Hate to break it to you, but you may be doing it wrong.

I love granola, so when I began reading the labels on these boxes a few years back and I realized the amount of crap (yes, CRAP) that goes into them, I was bummed. (Sneak peek: Look out for my “How I Read Nutrition Labels” post next week.).

Most of the granola you and I have (hopefully had) been buying is possibly l.o.a.d.e.d with sugar and ingredients your body doesn’t need (corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, to name a couple). Yes, some of us have been living a lie, thinking “granola is so healthy” when in reality it should be eaten in moderation because for the most part, it is loaded with calories.

So, what’s better than store-bought granola? The homemade kind, of course.

Thankfully for you and I, it is very (and I mean very) easy to make, and it is super versatile. Make a basic kind, using only oats and nuts, or add dried fruit. Throw all kinds of ingredients in there you may have laying around in your kitchen (think coconut flakes, dark chocolate bits, seeds, nuts, dried fruit here – we’re keeping it healthy). Make it chewy or crunchy. Put it in yogurt, in a smoothie, or munch on it as a snack. Make cookies, or pie crust, or apple crumble. The possibilities are endless.

HOMEMADE GRANOLA

Total time | 15 mins + 40 mins baking time

Makes | 4 servings

You Need:

2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned kind)
1 1/2 cups nuts – I used raw cashews, almonds and walnuts
1/2 cup dried fruit – I used raisins, cranberries and figs
1/3 cup maple syrup*
1/6 cup coconut oil**
1/8 cup apple sauce

1/4 t ground cinnamon
1 t salt
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1/2 t vanilla extract

To Prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C.
2. Chop the nuts in the food processor.
3. Mix the oats, nuts, maple syrup, coconut oil, apple sauce, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, nutmeg and ginger.
4. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet or baking pan and spread mix evenly on it.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.***
6. Add the dry fruit into the mix and bake for 7-10 more minutes.

Tips:
* You can also use agave syrup
** You can also use olive oil
*** If you want chewy granola, mix it every 5-7 minutes while it’s baking. If you want crunch cranola, don’t mix it at all.

After you turned 12 and those camping days were left in the past, did you ever stop to think you can’t really buy s’mores anywhere? You always have to go to the supermarket and buy the crackers, the marshmallows and the chocolate. You have to sit around a fireplace and roast them to bring them to life. And maybe you’re one of many who really enjoy this classic American treat but don’t really have the time or the space to make them (specially if you live in New York and the closest you can get to a campfire is the stove, ahem).

Here is where S’more Bakery comes in.

Sarah and Mike bring something as simple as a graham cracker, a marshmallow and a spread to the spotlight. They make s’mores in 2 sizes and a unique variety of flavors such as coconut, espresso, chai tea among others. Meyer lemon or lavender marshmallow, anyone?

And it was all born out of nostalgic memories of bonding over s’mores.

Sarah’s face lights up when she recalls how as a child, she spent summer days at her grandparents’ home back in California. Her grandpa used to take a wire hanger, untwist it, make it into one long roaster stick and insert it into a big fluffy marshmallow. Together, Sarah and her grandpa made s’mores over the fire pit in the backyard - melty (a new word that should be included in Webster’s dictionary), gooey and toasted to perfection.

Then Sarah grew up, moved away from home for college to the big city of New York. During drunken nights she and her friends would get late-night pizza and then pop into a “bodega” where they would buy graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows. They would then stumble back to her apartment and make s’mores for dessert. This time, they used the stove. Quite a different scenario than the California-backyard-fire-pit one, but the s’mores were still there. And now they were a big part of her bonding experience with her friends.

Later on in life, Sarah was getting her master’s degree in English but dreamt of marshmallows and chocolate. Having an evident weakness for sweets, especially anything with banana, caramel and heath bars, Sarah always dreamt of opening a bakery, so she took some time off from school and went to culinary school. She wanted to bring classic American treats to the spotlight – including those wonderful s’mores.

And here is where Mike, the boyfriend, comes in (what good story comes without love involved?). Mike grew an interest in being part of Sarah’s new adventure and soon learned to make marshmallows and became “the marshmallow guy”. He puts the ingredients in a bowl, blends them together and soon starts to see the white fluff grow into sweet, gooey marshmallow. At markets and catering events, he roasts them on the spot. Children, (young and old) gather around him and watch with awe – something so simple and innocent captivates viewers and eaters alike.

