The hardest part of this recipe is gathering the nuts, but it’s Fall now, so make like a squirrel and gather! I find the easiest (and cheapest) place to get nuts is my favorite Trader Joe’s. As a plus, they also carry the unsweetened coconut chips and dried blueberries called for, making it a one-stop shop.

Blueberry Nut Granola

Recipe by SergioCourse: Breakfast/SnackCuisine: American/KetoDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut chips

• 1 1/4 cup sliced almonds

• 1 1/4 cup chopped pecans

• 1 cup sunflower seeds

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

• 1/2 to 1/4 cup monk fruit (can substitute honey or agave)

• 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

• 1/3 cup dried blueberries or 1/2 cup fresh

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325. Adjust rack to middle rack and rack above.
• On two large, light colored sheet pans covered with parchment paper, mix together all ingredients except the dried blueberries. If using fresh blueberries, they can be added at this time.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes and rotating trays top to bottom and front to back.
• Watch very carefully, especially the first time. Ovens vary in heat, intensity and circulation, which can affect timing.
• Turn oven off, crack the door open, using an item to keep it open and inch or two. Once cool, remove trays from oven and remove the granola. Transfer to airtight container (I use big Mason jars)

Notes

• If kept for any period of time, keep granola in fridge or freezer.
• If using monk fruit as sweetener, don’t use aluminum foil or it will stick.

This granola is perfect as is, but can also be served with milk of your choice and fresh berries, such as strawberries, raspberries or more blueberries. It is also great on yogurt and ice cream.

Up Next: Tailgating 101

Here are some other ideas for Better Breakfasts:

1. Green Smoothies I drink Green Smoothies almost every day for breakfast during weekdays. Why? Right off the bat, I’m getting a big intake of vegetables and fruit, plus I can add any supplement or additive my body needs. Also, I used to have a problem with regularity (’nuff said!), but ever since I started drinking green smoothies about six years ago, it’s never been an issue. I always taste the mixture before I pour it out to see if it needs something, whether that be sweetener or acid, because I want them to taste delicious. Bananas, avocado and yogurt give smoothies a “smooth” and creamy texture. Bonus for frugal people like myself: if I ever have fruit that’s too ripe, I just freeze it for future smoothies. See the end of the post for my Favorite Green Smoothie recipe.
2. Eggs Eggs used to have a bad rap (remember that?) but now, apparently, they are a “perfect food”- rich in iron, phosphorus, selenium and lots of vitamins. Since I have Green Smoothies during the week, I like to mix it up by having eggs on the weekend. A Coddled, Poached or Over-Easy Egg with a slice of buttered Rye Toast is my idea of heaven.

3. Vegetables I usually add some sliced cherry tomatoes to my egg plate, but there’s no need to stop there. In Hawaii recently, a lovely Spring Mix Salad with assorted toppings was on the buffet, along with a Sesame Miso Vinaigrette. Many French restaurants serve a small salad with Omelettes or Quiches as a healthy side, instead of potatoes. Sauteed Mushrooms are another good idea for breakfast, either on the side with eggs, in an omelette, or over Whole Grain Toast.

4. Fruit When we think of a breakfast fruit, the typical one is a grapefruit half. While they are refreshing and full of Vitamin C, try to think outside the fruit box! I’m lucky enough to live in Miami, where I’ve been able to sample Guava, Passionfruit and Mamey recently. All were different and delicious!

5. Oats Oats and oatmeal is another healthy item to eat for breakfast and September is also Whole Grains Month. I like Steel Cut Oats, but they take a while to cook. If I make a big batch on Monday, I’ll just re-heat it for the rest of the week. A quicker option is Overnight Oats, which is ready-to-eat out of the fridge when you wake up. My favorite recipe is for Mango Almond Refrigerator Oatmeal, recipe to follow in a future Foodie in Miami post.

6. Yogurt Sometimes, on the weekends, if I don’t feel like eggs I’ll make myself a yogurt parfait with low-sugar yogurt (I like Siggis), berries and granola, for crunch. Yogurt, known for increasing longevity in Blue-Zone areas, helps regulate the digestive tract, strengthens bones and immunity and reduces high blood pressure. Sounds like a Better Breakfast to me!

Tropical Smoothie

Recipe by J.J. SmithCourse: BreakfastCuisine: HealthyDifficulty: Easy

Servings

1

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Calories

260

kcal

This smoothie tastes like a trip to a Tropical Island.

