Joni-Mitchell-Would-Eat-This Granola – Naturally Sweet Yet Feisty

When I moved into the dorms at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1983, my first roommate dubbed me a “granola” after her survey of the cassettes on my shelf. Jersey girl, Sharon MacKenzie nailed it. I was and still smack of all things hippy. Even my husband ribs me when we pass the rainbow children thumbing it to the North Shore.

“Hey babe, look, there’s your people.”

It’s annoying. And at the risk of cliché I’ll add: You can take the girl out of the tie-dye but you can’t get the tie-dye out of the girl. 

But this isn’t a blog on hippy cultural terms, this is a bona fide recipe for a maple syrup sweetened granola that sings with rustic clarity. Bear with me, I’m smitten.

As much as I love Anahola Granola, and include it in every care package sent to friends on the Mainland, I weary of its sweetness. Then I discovered granola guru, Megan Gordon; a chic in Seattle killing it with her savory granola blends. This recipe is an off-spring of her granola base and 101 instruction she shared with thekitchn.com, where she is a contributing writer. I recommend visiting her site as well. 

I have a hunch I’m not saving money making my own, considering we devour one full recipe in two weeks and I’m baking a new batch before the last jar has even emptied.  

It’s that good.

JMWET Granola

Yield: 6 cups

Set out all of your ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Step 1.

Combine:

3 cups oats

½ cup sesame seeds

½ cup pumpkin seeds

½ cup almonds

Step 2.

Combine:

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cardamom 

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

Stir into oat mixture.

Step 3.

In a separate bowl, combine: 

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup coconut oil

½ cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add to spiced oats, mixing well.

Step 4.

Spread mixture on a parchment lined rimmed cookie sheet. Bake 38 minutes, turning every 15 minutes for even baking. Three minutes before the end of baking add:

1 cup of coconut flakes.

Step 5. 

Dried fruit and roasted nuts go in after baking is through. Once out of the oven add:

1 cup roasted pistachio, chopped

1 cup dry cherries, chopped roughly

Cool, then store in mason jars. It’s so pretty you’ll want to store in glass just so you can admire the toasty beauty.

Since we’re on a hippy tack, here’s a poem about hippy babies I wrote eight years ago while sitting in Kilauea Bakery. 

Day of the Dread

Hippy babies are taking over all the funky cafes. Hippy

babies in their patchouli soaked diapers with their natty 

dread dolls. Hippy babies with their Buddha bellies 

spilling over their hemp diapers; running between your legs 

as you walk across the hard wood floor with caramel rivers 

of coffee rolling from palm to elbow; scalding your 

fingers. Hippy babies bouncing off table legs in striped pants 

and polka-dot shirts with tassels snapping in their wake. One hippy 

baby shows up and a commune of organic scone-flinging babies is sure 

to follow. As the floor blooms with all-natural crumbs, the hippy 

babies divine spirits from soymilk stains on the tables. Hippy 

babies swing from the philodendra vines, laughing too loud and smiling 

at all the seated babies with napkins tucked in their shirts. Hippy 

babies drooling 100% organic cookie drool down Bob Marley 

T-shirts that cost a dime at the Hippy Baby Boutique. Hippy 

babies chanting with bodhi beads and bangles around emaciated

wrists, playing ukuleles and drowning out Greg Brown and Natalie 

Merchant in their ganga-stained hippy-baby voices. We ask them

politely, please sit, please clean up after yourself. The hippy 

babies won’t have any of it. Who are we to infringe upon their freedom?  

Another Ode to Mother Nature’s Condiment -- The Sunflower Seed

Macy’s European Coffee House in Flagstaff, Arizona is where I cut my teeth in a commercial kitchen. The word “commercial” hardly captures the glow of this funky café and eatery on Beaver Street just blocks from Northern Arizona University, where I went to school.

Macy’s is where I fell in love with the kitchen as an entity; a magical environ where cinnamon, folk music and hippy women ruled. Filling three-quarters of the kitchen was the bakers’ table – a waist high stage where mounds of dough were tossed on a floured surface and coaxed, twirled and stretched into sugary danish, scones and bagels. 

The joy of working with dough on a wide surface, where the body can gain leverage with ease, makes the average home kitchen an annoying space in which to bake. That aside, Macy’s is where I met myself as the woman I would grow into with age. I couldn’t know this at the time, but it is in the kitchen where I commune with the best parts of myself. 

Macy’s was primarily espresso drinks and vegetarian meals. The sandwiches, soups and salads were simple and everything was made fresh. We tossed tamari sunflower seeds on green salads, and today, my own kitchen is rarely without them.Where sprouts offer a fresh, bright crunch, these have a  totally different mouth feel and flavor. 

Here’s how you make them:

Pour a pile of say 2 cups raw seeds into the center of a rimmed cookie sheet. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons tamari or shoyu sauce. Spread in an evenish layer on the sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes. Cool and scrape from sheet to pour into your container of choice. There is always a jar of these toasty, brown darlings on our counter top.

Yes they can be bought on Kauai for around $10/pound at Papayas, or $7/pound at Hoku Foods, but that’s pretty pricey and they are so quick and easy to make.

Enjoy!