cardamom

April 6, 2010

Easy Skillet Lemon Almond Cardamom Tart

mel breakfast, dessert, recipe, sides & bites almond, cake, cardamom, lemon, sweet, tart

Easy Skillet Lemon Almond Tart

Sunday morning the family came over for Easter Brunch. We weren’t a big crowd, health but there was enough food to feed a small army. I made those Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Gruyere I posted on Friday, cialis 40mg little tarts with vanilla honey goat cheese and raspberries, ascariasis and this Skillet Lemon Almond Tart. My mom brought a huge basket of breads and muffins, coconut bars and other assorted goodies. My mother-in-law brought fruit salad with orange-scented yogurt and cinnamon buns. And of course, the guamosas were flowing. After brunch, I thought I’d never be able to eat again. But that didn’t stop me from snacking on leftover cinnamon buns, fruit, cheese and salami later that night.

Easy Skillet Lemon Almond Tart

And about that tart, when I saw this recipe in the New York Times months ago I knew it would be wonderful. It’s full of things I just love: butter, almonds and lemon. I added one more thing I love: cardamom. This tart is perfect for the non-baker because it lessens the usually complex and tedious tasks of baking – weighing, measuring and leveling – down to something as simple as mixing together a frittata. Because this dessert is essentially just that – a sweet, almondy, lemony frittata. The most perfect accompaniment to a steaming cup of coffee with real cream. I recommend you make one as soon as possible.

July 31, 2009

Gingery Olive Oil Granola

mel breakfast, dessert, recipe, sides & bites almonds, apricots, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, granola, oats, pumpkin seeds, vegetarian

Gingery Olive Oil Granola

Every week I buy a bag of obscenely expensive granola from the grocery store. And every afternoon when my stomach begins to grumble, anabolics I have a some plain Greek yogurt with a good sprinkling of granola. It’s just the right amount of sweet, asthma filling and crunchy for the afternoon and I’ve become completely addicted.

So, when I saw this recipe in the New York Times for Olive Oil Granola, I thought I’d give it try. I’ve been meaning to make my own granola for a long time and just never got around to it. And now I’m wondering what the hell took me so long! Homemade granola is amazing and probably half the price of that fancy stuff I buy.

Gingery Olive Oil Granola

I used slivered almonds and salted pumpkin seeds along with ginger-spiked sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. The olive oil gave everything a rich lushness and I was able to achieve a much more pleasant salty/sweet ratio than the over-sweetened stuff I buy. I am absolutely obsessed with it. In fact, I’m having a really hard time stopping myself from eating it all with a spoon.

Needless to say, I’ll not be buying granola anymore. This stuff is just too good and too easy.

October 24, 2008

Homemade Cranberry Spice Granola Bars

mel breakfast, recipe, sides & bites almonds, cardamom, cinnamon, cranberries, nutmeg, oats, pecans, snack

Homemade Cranberry Spice Granola Bars

I love granola bars of all varieties and flavors. Chewy, prosthesis crunchy, thumb nutty and fruity. I used to stock up at the grocery store weekly, but then I looked at the list of ingredients. Far too many processed food-like substances for my taste, so I decided to make my own. I posted a recipe for Banana Chocolate bars over the summer and haven’t bought a box of granola bars since. The recipe was a huge success and I’ve been meaning to post follow-up varieties, but haven’t been all that inspired. Now that it’s fall and everything is cranberries, cinnamon and nutmeg, I’ve finally found the inspiration I was looking for.

These Cranberry Spice granola bars taste just like the Autumn. Tom thinks they taste like Pumpkin Pie, but he thinks that about everything made with nutmeg. While the recipe and method are almost identical to the summer’s granola bars, the mix-ins give them a unique flavor all their own. Instead of chocolate, cashews and banana chips, I used dried cranberries, pecans and a blend of warming spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger.

Homemade Cranberry Spice Granola Bars

I encourage you to give these granola bars a try. They come together in under 20 minutes, everyone loves them and you can experiment with a huge variety of nuts and mix-ins to make them your own. They also make a filling and nutritious portable snack. Since most airlines don’t even give you a tiny bag of pretzels, I made these for Tom’s business trip and I think they just might be the perfect carry-on plane food.

Related: Banana Chocolate Granola Bars