Granola on the Go Part II: Tropical!

The first time I made granola bars, Michelle and I did some genius brainstorming around other possible granola concoctions. I mean really, the options with granola are endless. I was head over heels for the almond-raisin-cranberry version, but I was sure a tropical variety would take it up, like, 10 notches.

I took a look in the pantry yesterday and pulled out everything I could find that seemed tropical-ish. When I had this idea, I'd picked up some macadamia nuts and dried pineapple. Since then, I'd also acquired some dried mango (thanks to Tiff!). I was out of coconut, but still had a lot of white chocolate chips from my red velvet cookie venture. They seemed like an appropriate sweet substitute, and now my bars included just about everything but the kitchen sink.

I was super excited about this combination, but it turns out that sometimes more isn't better. I may have overdone it ... but just a tiny bit. Check out the recipe and my notes to learn more.

Tropical Granola-to-Go BarsIngredients:
3 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup dried pineapple, chopped
1/2 cup dried mango, chopped
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Place oats in a 15x10x1-inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, honey and vanilla. Stir in the sunflower kernels, pineapple, mango, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir in macadamia nuts and chocolate chips. Stir in oat mixture.

Press into same baking dish you used to toast the oats, coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 13-18 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.


So the first time I attempted granola bars, I had to rebake them because they didn't set. And even after that, they were sort of chewy ... but super chewy-licious (even if they were sort of falling apart)! This time, I set the oven timer for 20 minutes instead of the initial 18 the recipe calls for. But then Bill waltzed into the kitchen wanting to make a frozen pizza (I didn't feed him dinner last night). Since his pizza needed a 400 degree oven, I decided to crank up the heat on my granola bars and check them in a few minutes to be sure they weren't getting too golden. Well, it's a good thing I checked them when I did because they were done at about 16 minutes. And when I say done, I might mean overdone.

They still turned out mostly chewy, but they are definitely not crumbling like they did last time. I'm wondering if I overloaded them with ingredients, making them too dense. (Or it could be that I just baked them a bit too long.) I'm not sure that my wet-to-dry ingredient ratio was quite right with either recipe ... perhaps I still have to find the right balance ... and actually measure instead of tossing in a handful of this and a pinch of that! Regardless, they still taste delicious! Although next time, I might melt the chocolate chips and drizzle them on top instead of baking them in. That would take it up, like, 20 notches!

Melon Berry-licious Salad

Last week I discovered that Bobby Flay has a new show called "Grill It!" (Or at least I think it's new. I happened to catch it on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and I'm not very often tuned into the Food Network at that time.) I immediately told Bill that he needs to figure out how to get on this show because the entire premise is Bobby cooking with a viewer. He makes his recipe and the guest viewer makes his or her similar dish. It's kind of like "Throwdown," without the cut-throat competition. (Read: not as much fun, but you don't have to be a local celebrity to get on an episode.)

I can imagine Bill challenging Bobby to a rib-off on this show. But until we make that happen, I guess I'm going to have to settle for trying out some of the other recipes. One of the episodes I caught had Bobby and  a guest grilling rib eyes, which looked delicious, but not as delicious as the watermelon-respberry-feta salad the viewer paired with her steak.

I had heard that watermelon and feta make an awesome pair, as odd as it may sound. But the addition of raspberries and a red wine vinaigrette took this over the top. I was skeptical about Bill's willingness to try it, but he told me he'd try anything I make (not true ... I guarantee he'll turn down anything with beans in it). Given that, I thought I'd take the plunge and give this a shot.

Watermelon Raspberry Feta Salad
Ingredients:
1/4 watermelon, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 carton raspberries
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup Vidalia onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped

Directions:
Toss watermelon, raspberries, and feta together in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together onion, vinegar, olive oil, vanilla, salt, and cayenne. Pour over watermelon mixture and toss to combine. Sprinkle with mint and serve chilled.

Note: The original recipe called for one step and one ingredient I skipped. First, the watermelon was supposed to be grilled to better bring out the sugar in the fruit. I'm sure that would have been delicious, but after cutting a whole watermelon (only a quarter of which I was actually using in the recipe), I was exhausted. Second, there was supposed to be something called "vanilla salt" in this recipe. I've never met vanilla salt, but I would like to be introduced. That sounds amazing. Since I have no idea where to find it, and haven't had a chance to search it out yet, I had to do a little improv with the dressing. I added a scant amount of vanilla extra and a pinch of salt to the vinaigrette, hoping to achieve a similar flavor. I'm sure that's not a good substitute for the real thing, but it was the best I could do.

