i'd rather be baking

Ryan has a thing for blueberry muffins. You may recall the muffin extravaganza of 2009, which included quite possibly the world’s most perfect blueberry muffins. I wanted to make some for him, and I really should have stuck with the recipe I already knew and loved. But you know me, I can’t leave well enough alone.

My Google Reader is pretty much equally divided between ridiculous food and super healthy blogs, which is a pretty accurate representation of, well, me. The moral of the story is that we can’t all eat butter laden, crumb-topped morsels of deliciousness every morning. We have skinny jeans to wear and races to run. You understand.

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After the said lovely family visit, I got up at the crack of dawn to decorate a zillion cupcakes at the bakery, and then passed out in a glorious nap. It was much needed. And then I woke up hungry for this granola from Peas and Thank You. I mean, really: it was the first thought on my mind when I woke up.

However, I didn’t have cherries or almonds. But I did have cranberries and pistachios, which just happens to be the best and prettiest granola I’ve made yet. And I like to make do. That’s just how my momma raised me.

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I really, really love lemons. A lot.

I love their cheery yellow hues, their bright, clean fragrance, and most of all their beautiful flavor. I often cook with them because it seems like a little dash of lemon can improve pretty much anything. But give me a dish (or better yet, something sweet) that casts lemons in a starring role, and I’m in heaven.

Unfortunately Ryan does not share my lemon obsession, and really doesn’t even like lemons much. My family’s visit this week gave me the perfect excuse to make these lemon rolls, much to his disappointment. They love lemons almost as much as I do.

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My sister and I have a Starbucks habit. I was going to call it a tradition, but habit is definitely more accurate. You might even call it a bad one. We really like it there. It’s fair to say you’ll rarely find us together without a sugary-sweet coffee drink or two.

And on the (admittedly fairly frequent) occasions in which we can justify it, we buy a hunk of their delicious banana chocolate coffee cake. Sometimes two. In fact, said cake has been known to serve as birthday breakfast. She’s even been known to flirt with unsuspecting baristas over it. And hey, it worked one time.

When I made this version last week, I called Ryan almost immediately to tell him that I was bringing it to his office. I was legitimately afraid I’d eat the entire thing. And that weekend when we stopped in at a Starbucks for a midday perk, I again bought a slice just to confirm what I’d instantly suspected: this is so much better.

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If given the task, I’m really not sure I could calculate (or even guess) the number of granola bars I’ve consumed in the past ten years or so. Please don’t make me do it. Math has never been my favorite way to spend my time. And if you add in the handfuls of homemade granola I’ve snacked on just in the last five or so years, forget about it. The mind boggles. Let’s just say granola of some sort is pretty much a constant in our house.

Or at least it was until recently. There are reasons why we love it so much — it’s delicious, filling, and if selected/created properly, can be pretty healthy. These same reasons can make the store-bought varieties expensive. We don’t like that. We’d much rather spend that money on things like new shoes and dinners out. Four dollars here and there adds up. Just saying.

This is why every time I read a decent-looking granola recipe, I’m intrigued, despite the fact that I already have a perfectly good one that I’ve been making for years (and will share eventually, don’t worry). It’s simple, no-fail, and delicious, but yet I’m not satisfied. I know there must be other great granola recipes out there. Thankfully, I happen to be right (at least this once).

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