I am too headstrong and stubborn to be a practical home cook. When I want something, I want it. I wanted granola, for example. I couldn’t buy it for goodness’ sake. Too easy. So what if granola has to bake for hours and hours? Does it matter that it’s 90ºF and the apartment is itself a little oven? No. A little thing like summertime wasn’t going to stop me (and it didn’t stop me last year, either).

So I baked granola, and we all baked, too, in our hot little apartment (our wills have since broken and we’ve starting using the air conditioning). Nobody complained, though, because the apartment smelled like granola, which, if you’ve ever baked it, you know smells a little bit like presents and kisses and music and lots of other good things, too. 

I didn’t use a recipe (and after you bake granola a couple of times, you probably won’t either because it’s so simple), but my ingredients were inspired by the granola at a particularly fine breakfast establishment in my neighborhood. They serve theirs with Greek yogurt (the real, full-fat deal), honey, and fresh slices of banana and strawberry on top, which is heaven. I like it with milk, too.

The fruit can get a bit chewy and hard after being baked for such a long time. I kind of like this, but you may not. You can cope with this either by chopping your fruit into much tinier pieces, or by adding the fruit after the rest of the ingredients have been baked.

This recipe can be daunting because of the amount of time it takes to bake the granola, and it’s really, really important that the granola be totally dry, or it will taste stale after being stored. Fret not! I started my granola a few hours before bedtime and turned it each hour, then left it in a 200ºF oven overnight. When it was not dry the following morning, I reduced the temperature a bit and left it in the oven all day while I was at work. Don’t be afraid of a warm oven! The granola will not burn, I promise. 

Remember, granola is easy. The hardest part of this recipe is buying the ingredients. If you can stir, you can make granola. 

Granola with Cherries and Apricots

• 21 ounces old fashioned oats
• 2-3 ounces sliced almonds
• 6 ounces dried cherries
• 6 ounces dried apricots
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup wheat bran (optional)
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 200ºF. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, whisk honey, butter and coconut oil. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until combined. You may find it easier to use your hands. 

Transfer granola to an 11” x 13” baking dish, or a roasting pan. Place in warm oven and cook for at least 8 hours, turning the granola occasionally with a spatula.

If, after 8 hours, the granola is not dry, reduce oven temperature to 180ºF and continue cooking until dry. It’s not as important to turn the granola at this point, but turning occasionally will help it to cook more evenly and quickly.

I’m back from my long blogging vacation with a recipe that’s as versatile as they come. 

My family starts every new year alike: with a hearty breakfast of mushrooms on toast. This savory breakfast holds a special place in our family arsenal of traditional recipes, partially because of its amazing ability to soak up New Year’s Eve champagne and ease hangover woes, and partially because it’s just plain good.

We found the recipe in an Australian cookbook years ago, and mushrooms on toast was the highlight of many a weeknight family dinner before assuming its place at that most pivotal of breakfasts on New Year’s Day. It made an equally balanced dinner as it did a breakfast, and since I now spend most days serving people breakfast instead of enjoying it myself, I impatiently held out ‘til dinnertime this New Year’s.

I stopped using the cookbook’s recipe for mushrooms on toast years ago, so I can’t remember how similar my recipe is to that of Bill Granger, its creator. The essence of the recipe hasn’t changed: garlicky toast smeared with cold ricotta cheese and topped with mushrooms cooked in balsamic vinegar and herbs. I recommend it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even as an afternoon snack. It’s fun (and faster!) to make it with a partner, and much tastier when eaten in good company. That said, it’s an easy recipe to make for yourself, since you only have to make as many toasts as you think you will eat, and the mushroom topping is easily saved and reheated. I’ll leave you with a recipe that serves 2, but is easily multiplied as needed.

Mushrooms on Toast (adapted from Bill’s Food)

• thick-crusted sourdough bread with a large cross-section (the surface for the mushrooms), such as a boule
• a couple of whole garlic cloves
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 16 ounces fresh mushrooms (You can use one variety or an assortment.)
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest
• 1/2 cup ricotta

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cut the sourdough into thick slices. Brush the top of each slice with extra-virgin olive oil and rub with a peeled garlic clove. Place the slices face up on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. 