For flavors that you wouldn't necessarily think to find together (watermelon and vinegar? raspberries and feta?), this was actually quite good. It was sort of unexpected, but definitely refreshing. And true to his word, Bill tried it. It certainly wasn't a favorite of his (he claimed not to like the mint, but I suspect it was more than that), but I'm proud of him for giving it a shot.

Downtown Dining Dish

It's one of my favorite weeks in Milwaukee: Downtown Dining Week. Every year at this time, a number of downtown restaurants participate, offering three-course meals for $10 at lunch and $20 or $30 at dinner. It's an awesome way to try new places, and it's given me an opportunity to eat at a lot of restaurants I probably wouldn't have thought of before. In the past few years I've been to Umami Moto, Swig, the Cafe at the Pfister, Charro, Libiamo and almost a dozen other places for Downtown Dining. And I've been back to almost all of them since!

This year, Bill and I decided to try Kilawat (I had been for lunch, but never for dinner) on Thursday. Then Tiff, Steph and I chose Zarletti for dinner last night (Bill came, too, but didn't participate in the restaurant-selection process). Both had bright spots, and I'm glad we got to try them.

I had a hard time making up my mind at Kil@wat because there were several delicious-sounding things on the menu. I debated between bacon-wrapped dates or soup, and was tempted by both the braised short rib and polenta cakes. Luckily, Bill made it easy ... I got bacon-wrapped dates and he got soup, and I got the braised short rib and he got polenta cakes.

I think it's pretty well-known that I love anything involving bacon. And these bacon-wrapped dates were no exception. They were the perfect combination of salty and sweet, crispy and chewy. And if Bill liked dates, I would totally be trying them at home! Bill's roasted red pepper soup was tasty, and he claimed it was the best soup he'd ever had, but I think that was the beer talking. I'm completely confident that I could make a roasted red pepper soup just as delicious (and in fact, I just might try it). So course number one was a winner.

Course number two didn't rank quite as high. Both of our entrees were perfectly good, but they lacked the wow factor. My short rib was tender, but not super flavorful. The mashed potatoes were good, but not delectable. And it turns out I don't like collard greens. Bill's polenta cakes were good (and I loved the fig and mushroom salad), but they went WAY overboard on the rosemary. When they called it a Rosemary Polenta Cake, I was expecting the rosemary to be much more mild. Instead it was overpowering.

For dessert, we both had the ice cream sandwich. And I wish I had taken a picture to remember it by. OMG, was it delicious. Vanilla gelato sandwiched between two chocolate chunk cookies with a side of hot fudge (the menu claimed it was chocolate-caramel, but I didn't taste any caramel ... it was just delicious, warm, gooey fudge). By far, the best course of the three.

We had a pretty amazing meal at Zarletti last night with Stephanie and Tiff. None of us had ever been there, but had wanted to try it. I actually attempted to go there for lunch during Downtown Dining a couple years ago, but it was packed and we couldn't get in. After that experience, I was sure to make reservations for last night. Turns out that wasn't necessary (downtown has been almost eerily quiet the last couple times I've ventured down there). It wasn't quite as difficult to choose from the menu, mostly because I love osso bucco and it's on my recipe wishlist (I swear, someday I really will make it). Bill decided not to order from the Downtown Dining menu because he wanted halibut (which was actually quite good ... and I'm not a big fish eater). Stephanie, Tiff and I stuck to the Downtown Dining menu.

The appetizers weren't anything to write home about (really, what's there to say about soup and salad?), but we all had a different delicious entree: Steph chose swordfish, Tiff had the ragu di funghi, and I chose osso bucco. We all agreed that our entrees were awesome. In fact, my osso bucco was better than the osso bucco I had at Mario Batali's Carnevino in Vegas. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised by that, but I actually am shocked. It was super tender and flavorful, the sauce was rich and tangy, and the risotto was a nice, creamy complement. (But while the risotto was good, I think I make it better. Mine is less sticky and dense than this was.)

For dessert, all three of us picked the torta al limone. (Bill had a banana semifreddo, which was good, but super duper banana-y.) It was delicious, but WAY tart. I think we all preferred the lime curd I made for my Super Bowl cupcakes, which was a bit sweeter than this.

So overall, this year's Downtown Dining Week was a big success. I'd go back to both Kil@wat and Zarletti ... Kil@wat for the dates and dessert, and Zarletti for an amazing entree. I can't wait to see what we get to try next year!