{"id":403,"date":"2012-05-04T23:52:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/04\/you-know-me-well"},"modified":"2015-12-16T23:50:38","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T04:50:38","slug":"you-know-me-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2012\/05\/you-know-me-well\/","title":{"rendered":"You know me well"},"content":{"rendered":"

My manuscript is due on June 1. \u00a0Hello from the Cave<\/a> – or, as I first typed, “Hell from the Cave,” which has a nice slasher-movie ring to it. \u00a0Hi.<\/p>\n

For those keeping track, no, you are not crazy: the book was supposed to be due in March. \u00a0I had to ask for an extension, unfortunately, because of the small human under my shirt who makes me very tired, and because there\u2019s been a difficult health situation in my family. \u00a02012 came in roaring, and though I wish it would settle down and start acting its age, I doubt it\u2019s going to. \u00a0I am, however, going to FINISH THIS BOOK. \u00a0If I can stay awake long enough.<\/p>\n

Each night, when I get into bed, I\u2019ve been reading a few pages of\u00a0Nina Planck<\/a>. \u00a0Her books were recommended to me by a couple of you, and clearly, you know me well. \u00a0For obvious reasons, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot lately about what I eat and why, and Planck\u2019s defense of traditional whole foods like butter, eggs, and meat feels intuitive to me. \u00a0It\u2019s been a nice, sensible way to close out my long days. (And so, I should note, has Friday Night Lights<\/i><\/a>, which I just finished. \u00a0I miss\u00a0Tim Riggins<\/a>\u00a0already. \u00a0I\u2019m not proud to have fallen for the brooding-hunk routine,\u00a0but I\u2019m willing to own it. \u00a0I would also be willing, for the record, to watch an entire hour of close-ups of Taylor Kitsch\u2019s lips, if the producers of the show ever decide to make a Best of Tim Riggins\u2019s Makeout Scenes DVD.)<\/p>\n

In any case, I was doing some research the other day, looking up granola bar recipes for a forthcoming Spilled Milk<\/a> episode. \u00a0When I came across one on Smitten Kitchen<\/a>, it leapt out at me – not only because it made a chewy granola bar, which I like, and because it came from Deb, who knows her way around a kitchen, but mostly because I loved the no-nonsense ingredients: oats, nuts, nut butter, dried fruits, butter, honey, and very little else. \u00a0The list of ingredients resonated with much of what I\u2019ve been reading in Planck\u2019s book, and that sealed the deal. \u00a0I decided to try it. \u00a0Of course, I did add chocolate. \u00a0Let\u2019s be clear about that.<\/p>\n

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I love these granola bars. \u00a0They straddle the line between nutritious afternoon pick-me-up, which I\u2019ve been needing lately, and dessert, which I never really need<\/i> but want anyway. \u00a0For the most part, I followed Deb\u2019s recipe – which she, in turn, adapted from King Arthur Flour – but I tailored the flavorings to suit my tastes. \u00a0For a nut, I used pecans, because I like them in granola. \u00a0I also threw in some big flakes of coconut. \u00a0And some dried cherries, though only a few. \u00a0(I don\u2019t like a lot of fruit in my granola.) \u00a0And the chocolate. \u00a0I grew up on packaged granola bars with chocolate chips, and you know how I\u2019ve come to feel about granola with chocolate<\/a>, so it felt natural to throw in some chocolate chips that had been kicking around in the cupboard. \u00a0I didn\u2019t bother to chop anything, not even the pecan halves, and I was glad for it later. \u00a0I liked all the lumps and bumps. \u00a0The whole process took less than an hour, most of which was oven time, and 72 hours later, only a couple of bars are left. \u00a0Brandon has been eating them for breakfast, and I took two to\u00a0Matthew<\/a>, and you can figure out the rest. \u00a0I\u2019m already planning another batch.<\/p>\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Chewy Granola Bars with Pecans, Chocolate, and Cherries<\/h2>\n

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen<\/a><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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