2. Finely chop the shallot. In a medium skillet, sauté the shallot until lightly browned in the butter. Add the mushrooms, washed and thinly sliced, and stir occasionally over medium heat until they start to soften. Add the vinegar, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are completely softened, still stirring occasionally. Remove the cover, add salt and pepper to taste, and allow most of the moisture to evaporate. Add the herbs and lemon zest and stir to combine. Remove from heat. 

3. Spread the ricotta onto the toasts and top with a generous spoonful of mushrooms. 

The past few days have found me marooned in my apartment with a fever, a hacking cough, a sore throat, swollen glands, itchy ears, and chills. (If you’re one of the people to whom I’ve lately mused about how an illness might afford me some much needed down time, rest assured that I’ve learned my lesson.) I don’t get sick very often and so when I do, I’m a real baby about it. Surprisingly, whining and whimpering in discomfort have done little to quell my symptoms. So a couple of days ago, in a moment of desperation, I mustered up the little strength I had and did the unthinkable: I made pancakes. 

Don’t get me wrong! I adore pancakes, but they fall into the sad food group composed of dishes that are too much of a bother to cook for one person. The mathematics involved in dividing a recipe by 6 or 8 is usually too much of a headache (especially on top of the sinus headache I’m already suffering), but I had fresh cranberries in the fridge that I really needed to do something with for goodness’ sake. And I needed pancakes. I kept it simple by dividing the recipe by 2 instead of, say, 4, and learned my lesson in the form of an admittedly-not-so-short stack. 

These pancakes are chock full of sour cranberries and I deluded myself into making them feel a bit healthier by substituting a bit of whole wheat flour and soy milk (you know, because I’m sick). Not wanting to ruin the fun, I doused them in maple syrup (real - it has to be real), which I first simmered on the stovetopwith leftover cranberries. I even topped them with butter because, even though the pancakes really didn’t need it, I find that when I’m sick it’s really much better just to indulge myself. 

Of course, you could use real milk and all white flour, or a higher percentage of whole wheat flour. As you can see, mine were admittedly not so whole wheaty, and I was pleasantly surprised since I mainly included the wheat flour for posterity’s sake (and because I have a canister of locally milled whole wheat flour that I never use, and on this particular day, where my head was clearly muddled by massive amounts of congestion, I worried that it felt ignored). Also, if you don’t have a griddle and can cook several pancakes at the same time, I suggest putting a plate in a warm oven and putting your finished pancakes there until a bit of aluminum foil to keep them warm and moist. No one likes cold pancakes!

Cranberry Pancakes (adapted from Too Many Chefs; serves 1 very self-indulgent sick girl)

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• butter for skillet

1. Mix the flours, baking powder, and half of the sugar in a medium mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg and the soy milk. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, whisking until just combined with no lumps. Rinse the cranberries. In a third bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the cranberries and set aside.

2. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add a tiny bit of butter to the skillet (I always add too much and my first pancake ends up looking more like a funnel cake) and allow it to melt, swirling it around the skillet to coat the entire bottom.

3. Drop the batter into the skillet 1/4 cup at a time. After the batter has spread out a bit, drop several cranberries into each pancake. Allow to cook until bubbles form in the center of the pancake and the bottom is golden brown, then flip and cook until the other side is similarly golden brown (the second side will cook faster than the first). Move to a warm oven until your batter is gone.

This ridiculously simple French rice pudding is soul food that’s equally delicious for dessert as it is for breakfast the next morning. It may also be the best cure for a broken heart, especially when served to those you love most, which is why I packed an overnight back and made the hour-long trip to my parents’ house at midnight a couple of weeks ago, and then cooked them up a steaming pot of riz au lait. 

