French Toast made with Maple Oatmeal Bread

One of the things I love about living in New England are the changes in the seasons and the new activities that come and go with each passing month. We had a really good winter this year (if you like snow that is) as western Massachusetts experienced a lot of snow. It was almost like being home, without the strong winds and five foot high drifts. After getting in a my share of pond hockey, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing a new activity is on the horizon. With day time temperatures now climbing above freezing and with cold nights late February and early-mid March are prime maple sugar making season, also referred to as sugaring. I'm fortunate enough to have a father-in-law who has activities that keep the family very active, including making our own maple syrup in his very own sugar shack. Last weekend we trudged up and down the hills through the deep snow tapping the sugar maples and repairing the lines so that the buckets at the bottom of the hills can fill with sap. This coming weekend there will likely be enough collected to start boiling the sap down to syrup. It will take a lot of time and lots of firewood (and maybe a few cold beverages will also be sacrificed) but in the end the family will be rewarded with anywhere between 15-25 gallons of amber gold, aka maple syrup. Once you start eating the real stuff you can never go back to the fake flavored variety.

With this weekend just around the corner I thought I'd post a recipe for some french toast (so simple) made with homemade maple-oatmeal bread and served of course with real Massachusetts maple syrup. The last recipe I used to make maple-oatmeal bread is not my own, as I found it on the King Arthur Flour website (please note that I did not add the maple sugar or maple extract). While I plan on making some changes to it to put a personnel spin on it, I haven't had a chance to do it yet. It is a good bread recipe and there are many others on the Internet. If you are like me and love homemade bread, notably molasses (lassy) bread or raisin bread then you will absolutely fall in love with maple-oatmeal bread. This bread is soft and aromatic with a hint of maple and cinnamon and the goodness of oats. I love it so much I can't have it around during the week, and I save it for a weekend treat.

You may make french toast any way you are used to, but what I wanted to share today was for you to try it with this maple-oatmeal bread. When used as french toast it will be the ultimate weekend breakfast. I like to cut my slices thick a dip them into a mixture of beaten eggs (mixed with a drop of milk or cream). Sometimes I add cinnamon and/or vanilla to my french toast batter but that isn't necessary here as the bread has loads of flavor. Simply fry the french toast in a little butter until browned on each side and enjoy with a hot cup of coffee, some fresh fruit and of course real maple syrup! 

Barrens Blend Granola....Blueberry and Cranberry Granola

Since posting my recipe for homemade granola earlier last month I have made four or fives additional batches of the stuff, tweaking the recipe along the way. Since my earlier recipe was a first attempt, I didn't fully know what I was doing. The following recipe is a little different as I've added a few more oats and a lot more dried fruit. The cooking method is also a little different. Lastly, I've been experimenting with different combination of dried fruit and nuts. All have been really good. I've been using golden raisins, chopped apricots and dried blueberries in some of my recipes. My favorite granola of late features a combination of craisins (dried cranberries) and dried blueberries, paired with lots of chopped almonds, a little coconut,, oats, oil and maple syrup.

Barrens Bland Granola

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups rolled oats (old fashioned, not the quick cooking)
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
1 1/2 cups of almonds, rough chopped
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried cranberries (not the sweetened kind)
1 cup dried lueberries


Directions:
Preheat oven to 275  degrees.
In a small saucepan, heat the maple syrup, oil and honey over medium heat. Cook until warmed through and all the ingredients are well incorporated. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, with the exception of the dried fruit, mix well and add the warm syrup mixture. Combine well and spread the mixture evenly over a cookie/baking sheet. Bake for approximately 1 hour until the granola is nicely brown. Stir the mixture every 20 minutes or so to ensure even browning. The browning using happens quickly near the end of the cooking.

Remove from the oven, pour in a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit. Pour the granola back onto the cookie sheet so it remains crisp as it cools (keeping it in the bowl while hot may cause it to lose some crispness). Store the granola in an airtight container.

I've been eating this stuff everyday, mostly with my Greek yogurt as my morning snack, but a few spoonfuls seem to make it on my cereal or with berries and yogurt for a post workout desert. I actually just ran out this morning and need to make some more. Go ahead and make your own concoction or follow my recipe and you won't be disappointed. Your taste buds, body and belly will thank you!

Maple-Nut Granola

With a new year, comes new resolutions. For many people, these "resolutions" revolve around food and diet. For me, one thing I am making a conscious effort to do this year  is to make more posts featuring wholesome and healthy foods. While I maintain a pretty healthy diet, that may not seem so obvious all the time here at A Wicked Scoff, however many of the posts I make are actually weekend "treats" and not my everyday diet.

