The Land of Fruits and Nuts....Granola 101

Having lived in California for the better part of my adult life, I'm well acquainted with the Archie Bunker-like term "the land of fruits and nuts".  It's usually lobbed at residents of the Golden State by people who have never set foot in California, fancy themselves quite the comedian, and consider pork rinds the cornerstone of a healthy diet.  As a loud-mouthed, feminist who's made a career for herself in the arts, I suppose over half the country lumps me in that big ol' nutty fruit basket which, truth be told, is just peachy by me.

But getting to the real subject of this post....Granola.  Fruit and nuts, other connotations aside, are healthy, tasty, and packed with nutrients.  Making granola is quite straight-  forward and there isn't a ton of prep.  Even though you bake it, it's not "baking".  I regard granola as a "what's in the larder" recipe where you can pick and choose based on a few basic parameters.  Once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with different combinations of ingredients.

Basic Granola Recipe

4 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick cooking oats)
1 to 1 1/2 cups dried fruit, such as raisins, cranberries, figs, cherries, apricots,
             blueberries, or currants (or a combination of the above)
1 1/2 cups nuts, such as walnut halves, almonds, cashews, or pistachios (or a
             combination of the above)
1 cup shredded, unsweetened, large-flake coconut
1 tsp. cinnamon
grated zest of one orange (optional)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup liquid sweetener, such as maple syrup, agave, honey, or molasses
1/3 cup butter

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and place the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven.  Combine the oats, dried fruit, nuts, coconut, cinnamon, orange zest, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Heat the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  When melted, whisk in the liquid sweetener until it is thoroughly combined.  Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything is well mixed and the oats look coated.  Divide the mixture between two rimmed baking sheets.  Spread the mixture evenly over the baking sheets in a thin layer.

Bake the granola for 40 to 50 minutes.  With a spatula, turn the granola a couple times during the baking.  I also find it's helpful to turn the baking sheets from front to back as my oven doesn't cook evenly (the back always cooks faster).  You can also rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom for the same reason.  The granola, when finished, should be a deep golden brown.  Take care not to let it get too dark!  Remove the cookie sheets and let cool completely.  The granola will crisp up as it cools.  When it has cooled completely, transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

After you've made it once or twice, you can start to modify the basic recipe.  If you like your granola a little sweeter, up the amount of syrup.  If you don't like the coconut, just omit it.  Same for the butter.  If you like it a little richer and more decadent, increase the amount of butter.  There's no right or wrong....just what you like.

Granola is perfect with a little milk or yogurt for breakfast.  It's great by the handful as a healthy snack right out of the container.  If you're on the go, pop a little in a zip-lock bag and away you go.  And if you're really lucky, someday you might get to eat your granola in the most perfect way possible....as you hike along the beautiful California coast!

   

The Big Chill

The origin of the title of this blog, The Post-Apocalyptic Princess, is probably not known to anyone other than my husband.  Truth be told, it's something of an inside joke.  Years ago I read a book by Jean Hegland called Into the Forest.  It was one of the most memorable books I've ever read.  It was also one of only two books.... Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver being the other... that I purchased multiple copies of and handed out to friends and family.  Somewhere between reading Into the Forest, living through the over hyped non-event of Y2K, and watching a few too many episodes of Doomsday Preppers I made a statement to Dan that if there was ever an apocalyptic event I would come out of it with flying colors.  That, my friends, is most dubious.  But that was the scenario that created the title.  I suppose one could say it really came about as a result of a nightmare client I once had and survived or the fact I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35 years of age or any one of a number of other life changing events, but no.  It all came down to an urban girl who could barely survive not having a Michael Kors boutique, an adorable French restaurant, and a Whole Foods within walking distance let alone a natural disaster.  Interestingly, I actually do manage without all three of those things every day now that we live in Maine, but I digress....

Little Next Door on West 3rd in L.A.

