Chocolate Buckwheat Granola

There is a story from my childhood my parents love to retell over and over again. I don't mind hearing it, I always end up laughing at my childish behaviours anyway. So I used to take gymnastic classes when I was around 4-5 years old. Back then, we didn't have a car yet and it was our first winter in Canada as new immigrants from Hong Kong. You can imagine how much of an adjustment it is to go from a humid city to a place that gets walloped with snow and polar vortex and whatever the cruel Canadian winters can throw on you.

Based on my parents' account, they carried me from home to the community centre in the cold, hiking through thick snow as more of the white stuff continued to fall. They remember it was like -15 degrees, despite being bundled up in layers of clothing, it was cold enough to feel your bones hurt. When we finally made it to the gym, I refused to take my class. I didn't have a legitmate excuse, I was just being a stubborn brat and threw a tandrum, bawling when they tried to take off my puffy coat and coaxing me to go play. I relented and continued to cry. They were pissed. They didn't walk all this way in the brutal cold for nothing.

I find this story hilarious, I really was that stubborn (and still am sometimes). This year has been a harsh winter and I've been thinking about this story a lot. I was in Costa Rica for 9 days. It took me almost just as long to get over my stomach flu when I got back. But rejoice! I have my appetite again and have been eating my favourite foods again, including this granola. I eat it almost everyday with plain yogurt. It's crunchy, nutty and the addition of chocolate makes it even better.

It's full of rolled oats, buckwheat, sunflower and chia seeds, shredded coconut, and chocolate and peanut butter. I do prefer another granola I've made before, likening the sweetness. Still, this granola makes for a quick breakfast or snack and also gifts if you're the giving away type of person.

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Recipe here!

Andy's Fairfield Granola

I bought a small bouquet of tulips the other day. They were singing to me, their yellow tinged lips and ruby petals were too pretty not to bring back home. They’re sitting on my dining table by the window, happily soaking up the bright rays of sunlight. It’s March and also that time of year when you start cursing why there is the snow still lying on the ground, and whining about wearing boots when you would rather break out those sandals you bought last year. On the upside, the days are getting longer and by the time I get home from work, the sky is still streaked with brilliant shade of gold. I’m excited to strip off to break away from the biting cold. Spring is here people! Spring!

I’ve been eating this for the past few weeks and don’t think I could ever get tired of it. There’s everything I want in the morning in this granola: wholesome, crunchiness filled with roasted nuts and chewy, dried fruit. Granola sprinkled over plain yogurt makes my insides feel happy and healthy. I’ve made granola many times before, but there’s usually too much oil or sugar and it makes a breakfast food taste more like dessert than something to start your day off right. Nigella’s recipe uses applesauce to help glue the ingredients together, ground cinnamon and ginger to give it extra oomph of flavour and only a moderate amount of sugar and fat to make this granola even better.  

I love that granola is also customizable to your tastes. Throw in any nuts, seeds, flavourings, spices, dried fruit as you please. I’m an almond and coconut advocate and made sure there was plenty of it in this batch. This recipe makes a boatload of granola and I’m still working through of it. 

In other news, I’m published! In PRINT!! I wrote a piece for Acquired Taste, a magazine that features beautiful photography and inspiring food stories. It feels pretty awesome to have my name in the same magazine as Christina Tosi, the pastry chef of Milk. I’m stoked for the next issue. 

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Recipe here!

Almond Coconut Granola

There was a time when I was fervently passionate about my profession. I went to school to be a dietitian*, moved to Toronto, but particular circumstances has slashed my love for nutrition. Some days I feel like it's wringing out all my juices, till nothing but the bitter peel is left, even the pulp is a pile of mush lying neglected and tasteless.

Some days, I just want to throw up my arms in the air and call it quits, discard the title that took me 6 years to achieve. Self doubt kicks in, I wonder whether I am really destined to be a dietitian, then, I wallow at my misfortune that seems to have parked a permanent spot in my life.

But yesterday my dad said something to me that put things in perspective. I'm in my early twenties, this is merely but a minor bump in the road, a small hurdle in my career, I am still a dietitian, I need to be positive and find a way over that towering stone wall. Which is true. So true, sometimes I just need a reminder that my life isn't over. It's also a reminder that my parents are very wise and I love them so.

So to make the world a better place and to numb my cocktail mix of emotions, I made granola.

There's been a nip in the air lately. I grudgingly watched the sun cast a blood red sky across the horizon by 7pm instead of 9pm. Even the leaves have started to shed their emerald green colors in exchange for gold and rusty shades. Folks, autumn is upon us and granola is a brilliant way to welcome the new season.

Store-bought granola, to me, is overly sweet or laden with ingredients that you can't pronounce, but this recipe, from Leite's Culinaria is a just the remedy to satisfy that breakfast crunch.

There's cinnamon and coconut to give the granola flavor and aroma. Roasted almonds are crucial, providing a much needed crisp in each mouthful, I added sunflower seeds to amp up the nuttiness. And finally, dried fruits are a must, they add contrast to the otherwise tedious noshing of hard ingredients. I tweaked the recipe by using less sugar, confident that the quarter cup of honey will suffice.



My favorite kind of recipes are the ones you can easily adjust to suit your tastes or whatever is sitting in your pantry. If you, like me, wanted to make exotic granola using crystallized ginger, but they suddenly disappeared because you used them for this and couldn't help but suck on them as a snack, wincing in its spicy heat, you can use other dried fruits. I used dried blueberries, which aren't my favorite, but dried apricots, raisins, and cranberries would be excellent choices.

I had a generous cup of granola with an equally generous amount of yogurt for breakfast, and I must say, even with the early arrival of fall, I think I'll be ok, as long as I have this to keep me satisfied.

*Disclaimer alert! I am a registered dietitian, but this site was created as a space for me to showcase my love for food and photography and occasionally, lament about life, it is not intended as nutritional advice.

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Recipe here!