Aloha Granola

Ever since I began baking for STC in OB, I've been playing around with different granola recipes. I created this one for my little sister who spent a summer interning in Hawaii and fell in love with the place and the food there. This recipe makes a TON, but you could easily halve or quarter this for a more reasonable amount.

2 lbs 10 oz. old-fashioned oats

3 cups coconut

2 cups macadamia nuts, chopped to desired size

2 cups dried pineapple, chopped to desired size

1 1/2 cup honey

1 cup canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp cinnamon

In a large bowl combine oats, nuts and coconut. Mix thoroughly. Add in honey and oil and stir to combine. Be sure that all oats are coated with liquid. Add vanilla, ginger and cinnamon and stir until entire bowl is coated with spices. Put into a 350 degree oven for about an hour (this might vary depending on your oven) in a cake pan or sheet pan depending on how much you are making. Stir every ten minutes or so to prevent burning. With about 20 minutes remaining, add brown sugar and stir to combine. Bake until evenly browned and delicious. Upon removing pan from the oven, mix in dried pineapple and allow granola to cool completely before storing in ziploc bags or airtight containers.

Pasta e Fagioli Soup

My diet is amongst the many things that having little AGN in our lives has changed. Her little tummy does not like dairy or soy - which means that I have had to cut both of those out of my diet. Dairy was easy, but soy has been surprisingly difficult. Luckily, there are plenty of other mama's out there dealing with this and one of them started a blog called MSPI Mama. Last night I made this soup and Brett loves it! It makes a TON of soup which is great as we have been able to freeze three meals worth in addition to having it for lunch and dinner.

INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 16 oz. pkg. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
½ large (or 1 medium) onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
64 oz. beef broth
28 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp. dried parsley (or 1 tbsp. fresh parsley)
1/2 tsp. dried basil (or 1 tsp. fresh basil)
4 oz. small dry pasta

DIRECTIONS
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and brown the sausage, crumbling it as it cooks. Once brown, remove sausage from pot with a slotted spoon.

In the same pot, add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and salt, and saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add sausage back to the pot and the can of diced tomatoes (do not drain), stir briefly, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the beans, and add the beef broth and tomato sauce. Add in all of the seasonings, stir well, turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it boils, turn down to low heat, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Add the dry pasta and continue to simmer on low for another 30 minutes.

If you do choose to freeze it, thaw it completely before cooking otherwise the pasta will get mushy.