Making riz au lait (pronounced, roughly, ree-oh-lay) is a labor of love, so diligently must it be tended to, so slowly must it be forced to absorb a great amount of milk, so frequently must it be stirred to avoid the constant potential of burning. Unless you have a proliferation of spoons and can use a new one for every taste, I don’t recommend making riz au lait if you’re sick, or cooking for someone who would be totally grossed out by double dipping. The only way to make a truly successful riz au lait is to taste constantly. You’re striving for a perfect balance, the tipping point at which point the rice has absorbed as much milk as possible but has not yet begun to lose its shape and fall into depressing mushiness. (I will say that I have a genetic disposition to making rice that clearly fits the description of “depressingly mushy,” so perhaps I exaggerate the precision it takes to make a perfectly tender yet shapely riz au lait.) You can also play around a lot with the amount of milk depending on whether you prefer a more scoopable rice pudding or one that’s more liquid. Either way, not overcooking the rice is important. 

You can add all sorts of extras to your riz au lait; I prefer to top mine with a sprinkle of cinnamon and maybe some chopped apple for crunch. Sweet and creamy on its own, it’s also delicious plain, either hot or cold (I usually eat it hot for dessert and cold for breakfast). 

Riz Au Lait

• 2 cups medium- or short-grain white rice
• about 3 quarts milk (I prefer 2% or whole for riz au lait, and the amount I use varies depending on my rice so having extra on hand isn’t a bad idea.)
• sugar to taste (I use about 1/4 cup usually)
• cinnamon, apple, or whatever you prefer as garnish

1. Pour the rice into a heavy-bottomed pot. Add enough milk to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and stir, uncovered, until most of the milk has been absorbed.

2. Add another cup or so of milk. Stir over very low heat until most of milk is absorbed. Repeat until the rice is very tender. Stir in sugar to taste and serve hot or cold. 

It’s hotter than you-know-where in my little apartment! Though I’m normally keen on a perfectly over-easy egg on a piece of toast for breakfast, there is no way I’m turning on my stove in the morning, when the apartment has finally cooled (which is not to say that it is cool - maybe lukewarm is a more appropriate word?) after a night of inactivity and open windows. No, I don’t want anything to do with a hot breakfast.

What I really want - and this shocks even me - is cereal. It’s an unusual craving for me, and even when a bowl of the stuff does sound appetizing I try my best to resist because it simply doesn’t last long in my stomach and I am, inevitably, hungry again long before lunchtime. 

Plus, the sugar! Boxed cereal is packed full of the stuff. I’m already hopped up on enough strong black coffee to have any need to be shoveling sugar into my body by the heaping, milk-soaked spoonful. 

All that said, if there is one cereal whose charms I absolutely can’t resist (and one that actually satisfied my ravenous morning appetite), it’s my mother’s homemade granola. I like it best with almond milk or sprinkled over yogurt or vanilla ice cream. It tastes of my sweetest childhood memories, and plays such a central role in my family’s gastronomical genome that I can’t imagine that it won’t be passed down to generations to come. Additionally, it’s easy as pie to make (erm, much easier than pie actually) and doesn’t take much attention to detail (Mama claims to have forgotten her granola in the oven once, letting it cook all night long, and finding it perfect the next morning.)

Since the sweetness comes from honey and coconut, you can control the amount of sugar by decreasing the amount of honey or by using unsweetened coconut. Mine isn’t very sweet, and I like it that way, but I also think it would be interesting to increase the honey by half or so.

Mama’s recipe makes a lot of granola, but it’s easily halved or doubled based on the size of the oats container you use. I recommend following the measurements in this recipe and storing the finished granola in a sealed container to keep it fresh. Keep in mind that the below measurements for the nuts and coconut are those that I used, but can be increased or decreased as you wish! The coconut’s my favorite, so I could happily have increased the amount. Also, it would be super easy to add or substitute your own ingredients at the end. Let me know what tastes best to you!

Mama’s Granola

• 1 42-ounce container of old fashioned oats (not instant)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup very hot water
• 3 cups sweetened flaked coconut 
• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 1-1/2 cup raw, slivered  or sliced almonds
• 1-1/2 cups salted, toasted sunflower seeds

1. Preheat oven to 200ºF. With a wooden spoon, combine oats, vegetable oil and honey in a large bowl. Fill the measuring cup used for honey with the hot water and use water to empty any remaining honey into the mixture. 