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh spinach

• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks, fresh or frozen

• 1/2 cup mango or peaches, fresh or frozen

• 1 small banana or 1/2 large, fresh or frozen

• 1 cup of filtered water

• 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds

• 1 teaspoon chia seeds

• 1 scoop of protein vanilla powder

• 3 to 4 ice cubes

Directions

• Place spinach and water into blender and blend until mixture is liquified.
• Stop blender and add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
• Taste and add sweetener (like honey or agave) if needed.

Notes

• I’ve also been adding collagen powder to my smoothies lately.

Up Next: Hy Vong Pick-Up & Birthday Dinner

On the Road Again…

When I was a Flight Attendant for Air Florida, I flew to London on a regular basis and this song played as we were embarking and disembarking on our transatlantic flights. After quarantining for five months, I was finally able to be “on the road again”, on a Road Trip in a rented mini-van to take Lauren to Washington D.C. to start Georgetown for her LLM. Along the way, Zeke and I hit seven states and nine cities; we ate many excellent meals, while sampling food in the South and Mid-Atlantic states, so here are my recommendations.

Best Overall Meal: Husk, Charleston, SC.

It’s kind of a bummer when you’re first meal is your best on a vacation, but this was the case on our Road Trip. The welcoming atmosphere, friendly and professional staff, attention to detail, delicious affordable Southern fare and the overall impression- from wine selections, to appetizers, entrees and desserts, made Husk my best overall meal on our Road Trip. Recommended dishes: Skillet Corn Bread, Kentuckyaki Glazed Pig Ears & Heritage Pork with Pink Peas, Peaches and Arugula.

First things first. All you hear about when you travel to Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay Area, is about the crab, the crab cakes and the oysters. Zeke was going on a streak (eventually broken) where he was eating a crab cake every day. Again, the best Crab Cake for me was the first one I tried on our trip, at the Mecca of Crab Cakes.

Best Crab Cake: Faidley’s, Baltimore, MD

This market, which is not really a restaurant (although they do have stand up tables) was recommended to us by our friend Sharon’s mother Connie, who is from Havre de Grace, outside Baltimore. You order your Crab Cake, with sides if desired, pay and it’s delivered to you. The crab cake comes out, golden brown, baseball shaped, heaping in the middle, bursting with jumbo lump crab meat and, very little filler. These 8 ounce crab cakes are rich, meaty and slightly decadent. I got the coleslaw on the side, Zeke got the cucumber salad. Both were good, but the crab cake was definitely the star of this show.

Best Raw Oyster: Patty’s Fatty’s, the House Oyster at The Boatyard, Annapolis, MD

Since Zeke and I both love raw oysters, we tried them in almost every place we ate on this trip, and especially wanted to try the local oysters from the Chesapeake Bay. These Patty’s Fatty’s stood out in our memory as special and they lived up to their name, being plump and briny, with a mild taste. I also liked that The Boatyard labeled their oysters with little wooden skewers, taking the guesswork out of which oyster you’re eating, as I usually forget what the waiter tells me they are, within seconds of him walking away.

Most Unique Meal: Steamed Crabs at the Crab and Steak House, St. Micheals, MD.

When we bought our boat from Todd at Unique Marine, he told us was had to try the crabs while in the area, where he’s originally from. Not the crab cakes, he explained, but the whole Steamed Maryland Blue Crabs, where you crack them open, dig the meat out and feast.

“It’s messy and a lot of work,” he explained. “But there’s nothing like it.”

Todd

So, being the adventurous eaters we are, we did it.

I ordered a 1/2 dozen Steamed Maryland Crabs (market price), Zeke got a dozen and we really over-ordered. The waiter came and dumped the Old Bay encrusted Steamed Crabs from a red, plastic tray onto our paper-covered table. He showed us how to eat them, and then we were on our own. You flip the crab over, remove a little section, flip it over again, remove the red shell. You pull out the “black muck”, pull off its legs (dismember it) and then, start eating. A wooden mallet is provided for cracking into hard-to-getting the crab meat out of hard to get to spots- the honeycomb-like body was the most challenging area of the crab. It was a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience, I don’t ever want to do again.

Best Drink: Thames Oyster House‘s Summer Negroni Slushie, Baltimore, MD.

