gran-ola

99% of the time, I am in a hurry when I am supposed to be eating breakfast. Even if there is breakfasty food in the house (eggs, etc.), I don't always have time to prepare something. I was thinking of that age-old addage, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

...So I made some homemade granola! One of my favorite breakfasts is a simple mix of Euro-style yogurt (try Willow Hill Farm's Sheep Yogurt), a little maple syrup, nutty granola, and fresh seasonal fruit. It's tasty and doesn't take a long time to prepare, or to eat. =)

For my granola, I combined rolled oats, sliced almonds, and dried coconut. I tossed it all together with some cinnamon, a little honey, some canola oil, and a pinch of salt (to offset all that sweetness).

dinner party dessert

Some friends of mine threw a party two nights ago, and I was in charge of putting together the desserts. I used to sell these little blueberry tartlets at a farmers' market, but I hadn't made them recently, so I kind of revamped the recipe.

I put together a dough of ground almonds (done in my food processor), sugar, butter, a pinch of salt, and some ice water. After toasting them up, I filled them with a light cream (housemade sheep ricotta, sheep yogurt, whipped cream, and powdered sugar -- all folded together and spiked with a little amaretto). I topped each tartlet with a gigantic Willow Hill Farm blueberry.

fresh fruit and yogurt cup

I was loosely following Eating Well's Fresh Fruit Tart recipe the other day, and I came out with a little extra filling. I filled a ramekin with the extra yogurt mixture, and it hit me. If you are trying to cut calories, why not take out the crust (it's made with graham crackers and butter)? Don't get me wrong, Eating Well's recipes are already designed to promote healthy eating, but sometimes you just don't want the crust (ok, I admit, I've never felt that way, but some people might!). Either way, it's tasty, and you can top it with (or mix in) any summer fruits that you like. Drizzle the top with a little bit of the marmelade or jam mixture (here I used a mixture of tangerine marmelade and raspberry preserves) and let it set. Yummy!