Granola

This is a recipe that I use all the time to make granola. Over the years, I've definitely tweaked it based on what I have in the house and such but the oil/honey/oats ratio is what I have kept consistent. It really does work great!

Granola
Recipe found here 
Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1-1 1/2 cups nuts (almonds and mixed nuts are my go-to's)
1/2-3/4 cup sweetener (honey or maple syrup are my go-to's)
1/4-1/2 cup oil (coconut oil is my go-to)
1 tsp salt
1-2 cups seeds (pumpkin and chia are my go-to's)
1 cup coconut (unsweetened is best)
1 tsp spices (e.g. cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, cloves)
Dried fruit (optional)
Cocoa (optional)

*Really just pay attention to the amount of sweetener, oil, and oats. Beyond that, add whatever you'd like and make it look good to you.



Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 300 (our oven doesn't go that low so, I have been doing 310 and works fine!)
2. Add oats, nuts, seeds, salt, and spices into a large bowl.
3. Add sweeteners and oil.
4. Stir. Ensure all oats are coated with oil and sweetener. If not, you may want to add more.
5.  Put parchment paper down on a large baking sheet.
6. Spread mixture out to make even layer
7. Put in oven for 45-60 minutes (mixing halfway).
8. When it's golden brown, take it out of the oven. Note: If you don't like chunks, stir right away. If you do, let it sit (no stirring) and cool so that it chunks up better.
9. Enjoy!

5 Meal Deliveries Reviewed

Over the past month, we have tried several meal delivery services to test them out and see how we feel about them. I wanted to share these thoughts with you!

For this and our overall rating, we looked at the following categories:

• Overall cost (incl. shipping)
• Actual serving sizes
• Taste
• Ease
• Variety
• Packaging
• Other

Below are our notes on each category. If you want to skip ahead to go to overall rating, go forth and scroll on down!

Overall Cost

All delivery services seem to tout their price per meal but unfortunately those don't include the shipping cost so, it can be a bit different. For instance, EveryPlate says $4.99 per meal but, with shipping it's actually $6.49. That being said, at an overall cost for 3 meals @ 2 people, EveryPlate still landed at $38.93 with shipping, roughly $20 behind HomeChef and HelloFresh at $59.70 and 60.93 respectively and BlueApron and SunBasket both landing in the $70 range.

For us, EveryPlate won the most bang for our buck here.

Actual Serving Sizes

For most meals, we got 3 meals @ 2 servings but for BlueApron we tried 2 meals @ 4 servings and Home Chef 2 meals @ 2 servings. Regardless, they all provided extremely solid portions (except for the oven-ready meal from SunBasket that was simply not enough!). They were full meals and true to them. For Hello Fresh and EveryPlate, we even occasionally had leftovers.

For us, both Every Plate and Hello Fresh won this, giving us full serving sizes (and the leftovers were a plus). 

Taste

Now this certainly comes down to the variety and the meals we chose. There were some winners within all of the boxes, including the Italian Noodle Soup from HelloFresh, the oven-ready szechuan noodles from SunBasket, the chicken pita from BlueApron, the stuffed peppers from EveryPlate. 

But, the clear winner for taste was HomeChef. The szechuan noodle bowl took 20 minutes and was easy and delicious with crunchy wonton noodles on top and the jalapeño popper burgers were easily swapped out for turkey instead of beef and were absolutely delicious.

Ease

All the recipe pages have a bit of nuance to them on how they are laid out. Some have the ingredients you'll need from your pantry listed, some even have the utensils you'll need listed too, and some require far too many bowls. All of them were not too difficult to do - definitely some easier than others. 

I'd say the winner was a tie between HelloFresh and HomeChef. These were extremely easy and laid out. Each recipe clearly listed the steps out with the things needed and did a step by step without treating the chef like they knew nothing in the kitchen.

Variety

Similar to taste, I think this truly came down to the meals we chose. If you are a vegetarian, I will say there is less variety among EveryPlate whereas HomeChef really allowed me to customize this based on my eating habits (e.g. swapping beef for turkey in the burgers). Additionally if you are specific to organic foods, then SunBasket may be better for you. Overall, I'd say that they all have a lot of variety, it just depends what kind of food you'd like to cook, what you can eat, and what you typically cook based on this. 

For us, EveryPlate and HomeChef tied giving us some changes to what we typically cook and tools for what we can now cook very easily.

Packaging

We hate when there is so much plastic and unnecessary packaging. BlueApron used so much plastic, having everything individually wrapped and precisely measured. Other companies (e.g. HelloFresh and HomeChef) wrapped the meals together, which was nice but perhaps unnecessary. Luckily HelloFresh used paper bags for them while HomeChef used a plastic one. The HomeChef bag though we used to discard meat juice and any other trash trying to make good use of the plastic. 

