Happy Hump Day! How's your week going? I've gotten back into the swing of things in SoCal since getting back from vacation. While Mexico was a dream, it's not too shabby coming home when you love where you live, so I can't complain! My work week is a bit more exciting than usual because an East coast friend of mine is in town and will be staying with me for a few days. I love when friends from out of town visit! But I digress, onto food... Question of the day: Coconut - do you love it, hate it, or feel indifferent to it? I used to not like coconut at all, and then all of a sudden last year, I developed a thing for shredded coconut. While I still don't love most coconut flavored things, coconut shreds are now routinely sprinkled on top of my smoothie bowls - hence why I've shared two ... [Read More]
granola
Apple Pie Autumn Granola [Gluten Free & Vegan]
One of my favorite autumn activities in apple picking. There's this little town in San Diego County called Julian where I like to visit a family apple orchard to pick some fruit, wine taste at a few of their small wineries, and have an obligatory slice of apple pie - because pie is what Julian is known for. Unfortunately, when I went to plan out an apple picking day at the start of fall, I was sad to see that none of the family orchards were open in Julian for U-Pick due to a shortage of crop from the drought. While I was totally bummed about it, we luckily still have local farms around at farmers markets and such sharing their sweet, SoCal apples. Now that it actually feels like fall here, I'm all about apples (and pumpkin and squash too). While we get mild seasonal changes compared to ... [Read More]
Blueberry Almond Granola
Recipe creation is a funny thing sometimes. At times, I come up with an idea for a recipe moments before and I just throw ingredients together. Other times, I have a recipe in my head for weeks and weeks that I just have a feeling will be a winner that I will want to share on here, but it takes me awhile to actually make and photograph it. The latter was the case with this granola. When I randomly threw a bag of dried blueberries into my shopping cart one day, the idea of making granola with them immediately popped into my head... but then I wound up eating all the blueberries before I could get to making any granola. Oops. So then I had to wait until the next time I found myself in a food store with dried blues to make this recipe. But, the next time I went to make this ... [Read More]
Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew Granola Cups
“Believe that you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt Hello, and Happy Presidents Day to all of you fellow Americans! How did you all spend your Valentine's Day? My hubby and I decided to head to the beach to celebrate the occasion. He surfed while I caught up on a few magazines (more specifically, I dreamed up our next vacation while reading Islands, then read a Self issue with Cameron Diaz that has been sitting in my magazine rack for a year and a half), then we had a picnic and watched the sunset. Noshing on good food with my hubby + perfect weather + a bottle of refreshing riesling + a beautiful sunset = the perfect low-key Valentine's Day in my book. Speaking of the beach, lately a bunch of you have asked me about the weather in the San Diego area this time of the ... [Read More]
Cinnamon Raisin Granola [Vegan & Gluten Free]
Nearly all of the billion people on the planet who have eaten it say this, but granola is seriously addicting. Despite knowing this, I got in a granola munching mood recently and couldn't resist whipping up a new homemade version: cinnamon raisin flaxseed granola. Since it's well documented on here that I'm cinnamon obsessed and eat it on nearly everything, it shouldn't be a surprise that this granola is full of cinnamon-y goodness. I decided to use a sweetener I haven't used in awhile: brown rice syrup. A few tidbits about it: Brown rice syrup is made by culturing cooked rice with enzymes to break down the starches, then straining off the liquid and reducing it by cooking until the desired consistency is reached. It's vegan and gluten-free. It has a sticky consistency ... [Read More]
Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Butter Granola
Lately I've been obsessed with cherries. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I stopped at a local farm stand and nabbed some dark sweet cherries. I've always liked cherries, but it seems my love for them has been on a whole new level since that purchase. Fresh cherries by themselves, frozen cherries in smoothies, cherry frozen yogurt (ate some last night!), cherries in my salads - I've been finding endless ways to incorporate cherries into my diet pretty much everyday. One day last week, I whipped up a new recipe and found yet another way to eat (dried) cherries: dark chocolate cherry almond butter granola! This granola will add some pizazz to yogurt or cottage cheese, and is a nice sweet treat all on its own. The only downside to this recipe, and to pretty much all kinds of ... [Read More]