Hawaiian Granola Bar Recipe

Our friend Sarah from Nuts About Granola has launched her first-ever box-mixed granola, called Granola Basics. The concept is brilliant and a lot of fun. Start with Granola Basics, then add a sweetener such as honey, agave or maple syrup. Finish with a few tasty mix-ins such as nuts, dried fruit or chocolate and you’re done.

Of course, I wanted to test it out! In my opinion, nothing can go wrong when you mix exquisite ingredients such as Guittard chocolate, fresh coconut shavings, Hawaiian ginger syrup, candied ginger and macadamia nuts, so that’s exactly what I did. It’s not quite a trip to the Aloha State, but very satisfying nonetheless.

If you want to give this delicious one-of-kind product a try, you can participate in this week's giveaway for one box of Granola Basics. Can’t wait? Buy it online, or if you live in the Baltimore area, you can find it on Whole Foods Harbor East shelves. 

Marshmallow Popcorn Treat Yogurt Parfait Recipe (+ Giveaway)

479° Popcorn is my favorite snack of the moment. The packaging is fun and creative and needless to say this gourmet organic popcorn is awesome. I could finish an entire bag on my own. 479° Popcorn is a San Francisco company that features a very interesting array of flavors such as Fleur de Sel Caramel, Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt, Black Truffle, Chipotle Caramel + Almonds, Ginger Sesame Caramel, Madras Curry Coconut + Cashews, Pimenton de la Vera and Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar. The design is so original it makes the perfect holiday gift box. One of my husband's little sisters is obsessed with popcorn, and her birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so we're planning on buying her weight in 479° popcorn as a present. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration!


I love experimenting with just about anything, so I created marshmallow treats with their Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar-flavored popcorn. I made a yogurt parfait and incorporated the sweet treats as a substitute for granola. This recipe is flavored according to the season; I used mandarin wedges and orange and cranberry sauce. You could adapt it with what you like of course. You don't have to create these cups for breakfast or dessert (or whenever you eat parfaits); just savoring 479° Popcorn by itself is perfectly reasonable.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and 479° Popcorn, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "Sweet Tooth Gift Pack #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @479Popcorn: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".

Vietnamese Cinnamon Sugar flavored popcorn.

Plum Crumble Recipe (Oatmeal Crisp)

Fruit crumble is my go-to recipe whenever I want to make an eggless dessert. The preparation is quite easy; it consists of mixing flour, sugar and cold butter into crumbs. To add more body to this version of the crumble, I adjusted the quantities and blended oatmeal into the mixture.

As for the fruit, I used black plums. Unfortunately, we already harvested all the plums from the garden a few weeks ago for the hazelnut plum pie. Luckily, I was able to find the same kind of plums at the farmers' market that were just as delicious. I peeled the plums, seared them in butter and sugar and finished them with a dust of flour. The fruit was then covered with the crumble mixture and baked until golden and crisp.

Don't forget to enter our third (and last) giveaway! The first two randomly selected winners are Natalie Fong and Hannah Nguyen. Congrats!

Nuts About Granola Giveaway Entry Form:

Pham Fatale Giveaway Terms and Conditions: No purchase necessary. All prizes are generously donated by the company featured. Winners will be chosen at random, and odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Pham Fatale is not responsible for late, lost, stolen, illegible or incomplete entries which will be disqualified. US Residents only please. Only one entry per person per giveaway. Prizes are not refundable or returnable. Giveaway terms subject to change.

Granola Marshmallow Treat Recipe (+ Giveaway)

I think I've said it on numerous occasions; our family has a sweet tooth (can an entire family share one tooth?). We always have sugary snacks available on the kitchen counter. One of the girls’ favorites are Rice Krispies treats, but today since I had a bag of granola on hand, I decided to substitute the granola in place of the puffed rice. The granola is called “College Staple”, and I got it from Sarah at Nuts About Granola. It’s similar to her “Plain Jane” product, but with dried cranberries. It’s almost like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in granola form. The texture is not crunchy and rather tastes similar to a chewy cookie, which is perfect for the consistency of the marshmallow treats.

The best part of these sweet treats is that they're one of the easiest treats to make. It took me less than 10 minutes to make them. I also added chocolate-covered sunflower seeds; they paired wonderfully with the dried cranberries in the College Staple granola.  Don't forget to enter our giveaway!

Nuts About Granola Giveaway Entry Form:

Pham Fatale Giveaway Terms and Conditions: No purchase necessary. All prizes are generously donated by the company featured. Winners will be chosen at random, and odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Pham Fatale is not responsible for late, lost, stolen, illegible or incomplete entries which will be disqualified. US Residents only please. Only one entry per person per giveaway. Prizes are not refundable or returnable. Giveaway terms subject to change.

Gluten Free Cheesecake Parfait Recipe

It's National Cheesecake Day this weekend and, though I’ve made many cheesecakes in the past, my goal was to put a new twist on the special dessert. Since we were invited to our friend Carol's home (she’s gluten intolerant), I decided to make my cheesecake gluten-free.

I made the mousse egg-free and flavored it with both raspberries and strawberries. For a contrast in texture, I added a layer of crunchy, diced yellow nectarines. And to make it look more fun, I topped the dessert cups with pistachio-flavored whipped cream and crushed pistachios. I don’t think anyone missed the crust. For those who could eat gluten, I slipped a ladyfinger cookie into the verrine. How amazing does that sound?