SunBasket was great for minimal waste however, their packaging is only recyclable where denim can be recycled and while that may be possible regularly. In a pandemic, where do I go?

Ultimately though if you are looking for minimal waste and ease of discard, EveryPlate is the place to go. All the vegetables and ingredients are given in a small cardboard box that can easily slide in your fridge to keep it separated for those meals (so you don't accidentally use a pepper for something else) while also not giving you plastic upon plastic to open.

Other

We all love a nebulous "other" category. This elaborates on deliveries, when it was delivered, and any other fun things to note about these.

EveryPlate is typically delivered on Tuesdays and late in the day. Though the prep and cook times are accurate, it seems like it would be difficult to try and plan to cook this on the day it was delivered as it was like 8pm. Not many options for vegetarians but, overall, easy and you got your moneys worth.

Hello Fresh could be delivered any day, around7pm. There are more complex recipes than EveryPlate (for better or for worse) and everything was packaged in a more individual bag so if you wanted to bring something over to a friends, you could grab the bag and go.

BlueApron was pretty much the only "no" for us. Lots of plastic and the meals were not intuitive to follow. It felt as though we were doing one thing when we could've done another. Though BlueApron wasn't right for us, I think it would be helpful to someone just getting into cooking.

SunBasket is the only organic produce meal delivery service I've seen. These are unique meals that incorporate new ingredients that I would typically not have other wise (e.g. arrowroot powder). These were a bit fiddly recipes that honestly, ended up being totally fine but not mind blowing or something I was excited to make again (or really can easily, without going to an organic market to find arrowroot powder).

HomeChef had some great variety and allows a lot of customizations which is nice. It charges you per meal and shipping is free over $40 so, if you end up getting 1 meal/2 people or 2 meal/2 people, it changes based on that instead of an overall cost (which is good and bad). But, for people with dietary restrictions the customizations can be nice. Also it's very easy to get the recipes out as they are all in plastic bags separately. Additionally as a fun bonus they gave us a binder for recipes that we are now using and all the recipes have 3 hole punch so it's easy to keep them all around.

Overall, it was nice to try all of these and we will be getting them in the future for sure but, I think we will just stick to one or two of these instead of all five again. Also, if you can get free trials from folks, do. They get a benefit and you get the benefit of trying them though, if you can't, there are many discount codes online to find!

Below were our final ratings. 
1st - EveryPlate
2nd - Home Chef
3rd - Hello Fresh
4th - Sun Basket
5th - Blue Apron

Pumpkin Bread

Another easy recipe! I did soak the raisins in rum for a week prior though to add in and it gave it some great flavor.

Pumpkin Bread (Recipe linked here)
Makes: 1 Bundt



Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 75 minutes
Total Time: 95 minutes

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup raisins (soaked in 1/4 cup rum for 3-5 days)


Directions: 
1. Optional: Soak 1/4 cup raisins in 1/4 cup rum for 3-5 days.
2. Preheat oven to 350℉
3. Grease and flour bundt pan
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Whisk to blend thoroughly.
5. In a large bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil (I used half coconut oil, half olive oil), and eggs.
6. Stir pumpkin into egg mixture.
7. Gradually add dry ingredients to the pumpkin and egg mixture. Stirring well after each addition.
8. Fold in raisins.
9. Spoon batter into prepared bundt cake pan.
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 75 - 80 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
11. Remove the bread from the oven and cool it for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
12. Use knife around the outside of the pan and take out of pan then cool.
13. Enjoy!

Banana Bread (again)

Made this again and it held up to the test of time. Always a solid recipe!

Banana Bread

Great way to use up those old bananas...

(I found this recipe in The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All Purpose Baking Cookbook on page 80)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil ( I think I may have only used 1/4 cup.)

2-3 very ripe bananas (I used 3.)

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used a little over 2 cups.)

1 cup yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream (I used sour cream.)

1 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF

2. In a medium-size bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, and oil.

3. Blend in the mashed banana and vanilla

4. Whisk together then sift the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour.

5. Add above dry mixture to banana mixture.

6. Mix thoroughly then stir in the yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk until combined

7. Pour batter in a greased and floured 9 x 5 loaf pan (I used a glass pan and only greased it. It was fine.)

8. Bake the bread for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.

9. Note- if it begins to brown too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil after 40 minutes.

(Brown is not bad though! Mine turned out slightly over browned.. but it's still tasty.)

