The Müsli-on-the-cheap experiment

While I was a college student in Germany, I fell in love with the breakfast mixture of whole grains, nuts and fruits called Müsli. It has all the ease of cold cereal – pour into bowl, pour on milk or stir in yogurt. After it has soaked a short while in milk or yogurt (or my favorite soaking liquid of plain yogurt thinned with almond milk), the grain in Müsli softens up as it soaks up liquid, yielding a bowl of tender grains with exciting bits of crunchy nuts and sweet dried fruits in a creamy sauce. It has only as much sugar as the dried fruits in the mix. Unlike granola, Müsli is cheap and easy to make; no baking required, the ingredients don't need to be pricey ones. Also, it does not have the added oil of granola, just the fats that might be in nuts and grains.

I was hoping I could make a cheaper at-home version of my current favorite brand, Seitenbacher. I wanted to vary the ingredients a bit, but keep the texture mix of crunchy and chewy and the flavors of sweet and tart dried fruits.

Original Seitenbacher Müsli #2 ingredients

Rolled oats
Rolled barley flakes
Dried raspberries
Dried apples
Sunflower seeds
Sliced almonds

Raisins

Net weight: 16 oz

Retail price: $4.99 per 16 oz    (sometimes on sale at $3.99)
Price per ounce: when on sale, $0.25 per ounce

                        When at regular price, $0.31 per ounce

New at-home version

Quaker Old-fashioned Oats, 1 lb 2 oz = $3.50, or $0.20 per ounce

Rolled rye flakes (cheaper than rolled barley), 8 oz = $1.03, or $0.13 per ounce
Sunflower seeds, 6.08 oz = $1.17, or $0.14 per ounce
Dried apples, 2.4 oz = $1.69, or $0.71 per ounce
Golden Raisins 15 oz = $4.99, or $0.33 per ounce
Pecan pieces, on sale 16 oz = $8.49, or $0.53 per ounce
Dried raspberries not available (maybe I could dry some from my back yard next year!)

Trial recipe for Müsli-on-the-cheap

7.5 oz oats (cost: $1.50)

5.25 oz golden raisins (cost: $1.73)
4 oz rye flakes (cost: $0.52)
4 oz pecan pieces (cost: $2.12)
3.25 oz sunflower seeds (cost: $0.45)
2.4 oz dried apples, chopped (cost: $1.69)

Total weight of finished cereal: 26.4 oz (1 pound, 10.4 oz)

Total price of finished cereal: $8.01
Price per ounce = $0.30

I think I can still do this a bit cheaper. I love pecans, but pecan pieces had a bit too strong of a flavor along with sunflower seeds, and I decided I’d like a more grain-based cereal with fewer nuts, seeds and apples per spoonful. On my next attempt, I’m going to increase the amount of grains per batch and reduce the amounts of nuts, seeds and apples. I might change the nuts to sliced almonds instead of pecans next time, but I will have less of whichever nut is involved. Perhaps the rolled oats at the natural foods store will be cheaper per ounce than the Quaker oats, too. That store had rye flakes that cost less than my oats!

Update after next grocery run: store brand old-fashioned oats on sale, 1 pound 2 oz for $1.50!

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Monster Beets!

Just had to post an amusing picture from last fall at work. Kelly and I are posing with some beets from Jane's Garden. I've been thinking a lot about those crazy super-sized beets because this year's beets have been just normal ones.
Thanks to Jackie Pope-Ganser for the photo.

When you get monster beets, it's time to use just one to make a big salad. Here's a recipe I use at home. I'm changing the title to commemorate the beets.

