The other man in my life

It is high time that I blog about the other man in my life.

There he is, Mark Bittman. And there I am, gazing lovingly upon him as he signs my copy of his book, Food Matters.  Right after this photo was taken, my sister and I gushed to him about how he "changed our marriages." He laughed and said no one had ever said anything quite like that to him. 

Bittman is famous in the eyes of the Hall sisters because of the following reasons:

1. He wrote How to Cook Everything.  Which is quite literally, a dictionary of cooking. I highly recommend the 10th anniversary edition. I have the non-10th anniversary edition and am jealous of my friend Maggie, to whom I gave the 10th anniversary edition for her wedding. The 10th anniversary edition has an amazing spreadsheet for how to make all kinds of amazing vinaigrettes. Alas, I will continue to use my paragraph-style version of how to make all kinds of amazing vinaigrettes. 

2. Mark Bittman loves to cook with meat, but he does so in a way that isn't heavy or over the top, and he uses the least amount of meat possible, if only to allow the meat to lend its flavor to the dish.

3. He also wrote Kitchen Express,  which makes my heart go pitter-patter, because I love the words kitchen+express in the same title. And it is organized seasonally. Which also makes my organized heart go pitter-patter.

4. And of course because he wrote Food Matters, which is the book I was having him sign in the photo above. The thing I love about him is that he is SENSIBLE about food. He has a wonderful "diet" plan in Food Matters, but I wouldn't even go so far as to call it a diet. Because I don't think diets are sensible. And his plan is sensible, tasty, and easy to integrate into your lifestyle. I've semi-adopted his "vegan until 6" plan {I use milk in my coffee, occasionally have eggs or yogurt for breakfast, and if eat out I'm not about to stress over having an animal free sandwich}. But he has an approach that is simple and let's be honest, I am sick of hearing about these nonsense diets that don't fix any of the food problems that people have. He basically says to make sure your diet it 90% plant based and you'll be fine. I agree. 

5. He writes for Runners World, and runs marathons. I love Runners World. I don't love marathons.

6. He writes for Cooking Light.  Which I also love. 

7. He writes for The New York Times. Love.

8. He is appears occasionally on The Today Show.....you guessed it, I love that too. Back when we had a tv......

WHAT CAN HE NOT DO? Thomas refers to him as the other man in my life. And I think he is right. 

I made his recipe for granola this morning and just had to share it as it is so simple and delightful. I mix it with some plain yogurt most mornings for breakfast. 

• 5 cups rolled oats {not quick-cooking or instant}
• 3 cups mixed nuts and seeds. I used pumpkin seeds and soy nuts. 
• 1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut. {I used sweetened because I can't find unsweetened and Whole Foods is too far away!}
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Dash salt
• 1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit {make sure you add these AFTER the cooking process is complete. The first time I made this I didn't read the recipe and they burned in the oven. Had to throw out the whole batch. Mother, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're laughing}.

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt vanilla, and sweetener. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.
• 2. Remove pan from oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container; it will keep indefinitely. {He says to keep it in the fridge but I disobey and do not}.

Last week I also made his recipe for Chicken Not Pie. {Get it? Chicken NOT Pie? He is clever too}. But don't put it over noodles like we did {because I am lazy and hate waiting for rice to cook}. Make brown rice or just put it in a bowl and serve with some sort of bread. 

 It was amazing and Thomas ate almost all of it. Thomas now says "well, I like Mark Bittman. He is pretty smart." 

Took him long enough.