2. Turn mixture into a large roasting pan or two smaller pans. Place on center rack in oven and bake for several hours until dry, turning occasionally with a spoon.3. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Meanwhile, toast the coconut for about 20 minutes (or until golden at the edges) in a 300ºF oven. Spread the coconut into a thin layer on a baking sheet and stir every 5 minutes.

4. Return oats to a large, clean bowl and add remaining ingredients. Move to a storage container (a large Mason-type jar works well) and enjoy often! 

For someone who claims she doesn’t like bananas, I can’t believe this is my second banana-centric post. I prefer to think that general distaste for bananas is a testament to how amazing these recipes truly are, because somehow they’ve broken me down, brought me metaphorically to my knees, begging for more bananas! And once again, it was with my boyfriend that I was brave enough (and thank goodness I was!) to venture into unknown banana waters, only to discover that sometimes, only sometimes, I positively love bananas.

I had just moved into my new flat in March and was risking falling into a black hole of renovation project when Colin decided to surprise me with a visit and distract me from paint, cleaning supplies, and hardware. It’s largely unfurnished state luckily drove us to go out to breakfast, when after a lengthy search on our favorite review site we landed in our new favorite bakery-café. Everything is so delectable and perfect that Colin claims he would order mustard-smeared olives and pickles (his three wont-eat’s) if they were on the menu.

If you have several hours to spare, I’ll gladly dissect every dish I’ve ever tried from this particular neighborhood gem, but since you probably don’t, suffice it to say: cinnamon challah French toast and warm banana syrup. Need I go on? Its only fault is that, until today, I had to walk about 9 blocks to get to it.

I would love to bake all of my own bread, but like the average employed person I find baking bread to be too time-consuming to do it often. I made an exception for the greater good of this French toast because the cinnamon challah makes it wonderfully airy. This recipe makes one humongous loaf of bread, so I feel like a certain portion could easily be frozen and thawed for future French toast delight. (Do I plan to exercise such self-control? Of course not!) In any case, it’s not a challenging bread recipe because all of the ingredients are basically just dumped together into a large bowl, mixed, left to rise, rolled out, rolled up, left to rest, and then baked into a 4-pound piece of heaven!

The bread can be made one or several days in advance. The French serve French toast as a dessert, not a breakfast (and I certainly condone eating this rendition in the evening as well as the morning!), and they call it pain perdu, or lost bread, meaning they soak stale bread in egg and milk to make it soft and edible again.

Cinnamon Challah French Toast (adapted from Creative Loafing)

For bread:

• 1-3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1-1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1-1/2 tablespoons salt
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/4 cup canola oil
• 7 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

For egg wash:

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Per slice of French toast:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk or half and half (for richer toast)
• 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, sugar, and oil with the water in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix without kneading, using a spoon or the dough hook attachment on a standing mixer.

2. Cover bowl with a damp tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place (hello, outside in summertime!) for at least two hours. At this point, dough can be refrigerated for up to a couple of days. Cold dough is easier to handle. 

3. Turn dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly with your hands. Form into a loaf shape and use a rolling pin to roll out into a large rectangle. The larger the rectangle, the more cinnamon swirls you’ll have. 

4. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon and lightly rub with your hands until evenly distributed. Roll up the dough, starting on the widest side so the loaf is longer. Take care to roll the loaf so the loose end is on the bottom and tuck under ends. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. If dough has been refrigerated, allow to rise for 1 hour and 20 minutes; if not, allow to rise for 40 minutes.

5. 15 minutes before bake time, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Whisk together ingredients for egg wash and brush the top of the raw loaf with the wash.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on the width of your loaf, or until top is shiny and brown. Allow to cool. Enjoy a slice in the meantime.

7. Whisk together the ingredients for the French toast and pour into a shallow, flat-bottomed container. Soak the slices of bread for several minutes, turning once to get both sides, and cook in heavy skillet until golden brown on both sides. Move to a warm oven (200ºF) until all pieces have been cooked, then serve with warm banana syrup (recipe follows) and fresh banana slices. 

Warm Banana Syrup

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 banana, mashed

1. In a small saucepan, stir together all ingredients. Place over low heat and stir frequently with a whisk until thick and golden, about 15-20 minutes.