Purple Peppers and Granola Bars

So as I previously mentioned, I found purple peppers at the Saturday Market last week. I hadn't ever seen or eaten one before, so I decided 2 for a dollar was a good price for some experimenting. (Reminds me of this old poetry book I have from when I was a kid called Talking Like the Rain. There was a poem about a purple cow in it.) I cooked the first one on the 4th of July. Sadly, they turn a rather dull shade of light grey/green when cooked, which is the color of their interior. But they are pretty brilliant when raw.


And on another note, I made granola "bars" a few nights ago! It's super easy, and very loosely based on an Alton Brown recipe my dad found a few years ago. The ingredients (that I didn't measure) included:

(For the gooey binding mixture):
Agave Syrup
Honey
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cardamom

(For the Oaty Part):
Oats
Oat bran
Sunflower seeds (de-shelled, of course)
Dried cranberries
Crystallized ginger

Basically all you need to do is: Toast the oats and oat bran along with the sunflower seeds. While that is happening, pour all the gooey ingredients into a pot and warm it until it's just started to bubble. Then just pour the gooey and oaty mixtures into a big bowl, adding the cranberries and ginger, and mix until completely covered. Grease a glass pan (like one you would bake brownies in) and pat down the mixture so it's flat in the pan. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes or so at 350, and there you go! It won't stick together well if you eat it immediately out of the oven, usually cooling overnight will do it (if you make it at 9pm like I do). I call them "bars" because they never really stay together well, but little granola pieces are just as good in my book. I think it's a great recipe because you can really use whatever you have. It's easy to substitute different nuts or dried fruit for different flavor combinations.



PS- Check out this great video made by one of my classmates/dormmates! It's about the Evanston Farmer's Market. Wish I was there now!