A Great New Year's DIY Gift (and yummy too!)

Everyone is watching their wallets this year, so home-made gifts are super popular right now. Here’s a great idea from guest blogger, my sister Aileen. 
It’s really healthy, delicious and easy to make. Of course, buying granola at the store is faster, but home-made granola tastes better and uses better ingredients.


CRUNCH GRANOLA

Yield: 8 cups (around 16 servings)
TIme: 40 minutes

This is a base recipe for granola. You can basically add anything you want to it: grains such as rye or wheat; dried fruit like cranberries or blueberries; spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom; any kind of nut or seed such as flax seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, walnuts, etc. You can also include chocolate or peanut butter chips, orange zest or crystallized ginger.

Ingredients:

6 cups of rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
2 cups mixed nuts and/or seeds (I like using 1/2 almond and 1/2 cashews)
1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut, optional
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Dash of salt
1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste
1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit, optional (I like red/golden raisins, cranberries and blueberries)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the oats, coconut, nuts/seeds, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
2. Pour wet ingredients over it (honey, vanilla) and mix together. 
3. Spread mixture into two 11 x 17 brownie pans. Bake for 30 minutes or more, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The granola should brown evenly. The browner it becomes (without burning) the crunchier the granola will turn out!
4. Remove pans from oven and add raisins or dried fruit substitute. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola is room temperature.
5. Transfer to a sealed container. If stored in a cool, dry place, it should keep up to 2 weeks. If kept in the refrigerator, it should keep indefinitely.


Gift Wrap:

It's all about the presentation! I found these nice jars at Sur La Table for $3 each and filled them with the granola.  

1. I designed and printed out 2.5" diameter circle labels and glued them on top of the jars. You can cut circles out of construction paper and hand write your labels also. 

2. The same goes for the hang tags, which are just 5"w by 1"h pieces of paper folded in half with a slit cut in it. You can write messages or list the ingredients. 

3. String a ribbon loop through the slit and double knot. 

4. Then wrap a long ribbon around the top of the jar through the metal fasteners. String the hang tag through. 

5. Tie a ribbon at the opening of the jar and curl by running a scissor blade down the length of the ribbon. And there you have it: a delicious, healthy, presentable and affordable gift for any occasion.


Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!

"CPP"

Since Christmas this year was just James and I, I made a chicken pot pie for warmth, comfort, and a sense of home.

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts - to make from scratch, easy peasy recipe below!

Directions

1. Line bottom of pie crust. Set aside.

2. Boil chicken breasts, about 10-15 minutes. Then set aside to cool. Once cooled, cube.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and whisk vigorously. Once mixed, add milk and chicken broth, salt, pepper. Then carrots, celery, peas, onions, chicken. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Then cool slightly.

4. Pour mixture into bottom pie crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Easy Peasy Pie Crust (Pâte Brisée)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

3 to 6 Tbsp ice water

1. Cut the sticks of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes to an hour (the longer the better) so that they become thoroughly chilled.

2. Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again.

3. Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

4. Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

5. Add filling to the pie.

6. Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork. Score the top of the pie with four 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

I was emailed this picture and it was captioned "Thousand Protest Global Warming". I thought it was cute... :)

Hope everyone is enjoying time with loved ones. Lots of love and warm thoughts to ours.

Pound Cake Varieties

As per request, here are some pound cake recipes from my visual diary.

Old-Fashioned Pound Cake
Yield: 2 loaves

2 3/4 c (375g) Cake Flour
2 1/4 tsp (11g) Baking Powder
1 1/8 c (265g) Butter, soft
1 1/3 c (265g) Sugar
1/2 tsp (3.5g) Salt
8 1/2 (425g) Eggs

Method:
1. Grease two 9x5 loaf pan. Preheat ovens at 350F.
2. Sift together the flour and baking powder.
3. Cream butter, sugar, and salt on medium speed with the paddle attachment, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the mixture is smooth and light in color.
4. Add in eggs one at a time. Mix until well combined.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until just blended.
6. Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Cool the cakes in the pans for a few minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Here are some yummy varieties of the traditional pound cake.

Marble Chocolate Pound Cake
Yield: 2 loaves

1 1/8 c butter
1/2 tsp Salt
8 Whole eggs
3 1/8 c Powdered Sugar, sifted
2 1/4 c Cake flour, sifted
3 1/8 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 c Cocoa powder
1/2 c Milk

Method:
1. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and powdered sugar together until light in color and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Mix until incorporated.
4. Sift flour, baking power and salt. Add to the butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated.
5. Pour 13 oz of batter (about half) into another bowl. Mix in cocoa powder and milk.
6. Starting with vanilla batter, pour in alternating layers into pan. Run a knife, spatula or skewer threw batter after every chocolate layer to make more marbling effect.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest in pan upon removal for a couple minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely.

By substituting the 1 oz cocoa powder with 2 oz pistachio paste this pound cake easily turns into a Marble Pistachio Pound Cake!
Should pistachio paste be an ingredient hard to come by, you can use 3 oz ground pistachio, 1 oz oil to substitute too.