So he makes the perfect handmade marshmallow, and she makes the perfect graham crackers. The result? Perfect little s’mores. Mike and Sarah make a great team, there is no doubt about it.

On November 2011 Smore’s Bakery debuted at Smorgasburg, the artisanal food fair in Brooklyn. Within 3-4 hours, they sold out. They were featured in Daily Candy and Urban Daddy that same week. Right then and there, this fun-loving couple knew they were onto something.

If you crave for more, take a peek at the links below:

The website
http://www.smorebakery.com

The online shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/smorebakery

When I told my friends and family I was steering the direction of my blog towards farm-to-table and artisanal eating, some gave me a blank stare. To my surprise, a lot of them didn’t know what these concepts were about, and why I was interested in talking about them.

It is only natural that we are all completely confused as to what artisan or artisanal food means, when big giants and fast food chains like Wendy’s, Starbucks and Burger King have referred to their food as such.

So what is artisanal food?

Anything artisanal implies that:
- Production is made in small [micro] batches
- Traditional methods are used for production (most of the time, meaning handmade)
- This is not in the dictionary, but most of the time artisanal food is made with high-quality ingredients

Some of you may have seen or heard Starbucks claim their coffee is “handcrafted” and say they sell a variety of “artisan breakfast sandwiches”.

Artisan? Are they for real?

I don’t really see Starbucks producing in small batches or using traditional methods to make their food – and high quality? Artisanal cheese does not look anything like that yellow square referred to as cheese. And the egg? And the bacon? Don’t even get me started on that.  The sad thing is, companies like these are only devaluating the meaning of artisanal food. They are not appreciating the work of the true artisan by using this word as part of their marketing campaign trying to build on their profit.

Through time, as cities grew, our lives became more industrialized. Everything became more processed. We walk less and drive more. We eat more junk food and cook less vegetables. We make more things in factories than with our own hands. We don’t know how our food was made, or how our table was built, and mostly, we live like this because we feel we have no time. Everything must be fast, built and made for us.

But head out to Brooklyn and you will find a growing group of people trying to break with that – they prefer slow over fast, and handmade over factory made.

If you are familiar with the food scene there, you most probably know what I’m talking about. If not, head to Smorgasburg on a weekend and you will meet dozens of artisanal food vendors who make their granola, chocolate, coffee, ice cream, pastries, bread, you name it.  They are small business owners who quit or lost their job in the big corporate world; others decided to take a risk at entrepreneurship and others are doing this as a side thing. But they all have one thing in common: they love their craft. They are highly skilled artists who love food. They make ice cream or jam out of communal kitchens in Long Island, Queens or the Bronx. They make yoghurt or ice pops by hand and pour their heart and soul into it despite the challenges that come with being an entrepreneur in the highly competitive world of food.

Yes, their products may be relatively expensive sometimes, but you get what you pay for. Their food is great, and unique, and their stories are too. They all have one to tell, and let’s face it – how often do you talk to the person who made the chocolate bar you are eating?

The food artisans in Brooklyn are the inspiration behind a new section in Color + Spice titled “The Food Makers” – a space dedicated to telling their amazing stories, because understanding where our food comes from is a beautiful thing.

Last year, a friend and I used to make fun of this little app. We both posted stuff every once in a while but we still thought it was funny how people hashtagged, over edited and posted up photo after photo. We thought it was kind of ridiculous and didn’t really understand the big whoop – (I still think those “iphone photography” classes offered at SVA and Adorama are a bit too much).

Another friend constantly told me “You would love Instagram. I don’t know why you’re not doing it. “

As ridiculous as it may sound, I never saw it as a tool to share my photographic work. I saw other people just using it to post photos of themselves, or their friends at parties and that sort of thing – just like Facebook. And I didn’t want another Facebook.

Then something changed. I discovered great photographers sharing amazing photos on Instagram. I found gallery after gallery of beautiful images. So I decided to give it a shot.

