Cookish: What's for breakfast?

Homemade Granola
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups almonds (I used roasted and salted because that was what I had)
1 cup coconut (optional)
2 cups dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)
1 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 325. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

Whisk together first 4 ingredients, then add oil. Fold in oats, almonds, and coconut.

Press oat mixture into baking sheet until compacted. Bake 20 minutes, rotate, and bake 20-25 more, or until lightly browned. It will not seem completely set when you take it out, but after cooling on a rack for an hour, you will be able to break into chunks of desired size. Mix in fruit and chocolate when completely cool.

Cookish: Snacktime

Guacamole

3 ripe Haas avocados
1/2 medium tomato, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
grated onion
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit, and spoon the flesh into a bowl. If your avocados are not perfectly ripe, you can chop them, but if they're really ripe, they'll be pretty mashable just as they are. add the lemon juice (you can add more if 1/2 is not enough). Add salt, pepper, and a few shakes of garlic powder (or granulated garlic). Use your microplane grater and grate a couple teaspoons of onion juice in. (You can just add chopped onion, if you like. I don't really like chunks of raw onion, so this is my alternative.) Mash the avocados to the desired consistency and stir in the tomatoes. You can also add a few shakes of Tabasco. Serve with tortilla chips.

Cookish: Snacktime

I call this recipe Crack Corn, though Paula Deen has her own name for it. Click here for Paula Deen's caramel corn recipe

The recipe works really well. You need about 8 quarts of popped corn. I pop 3 bags of light butter microwave popcorn, because it is easy. I usually use 2 1/2 bags of it, approximately, which is a little less than 8 quarts, but it works out well. I also usually add some peanuts when I have them on hand. Fair warning: only make this when you have a crowd coming over. It's virtually impossible to stop eating this, so you really don't want to be the only one in the house--this is not exactly health food, folks.

UnCookish: Snacktime

Jell-O sent me a coupon for a free package of the new Temptations by Jell-O, which is the new Jell-O they are marketing as being just for adults. (Have you seen the commercials where parents terrorize their children so the kids won't eat their Jell-O?) I went for the Double Chocolate flavor, of course! Three pudding cups come in a package, and the flavor I tried consists of about 2/3 dark chocolate pudding topped by 1/3 of a lighter chocolate "mousse" on top. The pudding cups do make a tasty snack, but I think I'd rather have a regular pudding cup--I'm not the hugest fan of the texture of the "mousse" on top. There are other flavors as well, which I think consist of pudding on the bottom and gelatin on top. That didn't appeal to me, but I can give the chocolate flavor a thumbs up, if you're looking for a little twist to your usual pudding cup.

Uncookish: Snack Review

I found the 3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp bars on clearance at Target (which leads me to believe that they may be phasing out this candy bar), so I decided to try it out. As you may know, 3 Musketeers markets itself as having fewer fat/calories than a usual candy bar. This new twist on the classic bar maintains the lightness of the original and consists of a crisp bar at the bottom, which has a texture more like a meringue cookie than the shortbread cookie you'd kind in a Twix, with a chocolate "truffle" topping, which is a bit thicker than the usual 3 Musketeers filling, and the whole thing is dipped in chocolate. I found it to be tasty and light, with a nice texture. I think one bar could be a satisfying treat, as long as you're not too hungry, and if you eat just one bar (there are two in the package), it's less than 100 calories. Not a bad deal.

Cookish: Snacktime

Easy Salsa

Adapted from Cook's Country

1/2	small red onion
1/2	cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4	cup drained jarred pickled jalapeños
1/2	lime, juiced
2	garlic cloves , peeled
1/2	teaspoon salt
1	(28-ounce) can diced tomatoes , drained

1. Quarter the onion and add to the bowl of your food processor. Add parsley, jalapeños, lime juice, garlic, and salt. I prefer my salsa smooth, not chunky, so I puree this pretty much all the way, but do it to your taste

2. Add drained tomatoes and pulse until combined. Again, puree more if you like it smooth, less if you want it chunky.

It's super easy and really delicious. You can easily add more jalapeños if you like it hot, or more lime juice if you want more tang. I think this would also make a very tasty bruschetta topping. The original recipe calls for draining the finished salsa a bit, but I like mine thin, so I left as-is.

Cookish: Snacktime

This salsa was inspired by a creation of my dear friend, Clare.

1 can black beans

1 can chickpeas

1 can corn

1 serrano chile

1 medium tomato

1/4 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves

olive oil

lime

pepper

salt

Drain & rinse the beans and drain the corn; mix them all together. Core & quarter the tomato. squeeze out the seeds. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Put the chopped onion, garlic cloves (unpeeled), quartered tomato, and serrano chile (with the stem end chopped off) on a foil-line baking sheet or cake pan. drizzle with olive oil and salt & pepper and put in the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove the garlic (if soft), tomatoes, & chile. I roast the onions for about 10 minutes more, but that is up to you. Put the tomatoes & chile in a bowl and cover with saran wrap for 5-10 minutes. This will make the skin easier to remove. Remove the skin and chop the tomatoes, chile, and garlic together. Add to the beans and corn, along with the onion and olive oil used to roast the veggies. Add the juice of 1/2 the lime and some lime zest, along with salt and pepper to taste. Fridge to meld the flavors. Yum! Eat with chips, or on a salad, or on fish tacos, like I did! You could certainly add more tomatoes or onions to your taste, but the one chile does add uite a bit of heat, so be careful upping that! You could even remove some of the seeds if you are worried about it being too hot.

Cookish: Snacktime

Artichoke Dip

1 can artichokes, drained and chopped

1 8 oz block of cream cheese

1/3 cup of mayo

1 pkg Sargento premium blends, Parmesean and Romano

black pepper

garlic powder

crackers, for serving

Preheat oven to 350. Put the cream cheese in a microwave-safe container and zap for about 30 seconds, or til soft. Mix with the mayo, add the artichokes, and about 3/4 the bag of cheese. Add some black pepper and garlic powder to taste. Place dip in a glass pie dish or similar receptacle, cover the top with the remaining cheese and bake until hot & bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Serve with crackers. Yum.