Monster Beet and Apple Salad

One monstrously-large beet, peeled and ends cut off
3 to 4 crunchy eating apples (examples: Fuji, Jonathan), peeled and cored
1 bulb fennel (optional), save the feathery fronds
balsamic vinegar
sugar
salt
fresh-ground black pepper
walnut oil (tastes the best, but olive oil will also serve)
walnut pieces (optional)

Grate the beet into a bowl, using the large holes on your grater. You may need to cut it into smaller pieces to hold onto it while you grate. Grate the apples into the bowl. If you are using the fennel, cut off the stalks, cut the bulb in quarters and cut out the cores. Then slice very thinly.
In another bowl, pour in a few tablespoons of vinegar and add pinches of sugar and salt until it has a taste you find pleasantly tart and lightly sweetened. Season with pepper and then whisk in oil in small batches until the dressing emulsifies. Mix the dressing with the beets and apples and walnut pieces (if using). Use the fennel fronds for a garnish or mix them in with the whole salad.

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Today's summery salad

I typically assemble salads according to my whims and what's in the refrigerator/cupboard. The only real planning involved is how to obtain the salad greens: backyard, CSA, friends or shopping?

The basic principles: Using whatever is around, find some textural variety, a mix of sweet and sour and savory, and make a homemade vinaigrette or a creamy dressing based on kefir, yogurt or mayonnaise.

Apples, berries, pears and dried fruits are frequent attenders in the sweet category, as is honey in the vinaigrette dresing. Textural variety is provided by mixed greens, edible flowers, nuts, fruits (fresh or dried), crunchy or fibrous vegetables like cucumber or raw zucchini or bell pepper or carrot, and, occasionally, cheese.

In keeping with the basics of "whatever ya got" and switching up the flavors and textures, today's salad was a greens mix of half lettuce, half sorrel. It was topped with fresh blueberries, pecan pieces and cucumber batons, with a honey-sweetened balsamic vinegar-Dijon vinaigrette spiked with a little lime juice.

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Mmm, mystery greens

So many greens in this week's CSA box, by two days later I had forgotten exactly what they are all called. I recognized the kale and napa cabbage right away in the fridge, but what kind of green was I using today when I made a salad for a potluck? Tatsoi? Komatsuna? Some kind of choi?

I told everyone who liked the salad that I think it was komatsuna. For anyone here who is going to try to reproduce this recipe, sorry if it's not komatsuna and you get different results.

Mystery Greens Salad
at least 6 servings

1 large bunch komatsuna (or whatever brassica leaf I was using), about two handfuls
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch chili powder
handful of raisins
handful of roasted salted almonds

Cut greens into thin ribbons with a knife and place in a bowl. Whisk together the oil, lemon juice and chili powder and pour over the greens. Toss to dress, then garnish with raisins and almonds. Can be made a few hours ahead.

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Crisis averted: apple cake

Problem: Potluck is in two hours, I have no idea what to make, and the only food of large quantity in the house is apples.
Solution: Apple coffee cake, chock full of organic Cortland apples sold by Teresa Santiago of Sunny Lane Farm and Teresa's Fruit and Herbs, from her family's apple picking in Wisconsin at an old orchard (hence why it's organic -- no one has sprayed for years because no one has been tending the crop for commercial sale)

Second problem: The recipe I found uses lots of apple, but has a few flaws, starting with having more than a cup of sugar for a little 8x8-inch cake.
Solution: Make up a new recipe, changing everything except fat (maybe I'll change that next time) and leavener.

It occurred to me while creating this recipe for a baked item that my creative efforts in the kitchen usually tend toward cooking instead of baking. It's in cooking where I feel I can be more flexible, whereas I'm not as easily able to tweak a baking recipe and still get a good outcome. However, much as I liked the recipe I started out with for this dish, I knew that if I didn't change some things I'd find this coffee cake sickeningly sweet and sticky. I figured I'd feel bad about eating it instead of something with more fiber.  Also, I didn't have the nuts called for in the recipe for the topping. I had to buck up and believe that l wasn't making a huge mistake and making my friends eat it.

I'm very happy with the results of this experiment, as were the eaters at the potluck lunch to which I took the cake, straight out of the oven. It's moist enough to be great even without the side of coffee, it's at just the right level of sweetness, and I found another use for the almond flour waiting in my fridge for me to pay it some attention. I could probably get away with using less fat in the cake next time, perhaps even substituting some homemade applesauce.