I started focusing my content on food, naturally. It happened around September, when I traveled through Turkey and was able to capture really beautiful street food photos, and my view on Instagram started shifting. As I posted more images, my “style” got more defined. I got more followers. People were liking my work and I actually “met” great people by doing so, and this motivated me to keep going.

I have never felt my “photography” mode going like it’s going now. It never turns off.  I am constantly thinking – what can I share? Because let’s be honest, photography is great – but it’s even better when you can share it.

For those of you who don’t know, and that might be most of you since I rarely bring this into conversation around here, I’ve been practicing yoga for almost six years already, and I’ve been lucky to find some great, great teachers here in NYC. Today, one of these teachers said something like: “you can feel the city pumping with life movement” – and it’s true.

What I love about this time of year is that it allows me to bike and walk around the city without carrying 4 pounds of extra clothes to protect me from the cold. I feel free. I see things differently and I can explore the city at ease, which leads me to discover and actually do a lot more things than during the winter months.

I usually have a lot of new projects going on at the same time, but lately that’s gotten more intense than usual. I feel my creativity thriving.  I’m inspired. Most of these projects naturally revolve around photography and food, and for them to happen, shit must be done. Work is involved – but I am infinitely grateful when I can say that my type of work really feels like play.

This past weekend I went out and “worked”. I visited a few of restaurants/coffee spots I’d been wanting to go to like the Fat Radish, and the Bluebird Coffee Shop, and discovered quite a few new, casually cool, unique, very-New-York kind of places along the way – including  Cheeky Sandwiches. BTW – I’ll soon be sharing my highly treasured NYC restaurant list after many of my friends have asked me to please do so.

The weekend’s highlight? My first experience dining at an underground supper club. When I got invited to the Dinner Bell recently, I jumped into the opportunity at once. If you read my post about Comodo you might remember what those are – if not, I invite you to head over there and read about them!

So last Saturday, there we were at the Dinner Bell. My friend and I stood at the door of this charming little house in the middle of Bushwick and followed the instructions to just bang the door loudly because “ironically, there is no bell”. We were greeted by a girl who gave us a cocktail that was too strong for me to handle – but it may have come in useful to loosen most people up and get conversation going.

We walked into a dining room/kitchen where another girl was cooking and 16 other guests we didn’t know were talking amongst themselves. At the beginning it was quiet – people weren’t really conversing with “the strangers”. We finally sat down – and as the food and drinks (which were, by the way, amazing) conversation started flowing, and we met some wonderful people. Dinner ended, we all exchanged contact information and left with new friendships and an experience that will certainly be hard to forget.

Now it turns out they can also make a creamy, low-fat, tasty dessert without the “guilt”. When chia seeds are put in liquid, they expand and make you feel fuller for hours without a huge intake of calories. Plus they have a slightly nutty flavor that can adapt to so so so many recipes.

Oh, and this recipe in particular is like the easiest thing E-VER.

Dream come true, anyone?

COCO-MANGO-CHIA PUDDING

Total time | 5 minutes + overnight soaking time (which basically doesn’t count)

Makes | 4 servings

You Need:

1/2 cup chia seeds
2 1/2 cups coconut milk (check out my post on coconut milk)
1 cup chopped mango + more for topping*
Dates **
Shaved almonds ***
Unsweetened, shredded coconut ***

To Prepare:

1. Blend the coconut milk with the chopped mango and dates (add to taste - sweetness will vary depending on the type of mango you use).

2. Soak the chia seeds in the milk overnight. Keep refrigerated, and stir occasionally if possible.

3. Serve with fresh, chopped fruit and other toppings of your choice.

Tips:
*Use any fruit you want. Try mixing them up.
** Instead of dates, use any sweetener of your choice
*** Top it off with shaved almonds, shredded coconut or anything you can think of.

This year, Smorgasburg has moved to the other side of the street, giving space to more talented food vendors – which is great for me, since I am on the hunt the most awesomest (yes awesomest is a word) food makers to be featured a new section of Color + Spice I’ll be releasing soon.

The Time + Location
April through October
11 am through 6 pm
Saturdays in Williamsburg – East River State Park
Sundays in Dumbo – Tobacco Warehouse

The Favorite Classics
Dough
Cemitas
People’s Pops

The Favorite Newbie
White Moustache