Pantry Mashup

As September 1st quickly approaches, that means one thing in the Boston area: Moving! If you’ve never experienced a Sept. 1 move in Boston, you’re a pretty lucky person! Although my move this year will be the easiest I’ve ever had (fingers crossed!), I still need to cut down all of my stuff including my pantry. The result? A week of making dinners out of whatever I find in my house. I see a lot of rice, beans, and pasta in my near future. 🙂

On the makeshift menu for tonight is brown rice, pinto beans, broccoli and a sauce made up of Vermont Maple Horseradish Mustard and yogurt. I had to mix it with something or else the horseradish would have been a little too much for me. As a Vermonter, I’m a fan of pretty much anything maple or pumpkin flavors so I hoped that this will satisfy a maple craving.

 

Final product:

It taste a lot better than it looks I promise!! You can definitely taste the maple horseradish but its not over powering at all. However, there wasn’t huge maple flavor which is probably for the best since I’ve never heard of pinto beans and broccoli  paired with maple as being a winning combo.

 

Until next time…

Homemade Granola Bars

I’ve always been one to try my hand at new things in the kitchen. When I was a little one, my favorite activity was “cooking”  where I would take random ingredients and come up with completely inedible concoctions that were far from stellar. Fortunately for everyone, I moved pasted this and have my kitchen experiments have become a bit more successful.

My latest adventure in the kitchen includes Homemade Granola Bars! I’ve attempted versions once or twice before but these hit the sweet spot I was looking for!

They definitely weren’t the most stable granola bars in the world and are a tad messy to eat. But hey! Its the taste that matters right?

In case you’re interested in recreating these for yourself, here’s how I (roughly) did it:

Melted about 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup molasses in a put. Once they were combined, I added a little vanilla and sea salt In a separate bowl, I combined a few cups of oats, a handful of almonds, sunflower seeds, and peanuts with a few pinches of chia seeds and flaxseeds.

I poured the sugar mixture over the oat mixture and combined thoroughly. (Fair warning – This is pretty sticky!) I placed the granola blend in a pan lined with foil and baked at 350 for about 25 minutes.

The best part came after I let them cool for a while. Melt chocolate drizzled over the top? I think YES!! I put them in the fridge to set for a bit then I dug in!

 

 

First post!

Hi there! Welcome to my blog! I’m still working on a name but I’m sure it’ll come with time.  I’ve been wanted to start a blog for a while and finally jumped off the the deep end head first and start one.

I’ve started this blog to share the many loves in my life. You’ll soon come to find that a few of my obsessions include food, drinks – beer in particular, the outdoors, and dogs. (Hands down, dogs are my favorite. They can turn a frown upside down in a heartbeat.)

So sit back, relax and join me while I figure out this new adventure!