Tuesday, September 8, 2009

moving time


I have some big news. K.I.D. Collective is moving. Web sites, that is. Beginning today blogger will redirect you to the new site, thekidcollective.com. If you are subscribed via the RSS feed you'll need to resubscribe because this site will no longer be updated. Hope you like the new look.

photo: feendos

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

yogurt parfait and granola

I'm back in town and doing some catching up. Fortunately, my sister-in-law, Catherine, put together a post and recipe for me so I can get through my mile long to do list before I get back to this here blog. Thanks Catherine!

I'm a frozen yogurt nut. Actually, the vast majority of my extended family is, too. With the dawn of Pinkberry and Red Mango has exploded a veritable cultured cornucopia of delicious eating. I think the best part of this particular dessert is the toppings. Toppings are easy enough to emulate, but the soft-serve frozen goodness part isn't as easy to procure for home consumption. So the next best thing is fresh yogurt with toppings!

I can't say that I came up with this idea on my own. Casey and I share a mother in law, Sandi. She is a nutrition teacher, and she is always coming up with easy and fun cooking ideas to help promote better eating habits in school aged children. She made yogurt parfaits with her students, and it sounded so good I decided to do a grownup version for the kid in all of us.

Yogurt Parfaits

Plain and/or Vanilla Low or Non-fat yogurt (you can squeeze a little
lemon juice and some agave syrup in to make it really zingy)
Granola (see recipe below)
Other toppings could include strawberries, mangos, raspberries, blueberry compote, chocolate shavings, etc. Or if you want to be really decadent you could put a few brandied cherries on top!

The cool thing about making your own granola is you can put whatever you want in it! I personally hate slivered almonds (hey, we all have something) so for the nuts I used macadamias. You can add fiber filler like wheat germ or you can experiment with different types of grains, seeds, and dried fruit, too.


Homemade Granola

1 lb old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 macadamia nuts (chopped)
1/2 C un-sweetened coconut (shredded)
1/3 C canola oil
1/3 C honey
1/4 C light brown sugar
dash cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 325F
  1. In large bowl combine oats, nuts, and coconut.
  2. In a small saucepan bring oil, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to a bare simmer.
  3. Pour sugar syrup over dry ingredients and combine.
  4. Evenly pour out mix onto a shallow greased baking pan.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes, then mix, bake again for another 10 minutes. Keep checking to make sure it doesn't over-brown.
  6. Pour toasted granola onto foil to cool.
  7. Store cooled granola in an air-tight container. Will keep fresh for up to 2 weeks.
Assemble parfaits in layers, or set the whole shebang out for guests to serve themselves.




Some simple tips:
  1. For easy dispensing of sticky, viscous ingredients like honey or molasses first spray the inside of the measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Easily grease a baking pan by laying the pan on the door of the dishwasher before spraying (make sure the dishes aren't clean in there first). No oily residue on your counter!
  3. Put the newly made granola back into the original oats container and top with plastic wrap.