i'd rather be baking

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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As a comforting reminder that some things clearly never change, despite nearly everything else in life turning upside down, I still find myself on the hunt for the perfect breakfast food. Said food must be healthy, providing the sort of nutritional punch you need to get the day off on the right foot; portable, namely suitable for on-the-go munching; and delicious, preferably on the sweet side.

I’ve taken to searching the good ol’ RSS reader for inspiration because, obviously, there are some brilliant folks on the interwebs. I found this recipe via Meghann and it seemed to be perfect: chock full of vegetables (of all things), less sugar and fat than the usual muffin, and the list goes on.

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This week finds us butting up against the final holiday weekend of the year, fighting our second round of head colds this month, and packing up our house for the impending move. Oh yes, and missing these beauties.

We made these tasty little squares a couple of weeks ago, uploaded the photos, and then somehow forgot about them. But don’t let that fool you — they’re crazy delicious. A buttery cake base provided the perfect home for a bunch of the cherries that I pitted and froze this summer, when they were too cheap to leave at the grocery store.

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People, sometimes I make things too complicated. Seriously.

This weekend was a prime example. Due to an excellent price at Sam’s, I now have cranberries coming out of my ears and kind of need to start using them. And for some reason, nearly every recipe I could find that sounded remotely yummy was heavily dependent on the presence of some form of orange (be it juice or zest), and I just wasn’t interested in going to the store for one orange.

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Although it’s been ridiculously warm in Northwest Arkansas this week, Thanksgiving is, in fact, only about a week and a half away, and that’s what’s on my mind pretty much all the time.

Every year we travel to my cousins’ house in St. Louis for the holiday and my contribution to the weekend is primarily pie-related, but I like to bring along some snacks as well. It’s a big family and well, we get hungry.

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