iEat Green - 12/05/13

This week, my guest is Randi Dresner, the President and CEO of Island Harvest, the largest hunger-relief organization on Long Island, and a colleague of mine on the Suffolk County Food Policy Council. Randi’s knowledge and Screen Shot 2013-12-03 at 6.47.37 PMcompassion for Food Insecurity, has helped her grow Island Harvest from an organization that served 2.1 million meals in the early days, to well over 9 million meals last year. The face of hunger is not only for the homeless, it consists of millions of working families that can not make ends meet, its our children, it’s our seniors, it could be your next door neighbor! This has never been more apparent to me then this past week, when we served our Thanksgiving Meal to a huge, diverse crowd. Due to the cutbacks in SNAP (Food Stamps,) the lines were longer than ever! Please join me to learn about the work of Island Harvest, and to find out how we can encourage our representatives to tackle the problem of Hunger in America! Gluten-Free Granola Ingredients ¼ cup sunflower or coconut oil ½ cup maple syrup 1 t. salt 1 Tbs. vanilla 1 cup almonds 1 cup pecans 6 cup GF oats ½ cup walnuts ½ cup sunflower seeds ½ cup pumpkin seeds ½ cup coconut ½ cup organic raisins and/or dried cranberries Directions In a small saucepan, warm the oil, syrup, and salt. Add the vanilla and stir. Mix all of the other ingredients, except raisins or dried cranberries, in a large bowl and stir together. Gradually add the warm oil and syrup, and mix all the ingredients together. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out the granola. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven, for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and add raisins or cranberries, if using. Let granola cool before storing in glass jar.