Cinnamon Rolls

Found this recipe on NYT Cooking and figured I'd give it a go! I used coconut milk instead of regular milk and honestly, I don't think it worked well - didn't end up as flaky. So, may have to give it a go again with regular milk. But, it still worked out and of course, anything with butter and cinnamon can't taste bad.

Cinnamon Rolls
Link to Recipe (Makes 9 rolls)

Prep Time: 45 minutes (plus resting)
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hr 20 minutes

Ingredients:
For the dough- 
1 cup whole milk (this is where I used coconut milk and perhaps should not have)
4 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (equivalent to 1 -1/4 ounce envelope)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 large egg
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Nonstick spray for the bowl



For the filling/assembly-
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
3 cups confectionary sugar (I only used 1 cup as this is just for the glaze)
5-6 tbsp whole milk or heavy cream (I used 2-3 tbsp of heavy cream for glaze)

Directions:
1. Warm milk in a small pop over medium heat until it is hot to the touch but not yet simmering
2. Add yeast and 2 tbsp sugar and whisk to dissolve/break up clumps
3. Let sit until it is foamy and starting to bubble (about 2-5 minutes)
4. Combine flour, remaining 2 tbsp sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine.
5. Add milk mixture and egg. Stir to combine.
6. Add melted butter and stir until a shaggy lump of dough forms.
7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until shiny and elastic, about 4-5 minutes. If it seems sticky, add a bit of flour.
8. Lighting grease large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm, draft free area for 1 1/2-2 hours.
9. Punch dough down to release any air that has built up. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight)
10. Once the dough is chilled (it should feel firm), turn it on a lightly floured surface and make a 6x10 rectangular about 1/4-1/3" thick.
11. Melt butter.
12. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.
13. Brush dough with half of the melted butter and sprinkle sugar mixture on in an even layer (pat it down)
14. Drizzle remaining butter all over
15. Start at the end closest to you (e.g. long end) and roll up tightly, pressing lightly as you roll.
16. Cut log into 9 even pieces about 1 3/4" thick and put in a lightly-sprayed baking dish in a 3 x 3 rectangular with the spirals facing up.
17. Cover rolls with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free area until they have puffed up a bit (e.g. 1 hour)
18. Heat oven to 375 and place rolls in oven for about 32-35 minutes until golden brown
19. Make glaze by mixing confectionary sugar and heavy cream. (It's better if it's a bit thicker. I made mine and transferred it to a small bag and cut a hole out of the corner of the bag to easily drizzle on- then saved the extra for later.)
20. Once rolls are done, drizzle the glaze on.
21. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Muffins

Hi all! I'm back again and baking while we are in this quarantined time.


Sweet Potato Muffins
I augmented my butternut squash recipe this time to make sweet potato muffins. You could definitely use a sweet potato puree too or pumpkin, if you only have canned right now.

Prep Time : 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup sweet potato

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup leftover sweet potatoes with apples (optional)

*This would also be good with any form of nuts, dried fruit (like raisins), or chocolate chips

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º
2. Stab the sweet potato about 4 times (I like to do the middles of each side and the ends).
3. Stick in the microwave (it's the quickest) for about 5 minutes, turning halfway. 

4. Once done, take it out carefully and peel the sweet potato, getting the flesh into a bowl

5. Mash the sweet potato nicely, getting out all clumps.

6. Mix together all wet ingredients (oil, honey, eggs, water, leftovers, and squash)

7. Add dry ingredients (flour, salt, brown sugar, baking soda, and spices)

8. Mix until fully combined and smooth

9. Pour into greased or lined muffin tins until they are 3/4 full (I use an ice cream scoop for the perfect amount)

10.  Bake at 350º for about 18-20 minutes (or until top is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean)

11. Enjoy!

Pan- Seared Cod with Sautéed Vegetables on Greens

After going to the BBC Good Food Show, I was inspired to make something worthy of a blog post.

Pan- Seared Cod with Sautéed Vegetables on Greens

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cod fillet (frozen or fresh. I prefer salmon but, cod is quite mild for this dish)

1 handful salad fixings

3 small potatoes (sliced)

1/4 onion (diced)

1 small tomato (diced)

2 small mushrooms (sliced)

1 clove garlic (chopped)

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon infused olive oil

mixed herbs to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add olive oil to pan and warm up

2. Add potatoes and allow them to soften/brown slightly

3. Add onions, tomato, mushrooms, and any other vegetables you may like.

4. Once vegetables are browned slightly, add cod fillet and garlic

5. When slightly brown and flaky, flip cod over.

6. Plate by adding salad down and drizzling lemon infused olive over then adding vegetables and finally the cod.

7. Garnish with parsley 

8. Enjoy