Firstly I'd just like to confess that I made a "once you go black you never go back" joke at an interview for a job at a coffee shop this morning. Not sure what my brain was thinking. Slightly regretful. 

TODAY'S A DAY OF CELEBRATION!! Why? BECAUSE YOU'RE ABOUT TO MAKE AND EAT YOUR VERY OWN GRANOLA!! I've never made homemade granola before, but I absolutely love granola so I don't know why I haven't! Now I doubt I'll ever go back to buying it from the store. Once you go homemade granola ... you never go back? Idk.

Anyway, this is how I made my granola. I just sort of guessed at times and stuff, and it seemed to work! I'm sure there are more specific granola-making secrets, but this is how I made my own!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. 

In a bowl, mix up the following ingredients:
-2 cups of coarsely cut oats
-1 cup of hazelnuts ground in a food processor
-A handful of craisins/raisins/other dried fruit
-1 tablespoon of cinnamon
-1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
-a pinch of salt
-2/3 cup of pure maple syrup
-1/4 cup of brown sugar
Spray a cookie sheet with some nonstick spray and spread your granola out on the sheets.
Stick your cookie sheets in the oven for about 10 minutes. Take them out and lift and mix up the granola a bit. Put in the oven for another 6 to 8 minutes. Take them out, let cool, and pack em up for many breakfasts and snacks to come!!
I honestly cannot believe how easy and rewarding it is to make homemade granola. The only thing difficult about the whole event for me was avoiding the sink because it was being guarded by one of these..
(It's a wasp.)

Anyway, he eventually baked himself on the light fixture in the kitchen until he was so out of it that I could safely carry him out atop a porcelain spoon holder. So yeah.
Anyway, HAPPY GRANOLA EATING!!!!!

B
 
I was attempting to be punny by using the word "yammy" instead of "yummy" and saying the sunshine was "sizzling." It was a valiant effort, although admittedly mediocre. 

Internetians...

It's that time of year again when the grill comes out, the burgers get scorched, and so does my skin. I was feeling like sweet potatoes, and what better way to spend my free-time than by baking up some sweet potato fries?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!!? [The number of exclamation points and question marks behind that question indicates that the answer is nothing.\

So how does one make sweet potato fries? Well thanks for asking, I will tell you
STEP ONE. Set that oven of yours to 450 degrees fahrenheit. 

STEP TWO. Take two small sweet potatoes (or one large) and slice them up to be about 1/2 an inch to 3/4 an inch thick. This makes enough for 3-4 people as a side, or one mildly hungry teenage boy (aka me).

STEP THREE. Place all the slices in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and if you're really feeling wild, garlic salt. Mix it all up until they're each equally coated.

STEP FOUR. Space out your fries evenly on cookie sheets.
STEP FIVE. Bake the fries on one side for about 12 minutes, and then take them out of the oven and listen to hear the olive oil sizzling (wink) before carefully flipping them all over. Place them back in the oven for about 10 minutes.
I yam so happy that I got to share this recipe with you. Now go buy yourself some yams.

B
 
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I love greek yogurt, but the other day I discovered a problem. I wasn't quite sure if my greek yogurt had gone off or if that's just how it was supposed to taste. 

I feel like that is something that shouldn't be as confusing as it is. 

Yesterday I smelled the greek yogurt in the fridge and the paranoid part of my brain was like...

... so I threw it out just to be safe.

I bought a different brand and I think that might have solved the sour taste. Maybe it really had gone off. Maybe the unappetizing taste was just because I hadn't sweetened it. I literally had it in the fridge for, like, less than a week. My brain has a tendency to over-react even at the slightest possibility that food might have gone bad.
I guess better safe than sorry. BUT, now that I've set up a scenario that sounds completely unappetizing, I actually really love the stuff, despite the fact that its natural taste is one that is not unlike the taste of stale normal yogurt. Throw in some delicious honey to sweeten it up, and some fresh berries or granola, and you've got yourself a delicious, healthy snack. 

Does your greek yogurt ever smell sour?
B
 
Beets are nature's well-kept secret. So many people haven't even tried beets, or they've only tried pickled beets (ain't nobody got time for that)... and they don't know what they're missing!

Beets make me smile all over... they're like candy, but from the ground.

WARNING: BEETS (especially red beets) HAVE THE ABILITY TO DYE YOUR ENTIRE OUTFIT, COUNTER-TOP, AND FINGERS A BRIGHT COLOR AND SIMULTANEOUSLY DESTROY YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS. WEAR AN APRON. DON'T DYE UNEXPECTEDLY.

