I got it for Zach on the pretense that he'd really enjoy looking at the recipes. That's Christmas-shopperese for "I want it, and he'll benefit from it 'cause he'll eat the food I fix from it."
Anyway, it's a cool little book that gives you nutrition info and clever facts about the 100 foods, and then a recipe to go with each food.
The first recipe I fixed was homemade granola. The "food to stay young" was honey. Did you know that honey mixed with water creates antiseptic hydrogen peroxide, which can be applied directly to wounds to dry them out and keep them free from infection while they heal? Well, now you do.
This is only the second batch of homemade granola I've ever made, so I'm still learning about how long to cook it so that it's nice and crisp. My first batch of homemade granola was butter pecan flavored (for some Christmas gifts). It was delicious...and contained a stick of butter.
This granola is just as good, but contains no butter. Yay!
Here's how to fix it:
Low Fat Homemade Granola
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup chopped dried figs
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 2 TB good-quality honey
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a large pan. (I used my turkey roaster pan, and it worked great. A 9 x 13 won't work as well because there is too much granola...the goal is to have a thin layer of granola so that it can bake evenly and quickly. Maybe use two 9 x 13s, if you've got 'em.)
Mix the oats, figs, and almonds together in a large bowl. Bring the honey, water, cinnamon, and vanilla to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over the oat mixture, stirring well to make sure that all the ingredients are coated.
Spread the oat mixture in the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until granola is golden brown, stirring with a fork from time to time to break up any lumps.
Pour onto a clean baking sheet at let cool before storing in an airtight container. Serve sprinkled over greek yogurt.
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As with any granola recipe, you can freestyle pretty much any ingredient you'd like to add. Do dates instead of figs, walnuts instead of almonds. Or both! Add some raisins or dried cranberries. Add flax seed or wheat germ. Add sunflower seeds. Get crazy with it!
My only complaint about my granola is that it's not as crisp as I'd like, but I was paranoid about overcooking, so that's my fault. I'll make this again really soon with some new ingredients and it will be even better!
More recipes to come from this book and others. Tonight I'm fixing the Roasted Vegetable Pasta from the P90X2 Nutrition Guide. It looks pretty good!
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Workout of the Day
P90X2 Recovery and Mobility
This is soooo different from the stretch DVD with P90X. Number one you've got the foam rolling business, which I've already noted is incredible.
Yesterday was Plyocide. Zach and I were both commenting that while it was hard, it wasn't that hard. However, I think that the first time you do a new workout you mentally hold back a little because you're not sure what's coming up. Now that we know the routine, we can really push and make it harder for ourselves.
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