Potluck Pleaser Apple Cake
at least 8 servings

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 beaten egg
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples

Topping ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
handful of roasted salted almonds, chopped
1/3 cup almond flour (finely ground almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 8x8-inch baking pan. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl. Use another larger bowl to cream butter and sugar, then add egg. Mix dry ingredients into wet, then fold in apples. Spread batter into baking pan. Rub topping ingredients together until butter is well incorporated. Sprinkle topping over cake batter and bake 35 to 45 minutes until cake is baked through and topping is golden brown.

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Chopped Salad: low on lettuce, high in flavor

Dinner that was a big bowl of salad (especially mixing fruit and lettuce) was a specialty of mine when I was single, but I dropped the habit when I started having some digestive difficulties that were exacerbated by high-insoluble-fiber leafy greens. This week, after re-reading a Cook's Illustrated article from a few years ago about chopped salads, I was inspired to play around with one of the recipes to make it my own and use items I had at home. The chopped salads are mostly stuff that is not lettuce, which got my attention.

Since seeing some improvements this year in my ability to tolerate foods that were formerly banned from the grocery list, I decided to give lettuce a chance in my dinner salad last night, but as a supporting actor only, not in a main role. When preceded by a Scandinavian crispbread as a tummy-friendly starter, last night's salad was a star.

Pears and More Chopped Salad
4 large servings or 6 side portions

1 English salad cucumber, seeded and cubed
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
kosher salt
fresh-ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 Bartlett pears, cored and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (could substitute 2 crisp apples)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 small head green leaf lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
4 ounces crumbled Amish blue cheese
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Whisk oil and vinegar together in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add cucumber, bell pepper, pear, toss and let stand a few minutes. Toss in lettuce, then pecans and cheese.

Best served immediately, but leftovers do keep overnight for a tangy lunch if you don't mind lettuce that is a little limp.

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Bacon that is not bacon

For the math department potluck held at our place on April Fool's Day, it seemed appropriate to make a joke dish. I took my inspiration for "the bacon that isn't bacon" from hundreds of years ago.

Diners of the Middle Ages were amused by illusion foods, foods that pretended to be other things. I made a simple marzipan recipe a couple of years ago, based on a couple of pre-1600 recipes I'd found, that resulted in a paste that could be colored and molded into fun shapes. The reason for creating the recipe was to make marzipan look like bacon. Here's how it works:

Marzipan Bacon
Take equal weights almond flour (ground blanched almonds with no brown bits from nut skins) and powdered sugar and whisk together. Make two batches of the same mixture. A little goes a long way here. I made two batches, using 25 grams of almond flour and 25 grams of powdered sugar each, to make enough for a potluck of 20 people.

With one batch, moisten lightly with water and food coloring. For red, a historically appropriate coloring is powdered saunders. I've also had good luck with cranberry juice reduced until it is syrupy (not historically accurate for pre-1600 Europe). If a rose flavor is desired, add a few drops of rosewater. To the other batch, just add water with or without rosewater. Stir and knead until the marzipan and coloring/water are thoroughly mixed, adding more almond/sugar mix or water if needed to get a claylike texture.

For best results, chill the almond paste wrapped tightly in plastic, then shape after 3 to 5 hours or the next day. Simply resting the paste in a cool place (not the refrigerator) would be more historically accurate. Divide the red paste into two or three parts, and the white paste into three or five parts. Roll out each part into a small rectangle, making all the rectangles the same width and length. Thicknesses will vary, which is fine. Layer the rectangles: start with white, lay red on top, then white, red, white, red, white. Cut off the short ends of the rectangles, then start slicing the marzipan into strips. Take each strip and roll it gently with the rolling pin to stretch it out and smooth it. Now you have bacon!

Keep covered in plastic and chilled for best texture if you have to wait before serving.

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