Breakfast Pie & Granola

I was not kidding about my new found love for refrigerated pie dough.  As soon as I made the mock pot pie, all I could think about was things that would be good with a nice crusty dough.  First up Sunday morning was, obviously, breakfast.  Perfect opportunity for some pie!

I grazed the internet for a good recipe.  And quiches kept coming up.  But eh, I wanted a recipe without cream.  And I prefer to call it breakfast pie.  I also wanted to use up some stuff from the fridge.  Forget you internet recipes, I'm winging it!  (Not that eggs are that complicated to wing.)

I thought I had some nice random odds and ends to throw in that there pie until I went to get out the real bacon and some red bell pepper.  Yeah, I'd used all that up.  Whoopsie.  Next, I thought I had another carton of eggs but I couldn't find them.  What's going on around here?!  (I'd stacked something on the eggs.  I found them 2 days later...  After I made a special trip to the store just for eggs.)

Fine.  Whatever.  Work with what you've got.  While several slices of turkey bacon cooked, I whisked up the last of the eggs with some milk to stretch.  Added some heaping handfuls of shredded mozzarella & cheddar.  Tossed in the crumbled turkey bacon. And too much salt?  Oooooo, did I just ruin that before it even hit the plate?  Dang it!

The morning breakfast pie was not going quite as I hoped.

425º for 20 minutes and it looked good at least.

Breakfast pie!

Well, let's taste this little sucker.

The color on my egg pics is always a lil funky

It was good!  Like, surprisingly good!  (Probably because I thought it was going to be a salt lick.)  I'm already planning on making it again.  Although, I'll definitely do fridge inventory first.  I really want to throw a bell pepper in there.

With Sunday off to a good(ish) start, I thought I'd try my hand at making granola.  Lately, I've been trying my hand at more homemade snacks.  I've been buying more fruit but that doesn't really fill you up.  At least in my case, I'd have to eat a LOT of cuties.  Anyhoo, my first try was this pin I'd seen all over Pinterest for frozen bananas on a stick.  They were a little hard to eat because I used cake ball sticks.  But other than that, guh-reat!  I had no idea frozen bananas tasted so much like ice cream.  Then I tried these no-bake 80 calorie peanut butter balls.  They were good but I didn't write my grocery list right and used regular apple juice instead of frozen.  Oh, well.  Tasty!  Although now I have no idea what to do with all that leftover apple juice.

Depending on the recipe I picked, I thought I had all the ingredients for granola.  (Though we see how that went at breakfast.)  I did my usual Pinterest search and found this recipe.  I didn't have any pumpkin seeds and subbed raisins & dried cranberries for the dried cherries.  But, still.  Pretty much the same.
 

Adding the oats to the butter, sugar, honey, etc mix

Spread that on a cookie sheet and tossed the pan in the oven.  Things started smelling good not long after!  After 15 minutes, it was already starting to brown and taste good.  And that was just the oats!  I tossed in the coconut and quinoa.

And put it back in the oven.  15 more minutes and it came out the most pretty golden brown!  And smelled like a treat.

After it cooled, I added in the dried fruit. 

And then ate a handful!  It was good!  It also made a ton.  This glass container and another plastic bag.

I gotta say.  I don't know how I feel about the toasted quinoa.  It's a SuperFood right?  So that's good.  And it's not bad tasting.  But the tiny little crunches remind me of bird food.  Oh, well.  I'll get used to that texture with time, I'm sure.

2013.  Year of health!

Toasted Oat, Coconut, & Quinoa Granola

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup packed unsweetened flaked coconut
• 3/4 uncooked quinoa
• 2 handfuls raisins, 1 dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Combine butter or coconut oil, honey, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a small pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Pour mixture into a bowl, add the oats and nuts and toss until evenly coats.
2. Spread the oat mixture in a thin, even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir in the coconut, quinoa or seeds, and pumpkin seeds, and spread out into a thin layer. 
3. Continue baking until the granola is very golden brown and smells toasted, about 10 to 15 minutes more. Granola should be golden and slightly crisp -- remember that it will crisp even more as it cools.
4. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool the granola to room temperature, at least 15 minutes. 
5. When the granola is cool, add the dried fruit and toss to combine.