#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨
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Food and Life

Afterschool Memories and Homemade Granola Bars

April 10, 2010 · Narrative

Stack of Granola Bars

Surprised to see me here on a Friday night?  All in the name of playing a little bit of catch-up.  Just this once.  When the folks at Quaker Oats sent me an email asking me to write about my afterschool memories, I hesitated.  I have three distinct memories of afterschool food growing up, and two of them are terrible for any foodie to talk about (um, Cream of Mushroom soup straight from the can anyone?).  The third one, I still eat on occasion … toaster pizza … white bread, a little bit of tomato sauce, slice of American cheese, broiled.  It totally brings me back to those school days, back when Afterschool Specials were a regular occurrence and my biggest worries were passing Algebra (I didn’t the first go ’round), wondering if that boy was going to call me, and improvising my Catholic all girls’ school uniform so it didn’t look, well, like a Catholic all girls’ school uniform.  Luckily, Quaker Oats also said I could talk about afterschool memories that I create with my kids too.  Phew!

If you haven’t caught on by now, I am big on creating memories.  Whether it’s a rainbow cake to celebrate the beginning and end of another school year, a monthly road trip with the kids, a new photo wall in our kitchen, or our Feast of the Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve dinner, I just love the memories.  Afterschool ones are no exception.  For us, it starts with a glass cookie jar on the counter.  It’s always full of some delicious treat.  Right now, one of them (yes, there’s more than one) happens to be filled with my favorite colored jelly beans.  The other one?  Sometimes it’s cookies, or a new sweet and salty snack mix, or granola bars.  Right this second?  It’s this recipe for Deliciously Homemade Granola Bars.

We go through a crazy amount of granola in this house.  Whether it’s a store-bought bar, or the granola mix from Costco (love!) or something homemade, we’re always eating it, so when I spied this new recipe, it got quickly shuffled to the top of the pile.  Using ingredients I already had on hand, and yes, Quaker oats too, it was crazy simple to make.

I love that one of Nick’s afterschool traditions is to scope out what’s going on in the glass cookie jar on the counter.  He tosses his backpack on the floor, grabs something to munch on and pours a glass of something cold.  He tells me about his day.  He asks about Madeline’s day.  And he stalls as much as he can before he starts his homework.  A memory we will forever have.

One more thing and then I’m outta here for the weekend … the folks at Quaker Oats have teamed up with Afterschool Alliance and Miranda Cosgrove (hello iCarly fans!) to focus on making sure kids continue to get affordable, quality afterschool programs.  You can get more details here, along with a chance to enter their sweepstakes to win a private performance from Miranda.  Nick is a big iCarly fan (heck, so is Maddie now), so you can bet they’d be thrilled with this.

Alright folks, have an awesome weekend!

P.S.  Just to keep my nose clean with those new FTC guidelines, the kind team at Quaker Oats did compensate me to share my afterschool memories and tell you about their joints efforts with the Afterschool Alliance, but they didn’t tell me what to say.

Deliciously Homemade Granola Bars
Recipe courtesy of The Motherload

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, mini chocolate chips,  and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using a wooden spoon. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 30  in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. I recommend using a plastic knife to cut these out to get a perfectly cut bar with minimal crumbs.

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Posted In: Narrative · Tagged: Afterschool Alliance, granola bars, iCarly, Miranda Cosgrove, Quaker oats

Comments

  1. Joanne says

    April 10, 2010 at 8:01 am

    My biggest after school memories are of oreos and milk. Something I have not had in YEARS. Good stuff.

    Love your memories with Nick and Maddie. I hope to have a jar of homebaked goods on my counter for my kids as well. Someday.

    Your granola bars look way better than any storebought ones (SHHH don’t tell Quaker)!

    Reply
  2. Merry120 says

    April 11, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    I recently made homemade granola bars for the first time & I am in love. They are so much better than store bought. Evan hasn’t been a huge fan (probably b/c of my add-ins) but I have been taking one every day for breakfast. Yum!

    Reply
  3. mandy says

    April 11, 2010 at 9:42 pm

    I love granola. This recipe sounds great and incredibly easy. I’m going to print it out and give it a whirl.

    Reply
  4. Julia @ Mélanger says

    April 11, 2010 at 11:59 pm

    Boy, I wish I could remember my after school memories. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t too much snacking after school, but I wish I had these granola bars. I’m a mad fan of granola, too!

    Reply
  5. paula says

    April 12, 2010 at 9:31 am

    LOL! I think we are long lost sisters. Yes, I have eaten cream of mushroom soup straight from the can many times (although, in my defense, not lately). It’s not that I couldn’t make a can of soup even from a young age – I just liked it better straight out of the can.

    Reply
  6. Patsy says

    April 12, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    Oh, I remember those afterschool specials… didn’t Scott Baio star in most of them? LOL!

    Reply
  7. Ramona says

    April 12, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    The granola sounds good! We usually ate chef boyardee after school….

    Yuck, I can’t hardly stand to look at it now.

    Reply
  8. pamela says

    April 12, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Yummy! They looks great.

    Reply
  9. Meg says

    April 13, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    Those granola bars look totally delicious!

    I was very, very spoiled growing up; my grandmother watched my sister and me after school each day and, though we had a normal lunch with the other kids, she basically prepared us a second lunch a few hours later!

    My favorite food was (and still is!) her cabbage rolls, which she would warm up for me in the afternoon. I’d grab a soda and chow down on homemade Polish food… and had absolutely no clue just how fortunate I am. More than a decade later, all I can do is remember that fabulous food fondly! Though Grandma still makes cabbage rolls for me :)

    Reply

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#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛

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#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨

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