Maybe it was because we’d walked around for hours in 90 degree heat in the Inner Harbor, maybe it was the charming little courtyard away from the maddening crowd of Fell’s Point, or maybe it was our accommodating waiter, but I loved this place, that seemed like a Secret Garden hidden in the middle of Downtown Baltimore. The couples around us were all apparently in a party mood and, when I saw the Summer Negroni Slushie on the menu, it had my name all over it. Gin, sweet vermouth, lemon and grapefruit juice combined with crushed ice made for an awfully refreshing drink. I’ll have another.

Best Appetizer: Foie Gras Parfait at Le Diplomate, Washington D.C.

While this was my favorite appetizer on our trip, the manager was such an unhelpful jerk, it almost seemed like we were actually in Paris. This tainted my experience of Le Diplomat. But forget all that, in the name of journalism and listening to my stomach, I loved this dish of smooth, whipped pate in a jar, covered with a wine gelee and served with fat slices of rich brioche. The Foie Gras Parfait was reminiscent of a grown-up peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as you spread it on the toast; it was a perfect bite with a glass of French Chardonnay. The French fries, which came on Zeke Steak Frites, were awfully good as well.

Best Breakfast: Iron Rooster, Annapolis, MD.

We stayed at several Bed and Breakfasts on this trip, which supplied tasty starts to our day, but our favorite breakfast, by far, was at the Iron Rooster in Annapolis, Maryland. We both got the same exact breakfast- two over-easy eggs, with hash browns, Canadian Bacon and a huge biscuit. The eggs were cooked perfectly, the hash browns non-greasy and delicious and the Canadian Bacon was the best we’ve ever had. This was no Jones skinny, colorless patty, but a fat slab of pink meat, with a nice char from being on the flat top. Good coffee and service as well, with a view of the harbor.

Best Lunch: Agave, Lewes, Delaware.

I’d heard a lot about Rehoboth Beach, so booked a night there in Delaware, but didn’t really understand what the fuss was about. We walked the Boardwalk and ate Boardwalk Food (Grotto Pizza). I’m so glad we stopped at the nearby beach town of Lewes (the first town in the first state) for lunch! It was a charming town, full of history, book and antique shops and Agave, an excellent Mexican restaurant. I got the BEST margarita there- Ancho Chili with Patron Citronge and Ancho Poblano Chili Liqueur, rimmed with spicy salt. Zeke loved his Chicken Mole Enchiladas, smothered in sauce and my Blue Cheese and Steak Quesadillas, filled with rare filet mignon slices and carmelized onions, was to die for.

Best Entree for Dinner: Chicken and Waffles at Founding Farmers, D.C.

This was one of my last meals on our Road Trip, on our return trip to D.C. and it was delicious. My crunchy fried chicken, creamy macaroni and cheese and flavorful green beans were so darned good, I didn’t even get around to eating my waffles. There were plenty of leftovers for Lauren to take back to her apartment in D.C. The service here was friendly, the food affordable, definitely a repeat when we return to D.C.

Best Pasta Meal: Gnocchi with Shrimp at Gia’s, Baltimore, MD.

Every trip has to feature a trip to an Italian restaurant and when we asked the Front Desk lady at our Baltimore B & B to recommend a spot in Little Italy, she recommended Gia’s, owned by a friend. We’d walked by it before, as I noticed the colorful mural on the way to our hotel. I got the homemade Gnocchi with Shrimp, which was a huge portion of al dente gnocchi and fresh shrimp, which were cut into the same size as the gnocchi, which led to a fun experience, of not knowing if the bite you were taking would be pasta or shrimp. These gnocchi were made with ricotta (the way my Aunt Josie used to make them), so they’re lighter and the sauce was fresh tomatoes, arugula and spicy prosciutto paste, topped with burrata. Mama Gia- I loved this dish! And our waitress was helpful and lovely, as well.

Best Dessert: Peach Cobbler at Old Ebbit Grill

I’m glad that it was Washington D.C. Restaurant Week and that Zeke ordered the prix fixe meal (with Caesar salad and Crab Cake), because I got to taste his Peach Cobbler, which came a la mode. The cinnamon-scented peaches were hot and slick, covered with a crunchy, nutty and crumbly filling that went perfectly with the scoop of vanilla ice cream.

So, if you get a chance in the near future to visit any of these cities/states (and I hope you do!), these are my recommendations. Also, overall, I felt traveling to these states was very safe, with a few exceptions, which I’ll talk about in a future post. Thanks to Beth and Mireya for recommendations of places to visit on our trip.

Up Next: Faidely’s Crab Cake Recipe.