Mom: Granola, Booze & Hummus

A belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there! I took a wee excursion to CT this weekend to pay homage (mom-age?) to my own Ma, but made sure to arrive armed with the essentials: granola, booze and hummus.

I doubt that Mom would count everyday items like hummus or granola among her very favorite foods in the world. This is a woman famous for saying, “I never met a potato I didn’t like.” Still, Mom’s kitchen is unfailingly stocked with these staples of granola, booze and hummus, ready for daily consumption.

For Mother’s Day 2010, then, I decided a few upgrades were in order. Anyone can stop by the store and pick up a tub of Sabra or a box of Post cereal. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But to be gift-worthy, I had to come up with some originals, so here they be.

Granny-nola

Ingredients:

• 3.5 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup each cashews, walnuts and almonds, chopped
• 2 tsp cinnamon (Saigon cinnamon recommended)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup raisins (I used 1/2 Thompson, 1/2 golden)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300*. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.
2. Stir together all ingredients EXCEPT raisins. Spread onto cookie sheet into an even layer.
3. Bake 20-30 minutes (or until toasted to your liking), stirring every 10 minutes or so.
4. Allow to cool completely before tossing with raisins.

This was actually my first time ever making homemade granola—I just browsed various recipes until I decided on a combination of ingredients that sounded good to me Mom. But now that I know how simple it is and how infinitely better it is than the store-bought variety, it’s hard to imagine not making my own granola from now on! The difference was seriously night and day, and the beauty of it is that it’s fully customizable to suit your cravings at the time of baking. Try it—it’ll change your life breakfast.

As for the hummus, I began intending to make the white bean hummus recipe from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, but ended up changing so many of the ingredients that it’s no longer recognizable as Dreena’s recipe. Good thing it came out well!

Mirin-Herb Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 tbsp mirin (sweetened sake)
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Italian herb seasoning (salt-free)
• dried rosemary

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except herbs in your food processor and blend smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
2. Add a generous shake of Italian seasoning (usually a blend of dried oregano, sage, thyme and basil) and a sprinkle of rosemary. Blend again and taste. Add more herbs, if desired (I repeated once—I like plenty of rosemary).

Mirin is fun! If you haven’t tried a recipe that contains it, I highly recommend playing around. I do not recommend trying to drink it straight, however, though I don’t know anyone who would try that…

Speaking of which, this brings us to the third and final Mama S&C kitchen essential:

Port

Ingredients:

• What do I look like, a vineyard?

Directions:

1. Go buy a bottle.

Optional: make Mom hold you like a baby. Love you, Mommy!

What are your mom’s essentials?