sprinklefingers

I have a granola addiction.

I love to make it. I love to eat it. At work we’re currently serving up three delicious types: peanut butter & jelly, blueberry & orange and nutty maple. I love all three of them equally and would eat them for every meal of the day if I could.

Problem is, they aren’t (probably) the best thing to eat for every meal of the day. They contain butter. And loads of nuts. Sure there’s fruit involved, but I’m no fool. I know all about granola and it’s ability to pretend to be hippie diet food while really being packed with more fat and calories than an Oregon Sea Salted Caramel Brownie*. Okay, maybe not. But you get the picture.

The other thing I’m addicted to is yogurt. Not long ago I told you about my honey problem. Well, people, yogurt is my new honey. Even if I have six very fine tubs of yogurt at home, I’ll still buy more if I go to the market. It’s like I’m building a bomb shelter and I plan to sustain my family on plain greek-style yogurt until the coast is clear. Or until we run out of yogurt - something that, by the looks of my fridge, would take a while.

Of course (you knew this was coming) I especially love granola + yogurt = together (forever.) As breakfast. As a snack. As lunch. As another snack. Thank god I’m not one of those dairy intolerant (or do they call it sensitive these days?) weirdos people!

The (other) problem is, I’m trying to watch what I eat (ugh) - since my decision to stop drinking so much damn half & half my body underwent a miraculous change and I magically shed twenty pounds. This is excellent news not only because I lost twenty pounds but also because I hate shopping for pants. With that chunk of weight missing from my body I can fit into all my old pants again. And none of them are elastic waisted or made of lycra! 

In order to steer clear of pants shopping, I’m doing my best to keep that extra twenty off. This means only one cookie a day instead of six. It means eating less brioche. And it also means limiting my granola intake. Boo hoo.

To get my fix I’ve been adding a sprinkle of toasty oats to my beloved yogurt each morning. While not perfect, and no way near as delicious, it’s a decent substitute. And aligns perfectly with my plan to avoid pants shopping.

By the way, isn’t pants the funniest word? Cracks me up.
 

Toasted Oats
Makes 1/3 cup

You need:

• 1/3 c thick cut rolled oats
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t canola oil

Toast the oats:

1. Preheat an uncoated frying pan over medium.
2. In a small bowl combine the oats, cinnamon and oil until all traces of the oil disappear.
3. Slide the oats into the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until you can smell toasty oats and the bits are beginning to take on some color.
4. Let cool and use them as you’d like.

For a larger batch of toasty oats, increase the amount of oats to 2 cups. The cinnamon would bump up to 1 1/2 teaspoons and the oil would go to 1 tablespoon. Combine as described above then spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake in a 300 degree oven until toasted - about 10 minutes or until the oats take on the golden hue of your choosing.

Watch that your oats don’t scorch. Speaking from experience, they can go from perfectly golden to kinda burnt very quickly. 

And now! Photos!

 

*Yes, this is a treat on my bakery menu. Yes, the sea salt is actually from Oregon. Yes, there’s a post coming soon all about it!

I’m not addicted to coffee.

I am, however, addicted to coffee mixed with that magical elixir known as half & half. Sometimes, when falling asleep at night, I’m already thinking about my first cup of coffee in the morning. Usually it’s not the coffee I’m looking most forward to, but the half & half. Kind of sick, huh?

Working as an early morning baker, it’s easy for me to have 7 or more (and usually more) cups of coffee in a single day. And each of these cups contains a very generous dose of half & half. How generous? Well, when I measured out a sample dose, I nearly fell over. It ranged from between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup, depending upon the size of the mug. Holy s*$t! Holy s*$t, indeed!

I took it a step further (and I’m not really sure why) by calculating the total number of calories in each cup of my coffee - and, wow. What was I thinking? That’s a l o t of calories. Especially when you factor in the fact that I also eat like 4 cookies a day and always cook with butter. Dear god! Someone do something!

Naturally, I’ve cut out half & half. And taking half & half out of my coffee equation has made me not like coffee as much. Is that a win-win? Or a sad-sad? I guess you could say it’s a win-win. It’s like going on a diet without being on a diet. Sigh. And grrr.

Speaking of diets, last year at this time I showed you a quinoa salad that’s just delicious. It’s perfect if you’re on a new diet for the new year - or if you need something delicious to take your mind off of all that half & half you’re missing (maybe that’s just me…).

