A lot on her plate: coconut + almond granola

If you read my previous post, it showed and explained how I took the time to read the intro and author notes at the beginning of the book but it now came time to put them into action.

I scouted around the book looking for something easy to try out and settled on what looked the most simple and appealing : coconut and almond granola.

After a quick run to the store, I gathered the ingredients and set up to start cooking.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of oats

3 oz. pumpkin seeds

1/2 g oz. sunflower seeds

1 2/3 cups flaked almonds

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1 1/2 tsp mixed spices (cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg)

4 tbsp. coconut oil

4 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 cup sultanas

This recipe is very straightforward, so basically all I had to do was mix all the ingredients, and bake the mix in the oven for 10-15 min. The first ingredients I mixed together were the oats, almonds, and shredded coconut.

The next ingredients I mixed together were the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and spices.

    

 

After incorporating these ingredients, I mixed them all together. After that, I added the 4 tablespoons of coconut oil and maple syrup.

Finally, having all the ingredients completely mixed, I transferred the mix to two parchment paper lined trays and popped them in the oven. After they were in, I set the timer for 15 min.

Halfway through their cooking process, I took them out and tossed/stirred them, making sure they were evenly dispersed before putting them back in the oven to cook for the remainder of the time. Once they were done, and the whole kitchen smelt like maple syrup, I took them out of the oven as they had finally turned golden brown.

   

  

    

All that was left was for me was to add the sultanas to the finished mixture and make myself a bowl of granola cereal, putting the rest away in a sealed jar for future breakfasts to come.

For my first attempt at cooking one of the recipes, it went surprisingly well! But then again, it's not very hard to mix a couple ingredients together and put them in the oven for a little bit. Because of how great this recipe turned out, I look forward the more challenging dishes in the future.

Q: Do you consider yourself to be a very good cook? If yes, what/who do you contribute some of your skills to? If not, why do you think that is and what can you do to change that?

The apple (cobbler) of my eye!

 French Apple cobbler

Hello, my name is Alyssa and I would like to start off saying that I have chose to improve on baking specifically on dessert dishes mostly because I have seen my family make countless things and had the urge to learn myself. So I thought what better to start out with then a classic french apple cobbler! This is a dessert my grandmother has made many times and one I have personally always enjoyed myself .

Now, the recipe from my book I have selected calls for the following :
- Filling: 

• 5 cups peeled, sliced tart apples 
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon soft butter or margarine 

Batter: 

• 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons soft butter or margarine
• 1 egg slightly beaten

-light or whipped cream (optional for serving but also delicious! )

So using the recipe I gathered all the ingredients listed and began to follow the instructions. In the book it says,
" Prepare the tart apples by peeling the skin off the apples then proceed to slice 5 cups as directed" (Meredith).
This is where I came to my first challenge I underestimated how lengthy it would be to complete the peeling and cutting of all those apples!

But luckily we had an apple slicer and a peeler so this made the process easier on me. Here are some pictures of my progress:

Apples peeled and ready to be sliced.(Note Beware of pesky hand cramps!)

Slicing the apples with a handy apple slicer!

softening the apples

After that lovely hand torture I got to work with dry ingredients and make the batter. Then after that I mixed in the cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and more with the apples to get them ready to bake! 

 Here are some pictures of these steps:

 Mixing cinnamon, sugar, & vanilla

Dry ingredients to make the cobbler batter!

Once the apples and batter had been fully prepped as well as the oven and put in a heat safe pan it was finally all set to bake!

In the oven!

 The book to paraphrase said to check close to the timer end and take the cobbler out when the top layer was golden. So I tried my best and with my better judgement I should have baked it for a bit longer but here is the turn out:

Final product fresh out of the oven!

In the end I learned that baking is an extensive process but if you follow the instructions and use what you have you can accomplish something you might not have been able to before. I in turn was very proud of this outcome and was happy to share this victory with my family. I got to try it for myself and was pleased as well as getting various compliments even from my grandma who inspired this dessert!

So after seeing what impacted my dish i want to pose the following question: What Influences or has influenced your style of baking?

I would love to hear your thoughts so I welcome you to share and thanks for taking time to view my post!

Citation: Corperation, Meredith. New Cookbook. Des Moines, IA: Better Homes and Gardens, 2002. Print.

African American Foods

In fifth grade our teacher made us write down our dream occupation and decorate the letters on a piece of paper. My piece of paper had said "chef" on it. She then proceeded to take pictures of each and every one of us and posted them on her personal blog for us to see. I wanted to continue my cooking passion and create my own blog post to see how much I can grow and learn about the fine culinary arts.

The before photo.

 
I picked out an African-American Heritage Cooking book called The Welcome Table by Jessica B. Harris.
I chose a simple tomato, cucumber, and onion salad. I chose this because it was fairly similar to what my mom creates at home and I wanted to see how the African-American version of this salad was similar and/or different to our Russian version!







The after photo. Cut and peeled. Aesthetics, right?










"Several years later my admiration for Mrs. Lippman grew and when I found out that she and I shared a fondness for leftover salad eaten the next morning at breakfast."(B. Harris page 68-69)


Like any human, you begin to like them more and connect when you realize you have things in common with that person. Jessica began to admire Mrs. Lippman when she realized that they both had the same mindset. Nothing should go to waste. Simple salad for breakfast.



"If there's any left over, refrigerate it overnight and serve it the following morning as a breakfast salad. The vegetables will have marinated in the dressing and be even more intensely flavored" (B. Harris page 69).


This quote talks about how if you want more intense flavors in a salad or any food, leave it to marinate over night and eat and/or prepare it the next day.


This reminded me that nothing should go to waste. I cut the tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, scraping up each little bit. Not only was this a side to my dinner that night but also breakfast the next morning. The next morning I got up and tried the African-American culture by eating it in the morning. The juices from all of the vegetable released making it more flavorful than the night before.


Even if this was a fairly simple salad I learned that intensifying flavors isn't terribly hard. Just needs a little bit of time!


Question for you:
What are some dull foods you have tried that you could marinate over night to create more enjoyable flavors?


Thank you for reading(: