your tofu until it is light and a bit fluffy. Then add all of your wet stuff. Finally, add your flour to the mix. Whisk well to combine.

Wet stuff.

Next, incorporate your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients. Do about 1/3 of your dry at a time. You will need to switch to a fork to combine it all. It’s okay if it is a bit clumpy.

Mixed together.

Finally, stir in your fruit. I used raisins, cranberries, and cherries. Alton likes blueberries. Totally experiment here. You could try adding some nuts, or chocolate or tons of other stuff.

This is not rocket science.

Dump this batter in a 9 X 13 baking dish. It will be pretty thick. I lined mine with parchment paper which I highly recommend. I also sprayed my parchment paper with nonstick spray which I also recommend. If you don’t use the parchment paper, definitely use the spray.

Ready for the heat.

Bake this at 350 for 35-40 minutes. The dish will set up nicely.

These were pretty good like this.

I cut this tray into 16 bars. If you go smaller than that then they would be too flimsy I think. I tried a bit of one without chocolate and it was awesome. If you are using chocolate, be sure the bars cool to room temperature before you top them.

Why would you not coat these in chocolate?

These were not very hard and I’ve been eating them all week. My biceps are loving it.

As I noted before, I had the idea to calculate the nutritional info on these to see how they stack up to other bars. At first, I thought this would be an easy thing to do. I ended up with this crazy set of notes.

This was, by far, the hardest part of this recipe.

Ultimately though, I did manage to get the data right. Of course, these are still a bit inaccurate because it assumes that I cut every bar to the exact same size by weight. Oh well, it is close.

Per Bar:
Calories: 266
Fat: 10.2 g
Sodium: 200 mg
Cholesterol: 30 mg
Carbs: 34 g
Fiber: 3.7 g
Protein: 13.3 g

That is a pretty solid ratio of calories to protein. It would be even better without the chocolate which added some fat and calories without giving any fiber or protein. Oh well. This stacks up pretty well against most of the bars. The only bar I found that had a lot more protein was the Powerbar Protein Plus. It came in at over 20 grams of protein. I think it almost qualifies as steroids. My bar kicks its butt on taste though.

If you are looking for a decent afternoon snack that is packed with Protein, these are a great option. They keep easily for two weeks in the fridge.

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Quick, easy, and delicious.

I don’t eat a lot of tuna, but when I do I like it rare and bare. It’s such a flavorful fish that I don’t like to do a lot with it. At the most I’ll make a light sauce, but sometimes I like to serve it like this: crusted in sesame seeds and lightly seared on both sides.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. I also wanted to make a light and easy salad to serve with this. I went with a couscous salad that takes a few minutes to prepare and is also light and healthy. If you’ve never made couscous before I really recommend it. It takes no time at all and I think it is easier to make then pasta even.

There are tons of recipes out there for couscous salad. I just made this one up, but I encourage you to experiment with what you have. Couscous by itself has a pretty bland flavor so don’t be afraid to pair flavorful things with it.

Couscous Salad
- 1 cup uncooked couscous (makes two cups cooked)
- 1 small red onion or 1/2 a large one, finely chopped
- 1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced
- 1/2 bunch of mint, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon chopped basil
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (just toast them in a pan for a few minutes on medium until they darken a bit and start to smell wonderful)
- Salt

All of these ingredients are pretty optional and there are a ton of others you could add. Try old faithful Google to get some other ideas.

The start of something good.

Once you get all those ingredients chopped, throw in your pine nuts and cranberries and continue to stir.

Giving the salad some sweetness and texture.

Then throw in your Couscous and stir well. Salt to taste. There are a bunch of other spices you could add obviously, but I kept it simple this time around.

Of cous this was delicious.

Stick this in the fridge and let it chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you can work on your tuna steak. Not that there is much to do with it. Take it out and stick it on a plate with a good amount sesame seeds.

A beauty.

Turn it over and get both sides. Don’t be afraid. You can’t over sesame this thing.

Don't go light on the sesame.

I thought about taking of photo of this guy cooking, but it is very easy and so fast that I barely had time. I seared it in my cast iron skillet by putting a Tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and heating it. Heating it until the oil is almost smoking. This plop your steak right in the middle. Turn on your fan! it will hiss, pop, and complain. Don’t worry about it.

To get the sear I got on mine, I cooked it for 2.5 minutes on each side. Then for about 30 seconds on the edges. A good pair of tongs is helpful for turning and holding. That’s it! Pull it off and you will end up with this:

Ready to slice.

Let this sit for a few minutes before cutting so the meat relaxes a bit. Then slice in to 1/2 inch slices working against the grain. For me this was from the smallest tip back to the larger side. Serve this with a big heap of the couscous salad and maybe some fruit and you are all set!

This dish added like a year onto my life.

Cooking a meal like this really reminds me why I love cooking. It’s healthy, easy, and I feel ready to tackle the next day.

If you can find nice tuna in your area, give it a shot!