After we had Cassie's car repaired in C'ville, we had to get it back to her, so we took a drive to meet in Old Town Warrenton to swap vehicles. At my urging, we met at the famed Red Truck Bakery, beloved of President Obama, among others. As soon as we walked in and looked at the prices, Brad said, not for the first time, that "we have to open our own bakery." For example, it was about $33 for an apple pie and approaching $40 for a cake. You can find the Red Truck Bakery's first cookbook on Libby if you want to see what a $40 cake tastes like.
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| Photo by louis magnotti on Unsplash |
That book also includes their recipe for what they bill as "the best granola in North America," after Andrew Zimmern apparently called it that on the Travel Channel. You can order two 20-ounce bags of the stuff online for $37 (before shipping). That's convenient for comparison purposes, because our recipe for Granola 2.0, which is based on Early Bird Food's Farmhand's Choice Granola ($28 for three 12-ounce bags, or $31 for 40 ounces, before shipping), also makes just about 40 ounces of granola. When I did the calculations before, it cost about $11 to make a 40-ounce batch of granola at home, or less than a third of what it costs to buy it from Red Truck Bakery, so that does seem like a pretty good profit margin.
Plus, when you make granola at home, you can control the sweetness. The actual recipe for Farmhand's Choice Granola uses ¾ cup of maple syrup and ½ cup of light brown sugar, while I've dropped that to ⅔ cup of maple syrup and just 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and still find the granola to be plenty sweet. By comparison, the Red Truck Bakery granola uses ¾ cup of maple syrup and ¼ cup of light brown sugar, plus another ¾ cup of honey and ¾ cup of sweetened shredded coconut (I use unsweetened coconut chips). So, the lesson is to make your granola at home, and then make a whole bunch more and sell it at a farmer's market if you need some extra cash. (And make some gluten-free baked goods while you're at it, because the markup is even greater when you're selling to the Karens of the world.)
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I made this soup over the holidays to feed the seven of us who were here. It's healthy, tasty, made all from pantry ingredients, and feeds a crowd, especially if you have some of Mom's sourdough bread (still waiting for her guest post on the bread, alas) on hand. What more could you ask for?
Smoky Chickpea and Red Lentil Soup with Peas
Adapted from Jenn Segal via Once Upon a Chef
Time: ~47 minutes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
950 grams (4 cups) low-sodium vegetable broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted
60 grams (⅓ cup) red lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus extra
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves, or ¼ teaspoon bay leaf powder
1 (14.5-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
120 grams (~1 cup) frozen peas or other cooked vegetables
1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Stir in the carrot and onion and season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the garlic, cumin, and smoked paprika, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 1 or 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, lentils, 1 teaspoon salt, thyme, pepper, and bay leaves or powder. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and adjust the heat as needed to maintain a steady simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the chickpeas, then re-cover the pot and cook for another 10 minutes.
5. Fish out the bay leaves. Using a blender or, preferably, an immersion blender, purée about half of the soup. Stir in the frozen peas and/or other vegetables. Return to the heat and cook just until the soup is hot and the peas are warmed. Taste and adjust the seasoning (does it need any acid?). Serve promptly. Serves 6.
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