Yummy Granola!

I've always loved granola and wanted to make my own, especially now that my son eats it every morning for breakfast.  This recipe from My First Kitchen has inspired me to try and actually do it!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or whatever nut you have around)
• 1 cup crispy rice cereal
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut (totally optional)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (or any other nut butter you like)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss together the oats and chopped nuts on a baking sheet lined with foil (for easy clean up), and toast those for 10-15 minutes until they're barely golden. You're just looking to take some of the raw texture out of both.
2. In a large bowl, toss together the cereal, coconut, chocolate chips, flaxseed, and salt. Once the oats and nuts are done, add those to the same bowl, and toss everything together.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the honey and sugar over low heat, and stir that until the sugar dissolves. Be sure to keep stirring so the mixture doesn't burn. Add the peanut butter and vanilla, and stir over super low heat until everything is combined. Try not to eat this stuff with a spoon.
4. Now add the peanut butter mixture to the oat mixture, and stir together really well. Press it into a square 8x8 dish with a sheet of wax paper if you don't want your hands to get gross. You can also spray the pan with a little nonstick spray if you think about it. Don't fret if you forget.
5. Let everything cool in the fridge for a bit so the bars can set up. Cut them into squares (nine big ones or sixteen small ones), and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for a good week. Or just break the granola into pieces; some of it won't stay in bar form anyway.

LOST Love

LOST rocks!  I'm going to miss it when it's finished.

Tonight's episode:  

• OMG, I knew "the package" was Desmond.  
• I'm so sad that Sayid is not Sayid anymore.  I have a feeling that the Island Sayid will not last.
• Not much of Sawyer today...too bad.  The more Sawyer the better.  
• I'm ready for the "war" to start.  Who knew that Charles Widmore was one of the good guys?
• The Jin and Sun love story is sweet and man, Jin looked good in those flash backs.
• Love Jack again...

Inspiring People

Do you ever watch the Extreme Home Makeover?  The few times that I've seen it I cried like a baby.  But tonight I watched Dateline NBC: Circle of Hands and instead of having a show renovate a home, it was a local town deciding that a family among them was in need and coming together to do something amazing.

If you can still catch it, It's worth watching.  Again, cried like a baby practically throughout the whole thing.

We hear so much on the news about the horrible things people do to each other, crimes, war, tragedy, hardship...it's everywhere.  But then you also see that even in these hard economic times people are so generous, so thoughtful and so full of love for their fellow man.

It so inspiring and heartwarming and it reminds me to do more and give more in my own life.

It Must Be Wrong

Is it wrong to resent the other similar aged mother on the beach with two little kids just because she has a perfect bikini body?

Remembering The Sweet Moments

You know how there are those small moments in life that completely blow you away emotionally.  Beautiful moments you wish you could bottle and release when things don't look so rosy?

I had two of them recently with my oldest son.  And for no other reason than to make sure I remember them, I'm writing them down:

I was shepherding my boys up the stairs to get ready for bed.  My oldest son stopped, looked up at me and asked me to carry him.  I haven't carried him up the stairs in years since he's almost five but I was feeling nostalgic of the time when he was a little boy so I said sure.  I lifted him up and held him tight against me.  He put his arms around me neck, leaned his head on my shoulder and whispered "you're the best mommy in the world, I love you so much."  OMG, I melted inside but tried to keep it together and just said "I love you too."

A few days later....

After having a few hours of some special one-on-one time with him, I caught him staring into the distance.  I asked him what he was thinking about.  He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said "I was thinking about what to make for you to say thank you for what you did."

Again, OMG, could life be like this every day?  

Write down the special moments with your kids somewhere so you can go back and remember them when they're teenagers that just grunt at you and run up to their rooms.   :)

Betrayed By Cheerios

This is just wrong.  Cheerios and chocolate.

I struggle each day to keep sugary things, candies, and chocolates away from my children and then this comes out.

I'm just hoping that they don't see it.  I don't want to have to explain why they can't have their favorite cereal (the real one, with no extra colors or sugars) and their favorite (and occasional) treat cannot, under any circumstances, become their breakfast.

I know how this goes, eventually they will be exposed to it and once they have it, it will be so hard to go back to a time when they had no idea what it tasted like.  That's what happened with chocolate milk.  I was able to keep my children from having any chocolate milk until my son was four and a half years old.  Then one day at a friend's house the other kids were having it and they got it and the rest is history.  I was OK with that because I was there to make that decision and thought it was the right time. 

I'm not opposed to chocolate milk, cookies, ice cream or any other treat, per se, and I support a free market economy but I find it so offensive when cereal companies or any other food companies that primarily market to children, create products that even the most lenient of parents would find completely inappropriate.

A Little Me A Little Celebrity!

I've been dying to tell you all the details of our trip but work has completely consumed me.   It's been a pretty tough few weeks in fact and it's made me rethink my priorities.  More on that later!  Once this work project is over I'll get back to posting a lot more often.

For now, I wanted to leave you with an update on Conan and a tell you about a little cat fight and how I'm connected to it!

Conan just announced that he is doing a 30 city comedy tour called The Legally Prohibited From Being On Television Tour (is that hilarious or what?) and apparently he is not going to be making any money from the tour, he's only doing it to keep the members of this former show working for a while longer!

I knew I liked him for a reason.  He is just decent and funny to boot!

And on a much sillier and cattier note, apparently there is a big feud between Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stranger and Real Housewives of NY Bethenny Frankel.  I'm not sure of all the details but there is some name calling going on over Patti's friend Jill Zarin from the Housewives show.

I don't watch either show (although I have seen a few minutes of each show in years past), but the reason I bring it up is that I actually "met" Bethenny a few months ago and she made quite an impression on me.


I was in NY for the Sherlock Holmes premier (I know, how fancy of me...but I was just a guest of a friend of a friend) and while standing in the lobby of my friend's apartment building I saw Bethenny walk in with her dog.  Since we were in a small lobby facing each other, I smiled and said "hi, how are you?"  Honestly, I didn't even realize who she was at first.  I thought it was someone I knew because her face was familiar.  Well, she looked at me with what can only be described as a mixture of indifference and disdain.  It was so rude.  I asked my friend about it and she said that Bethenny had just moved into the building and was already giving people the nose up attitude.  These reality TV people are just ridiculous.


That's my media news for today! :)