Reading · Crone Sandwich · RSS Amplifier

Oh hiiiii, friends, how are you? I hope you’re not having the August blues. I am not, why would I, my kids aren’t even here milling around depressedly about going back to high school. Or college even. Because they’re just living their grown-up lives, away from me, which is so fun for everyone! Ha ha ha sob.

Let me start with the tour for the paperback of Wreck. Please come and/or tell your friends! Pleeeeease!

And then!

I’m sharing a recipe because I spend my whole life craving salty snacks, and most of the bagged kind feel unwholesome to me and/or give me an actual literal headache. I eat a lot of popcorn with Frank’s hot sauce and nutritional yeast on it, and I have developed lots of savory snack recipes in my many years as a recipe developer, and these are some of them:

Dill Pickle Popcorn
Jicama with Spicy Lime Dipping Salt
Miso-Sriracha Deviled Eggs
Spicy-Sour Edamame
Tofu Jerky
Weirdly Addictive Tortilla Pizza
Salami Jerky
Alllll the crackers
Some other kinda weird low-carb snacks

But I have had my eye on a recipe from this book, which is a book I love and am always mentioning here I know. It’s called simply “Savory Granola,” and Janet being Janet and the best, she gives you lots of options for how to make it. I followed the basic bones of her delightful recipe, but skewed it even a little saltier and also didn’t have preserved lemon. I wanted it to be extra protein-y. It’s not the kind of granola you would eat with milk. Just eat it out of hand or use it to top cottage cheese or tzatziki or a salad. Soooooo good.

(Kind of) Janet Elsbach’s Savory Granola
Double the recipe and you’ll have enough to give away! Chaat masala, if you’ve never used it before, is weirdly lusty and consuming. It’s sour and super umami and has a very slightly funky smell and flavor from the black salt that’s in it. It’s the seasoning of Indian snack foods, and it is so so so good.

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut ribbons (or shreds)
1/2 cup nuts (roasted cashews or pistachios, raw almonds, raw pecans, raw walnuts, or a combination)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds or pepitas or a combination
3/4 cup other stuff: more oats, nuts, or coconut or what I used, which was an odd combination of TVP (dry textured vegetable protein), millet, and flax seeds
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds (if you have these)
1 egg white (or JE’s chia seed trick, see recipe above)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)
grated zest of one scrubbed orange
2 teaspoons chaat masala (or a different seasoning of your choice, such as smoked paprika)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper such as gochugaru or kashmiri chile powder
1/2 teaspoon (+ more) kosher salt

Heat the oven to 350 and put parchment paper on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Mix the first 6 ingredients (the dries) in a large bowl.
Mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour it over the dries. Stir well. I taste it to make sure it has enough salt at this point but RAW EGG so don’t do that.
Spread the mixture out on the baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, stirring after 7 minutes and then again after every 5 minutes (or even more frequently at the end). Taste it as it bakes to see if it needs more salt, and add some if it does. It’s done when it’s evenly brown and toasty looking.
Cool completely then store in a jar.