How is it going, you ask?

I think I need a tag line somewhere on my site that reads: mom goes to chef school (perhaps for my own benefit). I am approaching my third week and it remains surreal. I have a chef jacket and apron dangling from my indoor clothes’ line with four tentatively placed clothespins… are they really mine?

Recently [though not surprisingly], people have been asking me: what do you want to do with a culinary degree? Work in a restaurant?

And my answer is: I am not sure what it is going to look like on the other end. And it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know if a restaurant is in my blood, though my hunch tells me I will take this culinary degree and wear it out. But the details? I haven’t a clue.

For now, I will just focus on cramming things into my brain—and yours.

For my culinary program, I take one baking/pastry class, and it happens to be this quarter. Which is why on my first post about school you saw biscuits and on this one, banana nut bread. And I cannot tell you the inner radiance of pride and joy when a CHEF (aka what we call all of our teachers, because well, that is what they are, though it has that whiff of Top Chef that makes me want to chuckle) tells you your product—banana loaf, brown sauce, glass of water with ice for all I care—is worthy of a restaurant.

Such was this humble little loaf of banana bread:

Banana Bran Bread
one large or two smaller loaves

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup bran
4 eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp bakin gsoda
1 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Oven to 350; grease and flour pans. Cream butter and sugars (on high 3-4 minutes, seriously). Then add banana, bran and eggs (we mixed half the bananas directly, and chopped half into 1/2 inch cubes and dropped in just to blend). Sift flour, baking soda and salt; add dry ingredients to the wet, just to moisten. Fold in raisins. Pour into pans, score top of loaves with spatula dipped in oil. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake 45- 1 hour, until edges begin to pull away from sides.

Gamut is a great word. On June 19, 1999 it was the official word of the day. Did you know there was an official word of the day? The word originally referred to the full musical scale (1529); later it was used to explain a range of colors/hues in a similar way. Now, we use it to describe a full range—or reach—of things from human emotion, to political opinion to, well, granola.

And I wouldn’t use the word in the same breath as granola, except for the fact that apparently, it was National Granola Week a few weeks back. I had no idea, but then again ‘granola week’ likely wouldn’t squeeze through the filter of ‘what do I need to know logistically to successfully implement multiple children’s school/work/social/homework/instrument/foreign language schedules for this week’? Who knows, maybe it is just me, but ‘granola week’ would’ve been filtered out, deleted and altogether tossed as an insignificant detail, too trivial to address in our harried-rearing-children-what’s for dinner-sign this field trip form-who is driving to soccer pseudo hyperventilating state. Just a lucky guess: granola would have somehow gone unnoticed.

Not that there isn’t a time and place for the importance of granola to surface, when it should sift to the top of life’s noise. Perhaps that is why someone gave granola it’s own week? (Granted, they didn’t ask me, but if they had it wouldn’t have made the headlines—perhaps not even footnotes—which is probably why they didn’t ask me). Despite someone’s best efforts to bring granola to my attention—it actually does catch my affection from time to time, all on its own:

When I consume it.

Now that might sound easy, but in reality I am often too harried and reeling and moving and taxi-ing that I fail to notice the food that I inhale en route. It is a good resolution then, and in step with a food philosophy I gladly borrow from French Women Don’t Get Fat, to simply notice the flavors and textures of food while it is in my mouth. DO take the time to enjoy your food, by all means, no matter how busy you are. It doesn’t mean you have to dedicate a full week to a good-grained cereal, but when you do pop a spoonful judiciously into your mouth, yes please do savor it. Especially since their is a Gamut of Granola to enjoy.

And in the same vein, be vain about your granola. Pick a good one; be snobbish about the nutrition, the taste, the personalization of your granola. You are eating it after all, and if it is made in my kitchen, I will be bagging it and sharing it with my friends. So it is important to be selective about your granola. And thanks to all who were aware of this national week of granola dedication, we now have the gamut of flavors and profiles and grains and sweets and gluten-free and good-as-gravy granola you can possibly imagine. Or that all of them have imagined. But together, despite the fact that granola may have been lost on you or on me, we have this lovely opportunity to benefit from the gamut of granola-making gurus all across the web:

