Fall and Winter Budget Recipes, Volume IV: Homemade Granola on the Cheap
I just noticed another budget recipe link: the Whole Foods Budget Recipe Challenge. I think it’s pretty rich that Whole Foods, aka most expensive big chain grocery ever, is sponsoring a budget recipe challenge, but it’s their prerogative. I do find the salad bar at Whole Foods Union Square to be a guilty pleasure (financially, not nutritionally), and I’ve even inured myself to standing in their weird, stressful line.
But that is not what I came here to blog about. I came here to tell you about a far more exciting food-related discovery, which is that THE ANARCHIST OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPE MAKES GRANOLA TOO.
Anarchist recession granola!
Allow me to explain.
When I first moved to Brooklyn in 2003, as a wee person, I lived on South 4th and Berry Streets, in Williamsburg. My walk to the L train took me past a mysterious shop window with a sign that read, “Brooklyn Free Store.” One day, on my way to the coffee shop where I toiled, I stopped in. The front portion of the “store” was divided from the back by a couple of flimsy folding screens. The back appeared to be somebody’s residence and the front resembled an upturned thrift store, except that all the items, as signs on the wall explained, were free for the taking. The store was staffed by a guy, who I assume was also the person who lived in the area behind the folding screens; he seemed to be a relic from the neighborhood’s recent, more ‘authentic’ (or something) past, a person who’d probably lived in New York back when it seemed like as reasonable a place as any to work as an artist and man a Free Store.
Anyway, being obsessed with food as I am, I also noticed a chipped white china dinner plate stacked high with golden-brown oatmeal cookies. The cookies sat next to a Xeroxed pile of broadsheet recipes. I helped myself to a cookie. It was exquisite: crunchy, salty, and sweet. I took a recipe. “Anarchist Oatmeal Cookies,” it said, and underneath that, in smaller print: “Anarchist ‘Cause They’re Free!” There was a recipe, and an exhortation to give away cookies whenever you can.
I’ve heard that the Anarchist Oatmeal Cookie recipe comes from an NYC chapter of Food Not Bombs. I’ve heard, most recently, the the Anarchist Oatmeal Cookie recipe doubles as a recipe for granola. Naturally, I hastened to test out this rumor. It’s true.
So here it is—the recipe for Anarchist Granola:
ANARCHIST OATMEAL GRANOLA
Servings: 12
Price per serving: $0.30
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of vegetable oil: $0.74
1.5 cup of brown sugar: $0.60
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract: $0.45
3 cups rolled oats: $1.54
1 cup white flour: $0.29
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
Mix the oil, sugar together in a bowl. Blend them well. Add the oats, flour, salt, and baking soda. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking pan. (Note: I read a recipe for Anarchist Oatmeal Cookies that mentioned you can make granola by just spreading the whole batter out and turning it every 4 to 5 minutes. I tried it this way, and the other way, and decided that the best way to make granola is by forming cookies and then breaking them up into granola-sized bits—my granola made the other way came out strangely dark and clumpy.) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies begin to brown. They might still seem a little soft. Don’t worry—they’ll set as they cool. Scrape them off the sheet eventually and break them up into pieces. Store in an airtight container. Granola!!!
I think you could probably add roasted nuts, dried fruits, chopped-up prunes, and all that other granola stuff.
Part I: Caribbean Vegetable Stew
Part II: Baked Apples
Part III: Balsamic Chicken
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