Granola

After several tries I think I've found the granola I like best.  It is a very basic, classic granola.  This is Alton Brown's recipe, but I prefer to use honey instead of maple syrup and use coconut oil instead of the canola.  I love the hint of salt in this!

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashew pieces
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil (or canola)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  In a large bowl combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.  In a separate bowl combine the honey, syrup, oil and salt.  Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a large bowl to cool.  Add raisins.

I usually leave the raisins out and mix them in on a bowl by bowl basis.  Sometimes I'll add raisins, sometimes I throw in a few chocolate chips, sometimes just fresh fruit and yogurt.

Salsa

Made this easy salsa using tomatoes from Papa's garden.  So good!

whole tomatoes
handful of cilantro
1-2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
1 lime
1/2 red onion

Cut an x in the bottom of each tomato, place into boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then into an ice bath.  Remove skin and roughly chop, discarding any seeds and liquids.  Finely chop jalapeno, red onion and cilantro.  Add all to food processor or blender, add 1 or 2 garlic cloves pasted and juice of 1 lime.  Process for a few seconds.

Hummus and Pita chips

Update - I made this for our community group and lots of people commented how good it was and several asked for the recipe.

The first few times I tried hummus I did not see what all the fuss was about.  Then one day at a friend's house they served Sabra brand hummus with wheat thins and we loved it.  I bought some and discovered Elliot loved the stuff.  We were buying it so often that I decided to try making my own since it was $4 for a little tub.  The first few times Elliot wouldn't touch it.  I even tried rinsing out the Sabra container and putting my homemade hummus in but he wasn't fooled  :)  I couldn't blame him though, mine simply lacked flavor.  I looked up lots of recipes and tweaked them until I came up with one we like (and Elliot eats!)

1 can chickpeas (or just over 1 cup if you cook them yourself)
3 teaspoons minced garlic
2-3 Tablespoons tahini (I use three because I like the nutty flavor of tahini, but start with 2 and add more if desired)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 cup water or reserved chickpea liquid
olive oil to drizzle

In a food processor combine first five ingredients.  With processor running, slowly add the water until you get desired consistency.  You might need more than 1/4 cup water.  Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with parsley.  Serve with wheat thins or pita chips.  I got the recipe for pita chips straight from my friend's blog, here.

You can add all sorts of stuff to hummus.  I'd like to try roasted pine nuts.  I've also seen roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and artichoke, lemon juice, paprika and a variety of other spices used.