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A note from the cook:  I grew up in Vietnam where the oranges weren’t orange. Kumquats, mandarins, persimmons, and papaya were orange. Dragonfruit were purple. Oranges were green.

We wanted to introduce you to our new digs and latest employee. Amos House, the soup kitchen and homeless shelter in South Providence, has allowed us to turn their commercial kitchen into a granola factory on Friday nights.

Ingredients: oats (org), barley (org), Sucanat (org minimally processed cane sugar), honey, canola oil (expeller pressed), sunflower seeds (org), flax seeds (org), sesame seeds (org), peanuts, cashews, almonds, oat bran (org), wheat germ, coconut (org), fried garbanzo beans, pecan meal, raisins, oat fiber, rye (org), almond extract, Celtic sea salt, cinnamon, fennel seeds, fenugreek, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, cardamom powder, curry leaves, coriander, nutmeg, black pepper, cloves.

Some of the challenges involved dicing both the bananas and the chocolate to a size which prevented their taking over or losing their distinction (or breaking the food processor). We added a little molasses and cut back on the raisins to counter the sweetness. Then, just last week, we happened on a stash of the earthiest organic chocolate imaginable—Dagoba chocolate with raw hemp, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Wow! 

Pictured here, mixing granola, is Evon Nano, a newly arrived refugee from Iraq. She has been in this country for 4 months. Keith works with her at the International Institute, which is a non-profit in Providence that assists with refugee resettlement. The Providence Granola Project was conceived as a way to give refugees a boost toward employability (and in the spirit of full disclosure, to make a little money).

On November 15th, The Providence Granola Project began taking orders for the "Granola of the Month Club."