the arugula files

Foodie Xmas Gift} Homemade Granola

Handmade holiday gifts sound like a good idea until you find yourself in Santa's workshop, covered in glue and glitter, with a jewelry box that looks as if a six year old made it. Here's a gift that won't result in your DIY downfall: homemade granola.  Making granola is easy.  In less than an hour, with hardly any work, you will have a tasty treat to gift to your lovelies.  Bonus: packaging doesn't require a hellish trip to a strip mall to wait in a long line at Michael's.  All you need is an old glass jar and the new trendy foodie accessory, baker's twine.

Pumpkin Sweet Rolls, Plus Do You Have Smitten Kitchen's New Book?

Listen, it's not all leeks and lettuce around here.  My sister-in-law Denise loves to bake and when she visits she usually brings sweets.  Halloween weekend she brought these pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  They were quite tasty. Not as sweet or as unhealthy as Cinnabon (they include pumpkin)!  

Figs and Cheese for Breakfast

My sister is an aggressive cottage cheese pusher. Not just any cottage cheese.  Her preferred brand is Friendship Cottage Cheese.  Her commitment to this brand is serious.  If you were sitting next to my sister at a party she would talk to you about it for an hour.  She would go on about...

How perfect the curd size is.  
How it goes both sweet and savory.  
How it's so good for you.
How it tastes great with honey. 
Why 1 percent (in the pink tub) is the best choice. 

 
You would need an escape route, if it weren't for her enthusiasm, which will totally keep you there, sitting next to her, talking about Friendship Cottage Cheese, enthralled.  

Soon you, too, would be eating Friendship Cottage Cheese for breakfast, adding whatever fruit you had in the fruit bowl.  Take these figs for example.  I plucked a few from my neighbor's fig tree, promising that I would make some jam to share.  Instead I took my sister's advice and ate them for breakfast with...yup, you guessed it, Friendship Cottage Cheese.  I added a bit of honey from my friend the beekeeper and some pistachios for a little crunch.

My sister is always looking for ideas for what to mix her cottage cheese with.  If you have any, do tell.

Also: Friendship Cottage Cheese did not sponsor this post, but my sister would certainly like a free case, if you want to send one along.

Zucchini Fritters (What Would the Canal House Ladies Do?)

On Saturday, after I made my zucchini "spread the love bread," I had about one pound of shredded zucchini left over.  Not enough for another loaf of bread, but too much to toss.  I asked myself what the Canal House ladies would do (WWTCHLD?) and of course they would make zucchini fritters for lunch.  So that's just what I did.  I used this recipe. 

One of the most important steps in making zucchini fritters is to wring out the water that oozes from the shredded zucchini after it's shredded and salted.  Otherwise you end up with soggy fritters that are impossible to crisp.  Usually wringing out the water is done with a cheesecloth, but I didn't have one so I used paper towels.  Paper towels work equally well.  The problem is that you have to use about eight sheets, so after you are done you feel like you just exploited Brazil's rain forest.  Note to self, I bet the Canal House ladies have a whole drawer full of cheesecloths.

If you are not reading it, you must: Canal House Cooks Lunch.  It's like a daily horoscope for people who love food.

Also: top your zucchini fritters with this or this.  You will thank me later.

Avocado Toast (Plus, An Awesome Sunday Morning with Mindy Kaling and Josie)

Is it rude to say that I love daylight savings time? Like, hey guys, I'm not really sorry about that lost hour everyone is complaining about.  Isn't it worth it for the sun in the morning?  Do you hear the birds, people? Do you see the cherry blossom blooms out your window?  Spring is just around the corner.  Get up and face the day, as my mother used to say.

What a nice morning.  Josie and I ate our breakfast.  I had olive bread toast, with smashed avocados, crumbled pistachios, a pinch of sea salt, and a drizzle of olive oil.  (The dish is inspired by Cork, a tiny restaurant on 14th street, where these little toasts and a glass of Muscadet can fill you up with happiness until it's brimming out of our pores).  Josie had milk, of course. Then she took a nap and I finished Mindy Kaling's book, which made me giggle out loud.  So much so that Marcus inquired about what I was reading.

Blueberry Pancakes (Plus, Can you Make Pancakes with a Stainless Steel Pan?)

After poring through a dozen recipes for blueberry pancakes, it all comes down to the million dollar question: can you use a stainless steel pan to make pancakes?  Every recipe I read called for a nonstick pan.  The problem for me is that I don't own a nonstick pan.  My husband, Marcus, thinks we will all die slowly of cancer if we use them.  This morning I set out to find out if stainless steel pans work (not if we would slowly die of cancer from using nonstick, a debatable topic in my house).  My conclusion: yes, you can in fact make pancakes with a stainless steel pan.  It all comes down to the fact that stainless steel pans eventually become "nonstick" if they get hot enough.  You just have to be patient and wait for the pan to "release" the pancakes from it's hold.  Of course, this means you have to use oil, but I think oil is necessary anyway for browned edges that give pancakes flavor and texture.  You end up with a crispy shell and soft pillow cake inside.