To roast beets, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Simply top and tail the beets (save the beet greens for another recipe!) and sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. 
Create a pocket of aluminum foil for the beets as if they're little babies being tucked in to bed (except that you're actually going to bake them alive).
Depending on how large and dense they are, put them in the oven for about an hour. You'll know they're ready when they are easily pierced by a fork.

At this point, you'll have to take off the beets' outer skin (this sounds torturous if you're still personifying the beets as babies in your head like I am). Usually I'll rinse the beets under cold water to cool them enough to hold in my hand comfortably, and then just use my thumb to peel off the outer skin. It should peel off easily.
Now they're ready for consumption!! You can slice them up and throw them into a salad cold, use them as a veggie to go alongside chicken or beans, eat them on top of crackers or sliced bread, or stick lollipop sticks in them and serve them as candy dessert!! And you can never say that you don't like beets ever again.
Eat your greens,
and your reds and your goldens and your oranges and your yellows and your purples (the ones from the ground),

B
 
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Fellow Internetians,

I was throwing together a salad today and I suddenly found myself falling into a pit of sentimental gooeyness as I considered the beauty of vegetables. I don't know how odd or strange it is to fall in love with veggies, but if you have yet to experience the profound beauty of nature's own creation, you've got to get yoself to a farmers' market.

We spend so much energy creating and processing foods in our man-made factories and kitchens, that we forget how much nature has already done for us! Have you ever eaten a slice of avocado and just melted inside? Or peeled a fresh grapefruit and marveled at the fact that citrus fruits are pre-sliced? If not, I challenge you to go taste some raw food and try to truly experience it in all its wonder. 

Ok, sentimental moment over, now go eat some spinach.

B

 
On this warm summer morning that has been long awaited after an eon of days muffled by rain, clouds, and thunder, some warm oatmeal probably should be the last thing on my mind. But this oatmeal is such a favorite of mine, that when I had all the ingredients on hand, I just couldn't help myself. Mix in some lemon curd, berries, and chocolate chunks, and you have a masterpiece. The lemony chocolate is to die for... but if it's too sweet for you, the lemon by itself is a great tasty sweetener that you can stir into your oatmeal. Absolutely adore this recipe... you should eat it.

B
 
Garbanzo beans are a great staple to any meal... they're full of yumminess and I'm sure they're full of nutritiousness too but I feel too lazy to go to the Google machine to look up protein content. 

Sometimes I just hate dealing with cooking meat, but I still need something to base my meal around that is a little more substantial than leaves. Beans are a perfect staple food to use instead! Today I roasted some beautiful golden beets (see how to roast beets) and decided to use the beet greens in my entree. Waste not want not!

This recipe used:
-Beet greens from 3 large beets
-2 Cans of pre-cooked garbanzo beans
-Half an onion
-Olive oil
-Garlic salt, pepper, lemon juice

Simply heat your oil in the pan and throw in some hazardously chopped onions (unless you have one of those fancy magic bullets that chops up the onions faster than the speed of light). Cook until the onions become soft and fragrant (I'm not sure how you can tell that onions have become fragrant, but fancy food blogs always use that word, so I'm throwing it out there too), then add rinsed beet greens. Cook until the beet greens become wilted.
Rinse your garbanzo beans in a colander (who knew that's how you spelled colander?), then mix the beans into greens and onions. Let sizzle until the beans soften and you feel the time is right. Season with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and lemon juice to taste!
Sorry the photo is blurry, I was excited.

Hope you enjoy your garbanzo beans! Let me know how it went!

B
 

Banana Bombers

Slice up a banana, put some healthy, sticky peanut butter in between two slices, freeze, dip in dark chocolate, freeze again, enjoy a delicious frozen chocolate delight!!

Double Dates

Blend dates with some chopped peanuts in a food processor. Form small balls out of gooey mixture and dip balls into melted dark chocolate. Store in refrigerator and enjoy! (These are absolutely delicious, my favorite! They taste like caramel... 10 out of 10)

Apri-Chocs

Blend dried apricots with some chopped peanuts in a food processor. Add a little bit of agave nectar for sweetness. It also might be necessary to add a little water to make mixture gooey. Form into balls and dip into melted dark chocolate. Store in refrigerator and enjoy!! These have a stronger fruit taste than the Double Dates, they taste sort of like orange chocolate! (9 out of 10)