A Nice Iced Drink

Let me introduce you to my new non-alchoholic beverage of choice: Ginger Ale with pure Cranberry Juice.

Pure cranberry juice is really sour. It has no sweetners, not even grape or apple juice. It's not meant to be drunk alone (as far as I'm concerned), so I usually water it down.

The other night, I decided to try it with some Ginger Ale instead of water.

Whoa.

What a nice combination, the gingery-sweet soda and the tart cranberry juice taste great together. I suppose you could bill this as a healthy drink, what with the pure cranberry juice and all, but that might be pushing it a bit.

The color of this drink is a conversation starter, too, so it's a great going-out drink, you know, a good opener....

To make this at home:

  • mix 2/3 ginger ale
  • with 1/3 pure cranberry juice

Voila! A great drink is made.

Enjoy!

 

Granola? Yes, Thanks.

Granola.

Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. I kind of left it behind awhile back. There were the variety of store-bought granola-type bars that my daughter favored when she was young, which were too coyingly sweet. And, the lack of good things to mix it with (no dairy, and I don't like "replacement milks" for anything but baking), made it possible for me to forget about granola.

Recently, I saw this recipe on Food52 and knew I hd to try it. For one thing, it has Olive Oil in it, how great is that for someone (me) who loves to mix sweet and savory flavors? And, it offered an easy way to mix in as many nuts as I wanted, which, I realized, was lacking in your standard issued granola. I happened to have most everything the recipe called for in the house, so I set to making it.

I adjusted the type of nuts (instead of pecans, I used walnuts and almonds), and forgot to add the salt (which I now regret and will do next time), extended the baking time (because I love crispy, crunchy and toasty stuff) and ended up with the best tasting granola I've ever had.

The big bonus of the day, aside from cups and cups of great tasting granola? Our upstairs neighbor came down the a few hours after I had baked the granola and said he had to come see what I was making because it smelled so good in their apartment. He took a batch with him and was very happy with the offering.

On my next round, I'm going to reduce the amout of brown sugar and maple syrup, because, I guess, in my old age, my sweet tooth is diminishing. Other than that, this makes a huge batch of delicious granola that I will make again and again.

Granola with Nuts, Coconut Maple Syrup and Olive Oil

Original recipe appears here, on the Food52 website, thanks Nekasia Davis

Makes about 7 cups

  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, hulled
  • 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, hulled
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut chips
  • 1 1/4 cup raw pecans, left whole or coarsely chopped (I used half walnuts and half almonds instead of the pecans)
  • 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • Coarse salt
  • Heat oven to 300 degrees.
  • Place oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, pecans, syrup, olive oil, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Spread granola mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until granola is toasted, about 45 minutes.
  • Remove granola from oven and season with more salt to taste. Let cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

A Fried Egg (and Fried Toast) for Friday

Fried eggs are a my comfort food. I find myself frying them up at all times of the day and night. After a long night out, I've been known to curl up in bed with a fried egg sandwich (on a plate, of course).

I found myself on my own at home for breakfast a few days ago and realized there was no rush or pressure to get out the door. I heated up my pan, good and hot and was about to fry my egg when a thought occurred to me. Fried toast would be really nice, too.

It seems odd, the idea of frying bread, without some kind of sweet French-toast style coating. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that fried bread was something I had eaten in Italy many years ago, and loved.

The year was 1989, a 19 year old me and Gran-Fran (pre the "Gran" days, still just "Fran") left NY and went to live in Italy for a month on a college language program. It was awesome.

We had fried bread one night, and vowed to make it ourselves one day. Well, we never managed to replicate that fried bread, and I'm not saying mine is an exact copy of it, but it turned out really tasty. The keys were to make the pan super hot, and use more olive oil than you normally might. And, wait for it....frozen bread. This was the first time I happened to have frozen bread, since the gluten-free kind I use (Udi's) is sold and stored in the freezer. Instead of toasting it, I decided to just throw it in the hot oil. It fried up just right, and quickly, too.

I'm going to explore making some kind of an egg wash to fry my next batch, since I think what we ate in Italy wasn't just plain old bread fried extra crispy. For now, though, I've found my new favorite breakfast.

Fried Eggs over Fried Toast

serves 1

Ingredients

  • 1 piece of  frozen Bread (Udi's Gluten Free is my bread of choice)
  • 1 Egg
  • 3 Tbsps Olive Oil
  • Salt to Taste
  • 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

Method:

  • Heat a small frying pan to super hot (I know this is not a technical term, but it's the most descriptive I can come up with).
  • Add the olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.
  • Put the frozen bread in the oil and cook for about 1 minute.
  • Turn the bread over and cook for another 30 seconds, or until evenly browned.
  • Put fried bread on a plate and set aside.
  • Crack the egg into the super hot pan and cook until it's done to your liking. It took about 30 seconds for my egg to cook.
  • Add the paprika.
  • If you want an over-easy egg, flip it and cook for another 20 seconds.
  • Remove the egg from the pan and place it on top of the fried bread.

Enjoy!