I Love the Earth Granola

On my way outside to grab the morning newspaper, I found a friend. He, or she, reminded me today is the best day, Earth Day.

For all you hippies out there, and hipsters who now recycle because it's the "in" thing, here's a crunchy, earth loving snack.

Start by mixing 1/4 cup vegetable oil with 3/4 cup honey and stir until even

Mix in 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In separate bowl, combine 4 cups rolled oats, 1 cup sunflower seeds, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup coconut, and 1 cup Craisens

Stir all dry ingredients until even

Pour wet mixture into dry and stir until even. Pour raw granola onto greased baking pan and place in preheated oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove every 10 minutes and stir granola.

Remove baked granola from oven and allow to cool. When completely cooled, break into small pieces and place in airtight bags, or because we're trying to stay green - tupperware, for future use. Enjoy!

Vice Cake

We all have our vices. A couple of my favorites are beer and coffee. Surprisingly enough, these two can be mixed together for a delicious dessert.

The inspiration for this recipe came from parties at my friend Danny's apartment. His roommate E-Train is a manager of a Starbucks, and instead of buying the classic red cups for beer pong, they use cups from the buck's.

 

Today is E-Train's birthday, and last night a party was thrown in celebration. I made him these vice cakes, because well, he loves these vices too.

The recipe...

Start by making the Oreo crumble crust. Crush about 1/2 a package of Oreo cookies and mix in 1/3 cup melted butter.

Set aside. Now for the beer cake.

Mix together 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup stout beer (Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout is delicious), and 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

In separate bowl mix together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/3 teaspoon salt.

In another bowl mix together 1 egg and 1/3 cup sour cream.

Combine three mixtures, and stir until even.

The final mixture should look something like this:

Now, the espresso cake.

Mix together 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

In separate bowl, mix together 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup cooled brewed coffee.

Combine mixtures and stir until even. The final combo should look something like this...

Now for the layering. Grease a muffin pan. Pat a 1/8-1/4 inch layer of Oreo mixture into bottom of each hole, then pour a layer of the beer mixture ontop of the Oreo.

Fill the rest of the hole with the espresso mixture.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until they look done.

Allow the cakes to cool, then remove from tray. When completely cool, serve with whip cream topping, just like at Starbucks.

It's about time those vices paid off.