I love the fall and daylight savings time is probably my favorite day of the fall since I get to wake up early with the sun coming up like I do in the summer, without sacrificing it being my favorite part of the year. The changing of the seasons never ceases to change my appetite drastically. Where in the summer the thought of “stick to your ribs” food is a rarity, in the fall and winter, I somehow find myself dreaming after warmer, denser, heartier foods. In the summer smoothies and bowls of fruit do just fine for breakfast. Salads with lean protein for lunch. Fresh spicy food for dinner. In the fall and winter, that just won’t do. I mean as hearty as a salad can be has one ever warmed you up? When you are hoofing it through a winter (or fall) snow storm are you dreaming of leafy greens with a whisper of dressing to stave off the cold? Hardly! I want soups, chili, curry, roast vegetables, comfort foods (made healthy of course!) Especially since I am prone to being cold anyways, I need something warmer to keep me sustained especially when I am running 100-120 miles in a week in the cool fall air. And just because something is warming and comforting doesn’t mean it has to be bad for you.

Over the weekend, I headed to Cibo post-run for a late breakfast and dug into a bowl of granola with yogurt and stewed fruit. The stewed fruit especially was absolutely the perfect fall breakfast. I decided to take the idea home and create something that would fit my foodie model. Must taste great, but also not just be loaded with sugar or without additional health benefits. I decided to notch down the level of oil and sweetener in the granola and boost up the dried fruit and nuts. I also used agave nectar instead of brown sugar It was not overly sweet but got a great golden toastiness that I adore. The fruit stewed in POM Wonderful juice (which is what I had on hand thanks to them sending me some!) or any juice will do. The stewed fruit will be plenty sweet to balance out the granola. I thought it potentially could be too sweet but this breakfast was a home run.

Stewed Fruit

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 apples, diced
2 pears, diced
2 persimmons, diced
1 cup peaches, sliced
¼ cup Pom Juice
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Put everything in a pot over medium-low heat, bring to a simmer and cover. Let cook for 45 minutes stirring occasionally.

Autumn Granola

Yield: About 24 servings.

Ingredients:

4 cups gluten free oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup peanut oil
½ cup agave nectar
1 cup diced dried apricots
1 cup roasted unsalted cashews
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried berries
1 cup dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss oats, shredded coconut and walnuts together in a large bowl. Mix oil and agave together and stir into oat mixture. Spread out evenly on a sheet pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally.

Remove mixture from oven and mix in remaining ingredients and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

I pledge allegiance to myself and my commitment to creating wonderful food. This is my monthly lament that my hectic travel schedule has kept me out of the kitchen as much as I’d like. It is a big bummer to me. Makes me feel unlike myself. I want to be moving further into the food world, instead of away. I dream every day of opening a little SLOW food cafe (gluten free of course) or a little food shop. I dream of writing, enjoying, living, breathing food. That is what I want for myself. I have realized over this time of “homelessness” that while dreaming is a beautiful thing, hoping and wishing only go so far. Sometimes when it comes right down to it, you can’t wait for the right time, you just make it so. And I have decided to make it so. I do not know how I am going to make my way and stay in the food world, be able to carve out a life and means therein but I am keen to try. I am committed to try. That means renewing my pledge to myself to create and cook and blog. It means exploring the possibilities of taking culinary courses or even (should funding find me) going to culinary school. Work on my books, both recipe and novel. I am taking the plunge and creating my world.

The other day before physical therapy, I headed up to the top of Queen Anne in search of an amazing, eggless pastry treat. I am not big into sweets much anymore, not sure when that happened. I use to be such a sweet fiend, but now I rarely crave anything sweeter than a scone or a not sweet muffin, I am satisfied with the sweetness of a ripened mango and a table cool bottle of grape kombucha. I find it humorous. It was not always the case. Despite being aware of my own low tolerance for wheat and the addition of the egg allergy, I still tend to be desirous of a morning muffin, biscuit or bready bite on occasion. On this particular day, I had my laser set on going to Macrina Bakery on Queen Anne. I had had one muffin EVER in life there and it stuck with me. It was the only vegan selection they had that day, so my only option. It was a good option: a Banana Ginger Muffin. The faint whispers of flavor that teemed in my memory sent me back that morning and I was not disappointed. The muffin was not super sweet, but kept a similar beat to a slice of gingerbread, but with the levity of a light muffin. In a word: amazing. After trying to savor the taste, but doing something more resembling devouring it, I became determined to recreate the muffins in my own kitchen and even kick up the health quotient and do it with a combination of spelt and whole wheat flour. I was pleased with the recipe I came up with, it truly did not disappoint. Maybe, instead of running all over town, I will have you running straight into your kitchen to make these. Speaking of which, my batch mysterious disappeared at Orcas Island and I think I need to make another batch.

The perfect balance of sweet and spice, oh so nice.

Banana Ginger Muffin

Ingredients:

5 small bananas, mashed
¼ cup margarine
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup spelt flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp. ginger zest
2 tsp. crystallized ginger, minced
1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
pinch fresh nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease 2 muffin pans (9-12 muffins). In a medium bowl, mix together the mashed bananas and margarine. Mix in the two types of brown sugar and cream. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients including the 3 types of ginger until incorporated. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine.

Scoop about 1/4 cup of muffin mix into the muffin pans, making 9-12 muffins. Sprinkle the muffins with dark brown sugar and bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 20-25 minutes.