• Granola overview from USAweekend
• Random excerpt on the History of Granola
• Making granola with Mark Bittman, NYTimes
• Great list of granola recipes from Alanna Kellog via Blogher
• Uncle Austin’s Granola from Homesick Texan
• Pumpkin Butter and Pepita Granola from Smitten Kitchen
• Blessings Granola from One Hungry Soul
• Laura Dot cooks… granola!
• Your kids will like Peanut Butter & Chocolate Granola from Life, Love, and Food
• Wikipedia weighs in on Granola

And here is the most recent granola that I made, savored, begged-for-the-recipe, and shared:

Connie’s Granola*
4 cups oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans)
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup brown sugar

Bake at 275 for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When finished, stir in 1 cup raisins or craisins.*Connie: you know who you are. Thanks for sharing—and giving me permission to share—this granola recipe!

Question: What do I make with day-old bread? I am a big fan of knowing what to do with fresh bakery bread before it goes to waste; almost as much as I adore having all sorts of ready-made inspiration waiting in my freezer (like pesto) or pantry (blueberry chutney, red sauce)

I wish ‘what to make’ ideas popped readily into my head, but it helps immensely if I have a pre-conceived list of ideas. If I have day-old bread, this is my current ‘go-to’ list of ideas: a baked omelette, bruschetta and bread crumbs. The bread crumbs I make quickly in a food processor, then throw them into a ziploc bag into my freezer for future use (to make eggplant bites, goat cheese rounds, meatballs, baked chicken tenders, etc.).

Bruschetta is straightforward: slice bread or baguette in 3/4 inch slices, brush each side with olive oil and broil each side 1-2 minutes until lightly browned. Add some salt, fresh herbs and thinly sliced tomatoes and serve.

I just made a baked omelette for lunch, and my boys and I gobbled it up. (They could make it just as easily as I. It would tempt them: they would get to crack eggs and use a whisk! If I could add in the meat pounder they would surely be in kitchen heaven). I am always on the lookout for simple and easy breakfast dishes, and this one is just that:

Baked Omelette
Serves 4.
5 eggs
2/3 cup whole milk
pinch kosher salt & coarse pepper (KS&CP)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 oz prosciutto, diced
1 cup (plus) gruyere or Swiss cheese
1 cup bread cubes cut in 1/2 inch dice
3 T olive oil
1-2 tsp dried Italian herbs

Whisk eggs in bowl; add all but last two ingredients. Stir to blend. Butter dish and pour in egg mix. Toss bread cubes with 2 T oil; plop on top of eggs and pour another 1 T oil over cubes and sprinkle with Italian herbs. Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 minutes.

Note: I put it in an oval baker, approximately 8×5 inches. I haven’t diverged from this simple recipe, but have a hunch that beyond prosciutto many ingredients can be added like roasted veggies, pesto, sausage or ham… maybe add some Roasted Romas on the side.

And please tell me all your juicy day-old bread secrets (okay, I mean other than the compost pile):

Like a kid in a candy store. The saying applies to me at a farmer’s market, in the cookbook aisle, and recently standing among piles upon tangles of blackberry brambles. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with so many blackberries, I just knew that I experienced regular pangs of delight as I horded my steadily swelling pile of syrupy berries.

Berries home: I wash them, place them single layer onto a cookie sheet and into the freezer (so they don’t freeze as a unified blob). Once frozen, I throw them into ziploc freezer bags—a promise of good things to come. A blackberry pie in February might feel like cheating but deep down inside I know it will be worth every bite.

One of my sons loves blackberries and helped me make this simple Blackberry Apple Crisp. He ranted and raved about the merits of this breakfast-worthy dish, full of fruit and oats and hardly any sugar at all! We did eat it for breakfast AND dessert for 3 days straight. Honestly, it probably has less sugar than most cereals. (And, he points out, food made at home simply tastes better than food from the store—what is not to love about this kid)?

Blackberry Apple Crisp
Filling
5 Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced (approx. 1/4 - 1/3 inch slices)
3 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup sugar
2 heaping T flour

Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350; butter 9×13 inch baking dish. Peel, core and thinly slice apples and place in dish; top with blackberries (if frozen do not thaw first). Sprinkle with sugar and flour. Combine all topping ingredients, then sprinkle over filling. Bake 35-40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream for dessert (and for breakfast plain or warmed with 1-2 T of half and half if you are feeling decadent).