Make this salad. Pack it into your lunch. Eat it for dinner. Cold or warm, it’s delicious!

and i feel exactly like i did before i started. honest.

i have a lot of friends who have done cleanses. and juice fasts. and diets. and other crazy stuff. and they always say how GREAT they feel after eliminating the evil that is sugar (or dairy! or wheat! or meat!) from their diets.

so, even though i own a bakery and work at that bakery 7 days a week, i decided to cut out sugar, dairy, wheat and meat for 5 days just to see what would happen. and NOTHING HAPPENED. i kept waiting to feel better. to come out of a fog (which i didn’t feel like i was in in the first place, but who knows. maybe not eating sugar would trigger some magical reaction and a non-existent but pesky fog would lift from my head and everything would be fine. and i’d be prettier and younger and have fewer gray hairs. see, magic!)

what i can see being beneficial for me is not completely cutting out sugar, dairy, wheat and meat, but instead, eating less of it. i mean, i’ll be the first to admit that there have been some days lately where i’ve eaten (literally) 8 cookies followed by a few handfuls of milk chocolate and several slices of cheese - and that didn’t make me feel too hot. BUT! a cookie. and maybe a bite or two of chocolate. and a chunk of cheese - big deal.

eat less. feel great. that’s something i can get behind.

i’m on as close as i can get to the d-word.

the d-word being DIET.

it all started when even my stretch pants were starting to feel a bit snug. actually, that’s not true. it all really started when i decided it was a good idea to eat 9 cookies for lunch instead of eating something more sensible…I did that one day and then it was a slippery slope from there…soon it was happening all the time.

for those of you new to sprinklefingers (hi! how are you? thanks for joining me!), i own a bakery. and i’m currently in the middle of opening a new shop with a new menu…which means i’m constantly in the test kitchen…which means i’m constantly testing my creations…which means even my stretch pants don’t fit.

so, i’m on a d-word. it’s not that bad, really. here’s how my version of a d-word works:

i eat whatever i want or need (for work!) to eat each day.

typically this includes:

• oatmeal for breakfast, (sometimes this oatmeal is mixed with maple syrup and whole milk and baked, but at least it’s oatmeal, right?)
• several handfuls of chocolate pistoles. (I’m still not convinced Felchlin is the right chocolate, so i keep trying others.)
• a piece of fruit. (sometimes this fruit is coated in butter and sugar and baked into pastry.)
• some kind of lunch. (sometimes cookies. sometimes a salami sandwich. sometimes a granola bar. sometimes just a coffee.)
• test kitchen results: if it’s delicious i never eat less than two of whatever it is i’ve made. if it’s simply good and not delicious, i’ll just eat one. (yesterday i made peanut butter & jelly oatmeal cream pies and i ate two of them.)

and then - and this is where the d-word comes in - i have:

a salad for dinner.

but not just any salad. a delicious salad overflowing with roasted or shaved veggies, specially-selected cheeses (just a touch), a bit of fruit and a splash of homemade dressing.

use the following guide to create your own salad fit for the d-word!

salad for dinner salad

first you need vegetables:

shaved carrots, zucchini & beets: wash the carrots, zucchini & beets and then, using a sharp vegetable peeler, shave off their outer layer THEN shave them into paper-thin ribbons. shorter ribbons are more manageable when eating, but longer ribbons are fun to wind around your fork.

roasted vegetables: preheat your oven to 400. fill a rimmed sheet tray with your favorite washed vegetables. try these: brussels sprouts (halved), asparagus, green beans, snap peas, fingerling potatoes (halved), mushrooms, onions - really, whatever looks good at the market will make the perfect addition to your salad. once your selections are on the sheet tray, drizzle them with a touch of olive oil and sprinkle on some salt & pepper. roast the veggies for about 20 minutes and check on them - keep them in the oven until they reach your desired state of roasted-veggie-ness.

then there’s cheese:

cheese: lately i’ve been stuck on two cheeses: an 8 month manchego and cave-aged gruyere. i shave cheeses just like i do carrots - then thin ribbons of cheese get layered into the salad…delicious!

how ‘bout some fruit?

fruit: we liked diced apple or thinly sliced strawberries. apple goes well with gruyere and the manchego is delicious with strawberries.

let’s get dressed!

dressing: lately we’ve only been using olive oil and quality balsamic vinegar. plus some salt & pepper. (see below for more on dressing.)

putting your salad together:

this step relies heavily upon your taste. i would never add the entire sheet tray of roasted vegetables to a salad - i’d just add a bit and then refrigerate the rest for tomorrow’s salad - so, really, the amounts of all the salad components are totally up to you.

1. find your favorite salad serving bowl and in it place a layer of greens (or spinach!) or a combination of both.
2. on top of the lettuces, add your selection of shaved vegetables. then add some of roasted vegetables, the cheese and the fruit.
3. once all of the components are in your serving bowl, drizzle a bit of olive oil over everything, and then add a few splashes of good balsamic vinegar. top with a bit of salt & pepper and perhaps a squeeze of a lemon or orange, then give everything a really good mix. taste a few leaves of lettuce - does the dressing taste right? if not, adjust: add a bit more vinegar or a drizzle more of oil.

we have been eating some version of this salad every night for weeks now.

wait. that’s a lie. we’ve been eating salad for dinner for weeks - until last night when the salad was joined by a bottle of champagne and some country pâté. we didn’t really cheat on our d-word, we simply felt like getting a little fancy. and i swear to you, it’s back to just salad tonight.




ps: yes, we drink bubbly from champagne saucers. so fancy!