After a couple weeks of some promising interviews, I can’t say that I am officially starting a new job quite yet–I may or may not have a decision to make about it–but regardless, I am getting a little bored waiting. And my usually overstuffed and crowded pantry is slowly being emptied out–call it my unemployment safety pack (remember the safety packs they used to make you in preschool in the event of a fire? animal crackers, Cheez-its–as if, in the event of an emergency you wouldn’t be picked up immediately by concerned parents, or, in the case of an earthquake, that you’d be in any sort of mood to eat animal crackers whilst trapped in the dark).
Anyway, to regain some degree of sanity I decided to give myself something to do, and that usually involves turning my pantry into something delicious. I ran out of cereal earlier this week and decided to make do with what I had in my pantry for breakfast for the rest of the week, and probably the month: oats, walnuts, and some dried cranberries. I have a bad habit of burning granola, and I swore that this time I’d pay attention to it and be a little more logical about it than I have been in the past (putting dried fruit in the oven for 30 minutes is usually not a good idea unless you want them to come out burnt, having already been dried).
I picked Mark Bittman’s recipe for crunchy granola because it’s the simplest one I came across, which made it perfect for what I had available! Super easy, and very delicious (3 cups of rolled oats, 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup of dried cranberries baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and stirred occasionally). I don’t really have “power mornings” any more, but when I do, I’ll come back and make this recipe again.
Oh, and one more thing: freezing this pork shoulder ragu has done wonders for my wallet and my cravings for Italian.
To make this, you’ll need:
