The "Nola"

Recipe Here if you don;t want to read my diatribe

In high school, most of my lunches were not spent in the Skyline cafeteria (or the West parking lot). No, I'd be noshing at my BFF's place: Tara Cook Smith (nee' Tara Jade Cook). Besides the delights of a PB&J with (shock me, shock me) WHITE Great Harvest bread, sometimes, in the Cook fridge you could find her mom's home made granola. It was fantastic - and I need to get her recipe.

Because I love 'the nola.'

And Danny loves the Nola too.

But it tends to be vastly overpriced... especially the artisan varieties. And I don't care much for Maltodextrin or Xanthan Gum these days.

So...PROJECT TIME!

Lets make some!!!

True, at our home there seems to be a constant give-and-take between me: trying to make things for Danny that he thinks taste as good as "Big Food" (eg. Papa Johns vs. from scratch whole wheat greek pizza), AND him: trying to find a way to diplomatically say: "Sure I enjoy vegan stuffed peppers, but not as much as a #6 at Wendys."

Apparently there's something to potassium citrate or glucono-delta lactone that he really enjoys? Both are 'ingredients' in his favorite from-the-package Sauerbraten gravy...I don't mix it with water for him. I also have yet to spend 3 - 10 days making Sauerbraten pot roast from scratch for him; so call me catty.

But despite what a nag I've become (not to mention how difficult I've become to live with in my 30s), I really do want to cook things he'll enjoy (and save the planet, and help him keep his boyish-figure). Plus, I've been searching for something easy (and healthy) to enjoy for breakfast; and you can only eat so many avocados and clementines off your child's high chair tray before you start to crave something more, you know?

There's the wheat waffle option, but spending just the 15 minutes means Holden's done before I've even started.

And true, depending on how you make the stuff (the nola, that is), it can be choc full of 'sugar' and calories (in the form of maple syrup or pure honey)...but I'll trade that out for lucky charms or honey nut cheerios any day! Besides, it's a great source of whole grains (oats, as long as you're using the real thing and not some stripped away quick-cook variety full of salt and additives)... and there's the all the nuts, seeds and fruit your little heart desires.

So enter my friend (who doesn't know I exist) Mark Bittman.
Thankfully a recipe similar to the one I used from "How To Cook Everything," can be found online at his blog.

So get some ingredients:

Oh, almost forgot! Bought these at Costco eons ago and they need to be put to good use:


Mix it all together (actually, just follow Bittman's instructions... they're genius but easy enough for a simpleton like moi)...


And get your Nola on.


(PS. Tara Jade, if you're out there: do have your mom's recipe?)


Phblog: Operation "Save the Planet and My Waist Line" Continues
Granola (of course) for breakfast with milk and a few apple slices. Bites of clementines off Holden's tray (will it ever stop?) A few bites of twice-baked potato filling (mushrooms, grilled onions, sour cream, cheese and S&P), a cup of my potato cheese soup & glass of milk. Green beans, 1 slice artisan multigrain whole wheat bread, 2 halves twice baked red potatoes, a few tastes of maple-apple chutney, 2 bites molasses cookie (mot really worth it), one of my chocolate cjip cookies (def worth it. I was feigning for something with chocolate.)