Dan and I have long had a peculiar way of maneuvering through weather or emergency events.  When we were living in Pennsylvania and there was an impending blizzard, we were the idiots happily standing in the grocery line with champagne and brie instead of milk and bread.  We ended up surviving that storm as well as all those sensible "milk and bread" people, though I venture to say we may have had more fun.  We lived for years in Southern California and never had anything remotely resembling an earthquake survival kit unless a bottle of vodka in the freezer and a box of Band-Aids in the medicine cabinet count.  And then, we moved to Maine.

I took a fancy to shoveling snow and prided myself on being one of the first people to dash out of their warm, cozy houses to clear the sidewalk.  Depression didn't set in when the daylight decreased to lasting less than the length of an average Oliver Stone movie.  Delusion allowed me to believe I hadn't gotten soft during the L.A. years and I could be resourceful and MacGyver-like in a pinch.  And that was all well and good until the snow turned to ice and the ice turned off the lights....and the heat.....and the stove....and the TV.....and the computer....and, say it ain't so, the Internet.  I was left clutching my cell phone with only three bars remaining lit by a very pathetic battery-powered book light purchased in 1995.

In the grand scheme of the Christmas 2013 Ice Storm, we were lucky.  Our power was only out for 30 hours or so and the temperatures had yet to drop below zero.  We didn't have children or infants in our home as so many did.  We always knew, if things got really cold in the house, we could go warm up and charge our phones in our car.  Yes, that was the plan and it seemed like a good one until the temperatures dropped to that of a pint of Gelato Fiasco submerged in liquid nitrogen at which point the battery in the car died.  A few hours later the dead battery didn't matter a wit as the whole car became encased in a bubble of ice and the interior was no longer accessible.

The concept of "camping" for me is less tent and more Barclay Butera designed Airstream.  Growing up, my camping experience was limited to a couple days at Camp Tweedale while in junior high school during which time I sat with the camp's three black labs rather than do "camp" things.  Dan, on the other hand, was quite the intrepid camper in another life.  In the end, would I say we were resourceful?  Yes.  Could we have survived many more days without a source of heat.  Probably not comfortably, but we would have in our own quirky way.  We had piled on layers and layers of clothes and huddled together with book lights....Dan's attached to Double Down and mine to Eating on the Wild Side.  Dinner was served on top of piles of duvets and blankets illuminated by candlelight.  We made coffee in a French press for which we heated the water in a fondue pot over a canister of Stern-O.  Even though it took the better part of 30 minutes to get the water to barely boil, I was pretty pleased we not only managed our daily allotment of Peet's coffee, but also found a use for that fondue pot that was collecting dust on the shelf.

A romantic, albeit chilly, dinner in bed

But all joking aside, there were a lot of people who were hurt, suffered severe property damage, or lost their life during the storm and for that our hearts ache.  We felt terribly guilty when our power was restored on Christmas Eve and that of our friends, neighbors, and fellow peninsula residents remained out.  When the power came back on, I cried.  Plain and simple.  I cried.  It was the best Christmas gift we could have received.  So much is taken for granted these days.  I will never complain about being hot again.... because I now know what it means to be cold.  My experience of being cold lasted less than two days.  For many, it extended much longer.  And for some, there is no such thing as heat.

Were we humbled?  Absolutely.  Did we realize we needed a better plan?  Damn straight. As such, we are now the proud owners of a Coleman camp stove, indoor propane heater, solar/crank radio/charger, portable car battery charger, 6 canisters of propane, oodles of batteries, water purification tablets, four cans of tuna, and two L.L. Bean lanterns (thanks, Mom).  I knew I wasn't in L.A. anymore when I found myself standing in the camping aisle at Walmart pondering camp stoves and canisters of propane.  Does surviving one ice storm crown me The Post-Apocalyptic Princess?  Hardly.  Are we better prepared for future problematic weather events.  A little.  Will we still prep with champagne and Cowgirl Creamery cheese if there's another storm on the horizon?  Probably.  Moral of the story?  You can take the girl out of L.A., you can't entirely take L.A. out of the girl, but when push comes to shove an L.A. woman can rise to the occasion anywhere or anytime....even during an ice storm in Downeast Maine.