comfort food

red curry and coconut milk is such a fabulous combination

also, dressing up like fruit is fun

ten-second rule!

cooking spray makes things slippery.

don't worry, i only kept the ones that landed right-side up.

a satisfying investment

i recently made some muffins that called for cutting cold butter into the flour mixture. i've never been very good at this, mainly because it takes so long to do it with two knives that i would give up before the butter bits were small enough. these muffins didn't turn out so well either. i don't know if it's because of my bad butter-cutting technique or if it was just a dud recipe - anyway, i decided to buy a pastry blender. it was only $3.99 at Target, and i've already decided that it was money well spent. tonight i used it to make the most delightfully flaky buttermilk biscuits. here are some pictures.

pastry blender at work

well-blended dough

pre-baking

btw, that's not old nasty dr pepper in the background - it's olive oil

try not to drool

i like strawberry preserves. and butter.

three-grain apple cinnamon granola

after my friend Katrina posted a recipe for chocolate granola on her blog awhile back, i wanted to try making cereal. i found this recipe in my cookbook. it's yummy, so i thought i'd share. and i like taking pictures of food.

preheat the oven to 300. i cut way down on the baking times, because the first time i made this recipe the cereal tasted burnt.

combine on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes:

2 cups oats

1 cup barley flakes

1 cup rye flakes

add 2 cups chopped walnuts,

1/2 cup wheat germ,

and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, and bake for another 5 minutes

add 1/2 cup dry milk powder (optional) and 1 tablespoon cinnamon

heat, stirring, until blended:

1/2 to 2/3 cup honey

1/2 cup oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

add the oil mixture to the dry mixture and stir until coated. spread on the baking sheet and bake, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.

stir in 1 cup chopped dry apples, and 1/2 cup raisins

let cool, then store in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month