Besides posting healthier options, another goal of mine is to take recipes and make them even more nutritious than they already are by adding making subtle changes such as using leaner cuts of meat, adding fiber through the addition of beans, wholegrains or brown rice, and by getting as many fruits and vegetables into recipes as possible. A great example of this is a chicken and rice soup I made earlier this week and will be featuring in a blog post next week. Besides the standard chicken, onion, celery and carrots that I put in any chicken soup, I boosted the wholesomeness by making my own chicken stock, using brown rice instead of white rice, and also by adding kale, a dark green leafy vegetable that is super healthy and packed with essential vitamins. Just to give you a preview, it was one of the best pots of soup I have ever made. It was impossible to tell the difference between the rice (brown not white), and the kale was mild and undetectable in the flavor.The whole thing blended beautifully and it made for hearty guilt free lunches all week long.

So, with that being said, my first idea for a homemade healthy recipe was granola. I love granola, but have never tried to make it before. It is very healthy, full of great ingredients such as oats, nuts, dried fruit, but it is usually pretty expensive to buy, especially the organic stuff. After doing a little Internet research on some different recipes, I had a good idea of proportions of the ingredients and appropriate cooking times. Here is what I came up with.

Maple-Nut Granola

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups rolled oats (old fashioned, not the quick cooking)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup of mixed nuts, rough chopped (I used a mix of pecans, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, brazil nuts)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruit (I used half dried cranberries/half raisins)
pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250  degrees.
In a small saucepan, heat the maple syrup, oil and honey over medium heat. Cook until warmed through and all the ingredients are well encorporated. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, with the exception of the dried fruit, mix well and add the warm syrup mixture. Combine well and spread the mixture evenly over a cookie/baking sheet. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stir the mixture every 20 minutes or so to ensure even browning.
Remove from the oven, pour in a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit.
Store the granola in an airtight container. Will last at room temperature for 2 weeks, but I really doubt there will be any left by then.

Use the granola as an additive to your favorite cereal, a topping to fruit and yogurt parfaits, or as a snack on its own. I know you will enjoy this one, and feel free to experiment with the fruit and nuts.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Growing up in rural Newfoundland, I didn't eat a lot of squash. In fact, I didn't eat any squash or a lot of "exotic" vegetables. Our vegetable intake consisted of what was grown locally (potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, cabbage, beets, turnip greens), cans (peas, tomatoes and corn), frozen (broccoli, peas, brussel sprouts, spinach) and what the local grocery had (iceberg lettuce, tomatoes wrapped in cellophane and green peppers). Nowadays, markets all over Newfoundland carry the same produce as you would find in any market here in New England, bok choy and lemon grass included. I bet there are also many Newfoundlander's who grow there own variety of squashes. I myself grow butternut squash and the availability of this variety at local farmer stands has become one of my new favorite things about fall. So far this season I must have made three pots of butternut squash soup. In the past I've simply simmered the raw squash in chicken stock as a way to start the soup, but now I pre-roast the squash. The difference is noticeable and am I sold on this method. The squash develops much more flavor and gets slightly carmelized around its edges, which really adds depth to the final product.

For my version of this classic soup, I keep it fairly simple. I cut the squash in half and roast it. I saute an onion and a little garlic, add the cooked squash, top it off with chicken stock, and puree. Sometimes I add a splash of seasonal autumn beer, and I always add a few glugs of pure Massachusetts maple syrup. Seasoned with salt and pepper, topped with carmelized shallots and a sprinkle of freshly chopped herbs and you're all set! This makes a great first course for a weekend meal. Add a pan seared scallop to the mix and you have an elegant and more hearty lunch.

Here's how I put it all together.

Preheat your oven to 400 and drizzle a little olive on a baking sheet.
Cut 1 large (or 2 smaller) butternut squash in half and remove the seeds.
Lay cut side down on the oiled pan and roast until tender, about 45 minute to an hour.
Let cool until you can handle them and scoop out the pulp.

It is also a good idea to warp a few cloves of garlic in tin foil with a drop of oil, and toss it in the oven with the squash. After about 20-30 minutes you'll have wonderfully roasted garlic that will be mellow, sweet and flavorful...and a great addition to the soup.

While the squash is roasting, you can prep the base of the soup, which is carmelized onion.

In a Dutch Oven or pot, set over a medium heat, add:
- 2 Tbsp of butter
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
Add:
- 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced (or the whites of two leeks, or a combination of the two)
Saute for a few minutes, and reduce heat to medium-low and let the onions/leeks develop some caramalization.

Before adding the scooped out squash pulp, increase the heat to medium high and deglaze the pot with a half a cup of ale (beer). I used a Sam Adams Oktoberfest which contains some fall spices. A pumpkin ale would also be great. If you don't have those use a brown/red ale, or just use chicken stock.

Add the pulp and a couple of cloves of roasted garlic and then add enough chicken stock to just cover the squash, about 4 cups.

Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Use a hand wand mixer to puree the soup until it is smooth (you can do it in batches in a blender if you do not have one). Add an additional 2 cups of chicken stock and about a 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle into warm bowls and garnish with a drizzle of maple syrup and some carmelized onions or shallots, along with some chopped herbs. I like parsley and/or chives.

Soups up!