Nutella and Bananas Marry Again, This Time in a Healthy Granola

Like a beacon of light in a foggy night, World Nutella Day offers hope in the middle of a cold, gray winter.

(Can you tell I’ve had it up to here with snow and subfreezing temperatures?)

Seriously, though, aside from the obvious tie-in with Valentine’s Day just over a week later, early February is the perfect time of year to celebrate all things chocolate and hazelnut. It’s far enough away from both New Year’s resolutions and summer bathing suit season that you can allow for a little indulgence. So grab a spoon and dig in, or make one of the many decadent recipes that Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (the holiday’s sponsors) have compiled for the occasion.

I Know It’s Been a While. But I’m Back Now.

Looking forward to sharing more of what I’ve been doing in here lately!

Yes, I’ve been away for a while. It’s been a number of compiling reasons, really. What started with a lack of time and good lighting this winter for food pictures turned into a lack of inspiration and focus.

You see, I decided to run a half-marathon this spring, so my winter weekends normally spent cooking and photographing were instead spent on long runs and recovering from long runs. Half-marathon day finally hit, but I ended up injuring myself and not having the race turn out the way I had wanted to. So my weekend long runs were then replaced with twice-weekly physical therapy sessions, and my nights previously occupied with web surfing for recipe inspiration were replaced with Google searches to educate myself about ITBS (that’s illotibial band friction syndrome) and performing the exercises I had learned in PT.

Then the more I realized how long it had been since I last blogged, the more performance anxiety I felt. “It’s been too long,” I’d tell myself. “I should have never let it go this long. What will I write or do now???”

I’ve Been Nominated for a Liebster Award!

Design by Mean Mommy Academy

My blogging friend Whitney at Constitution Lane has nominated me for a Liebster blog award! I feel incredibly honored to be recognized by her in this way, and I’m humbled by the nice things she says about me on her Liebster post. I’m mostly a lurker (I hate that term—it sounds so creepy—but I guess it’s pretty accurate) in the blogging world, but I’ve been following Whitney on her blog and Twitter for a while now and love her style and voice. After recently connecting with her on Pinterest, I’ve also learned we have a mutual love of Nutella. It’s like we’re kindred spirits.

It’s tough to track down the origins of the Liebster award, and I kind of think it’s a bit of a meme with no official roots, but basically it seems to be a way for bloggers to honor and recognize fellow bloggers. Liebster apparently means “dearest” or “beloved” in German, so the recognition is given to smaller blogs with smaller numbers of followers as a way to garner interest and encouragement. There might be an official cut-off for number of followers out there, but in my research I saw numbers ranging from 200-2,000. I’m safely below that smallest number, so I guess I count.

This is the first time I’ve been involved in anything like this, so I’m very excited. However, participating in a Liebster award requires some effort: I have to share 11 things about me, answer 11 questions that Whitney prepared for me and the other bloggers she nominated, and then pay it forward by nominating up to 11 other bloggers. This also requires me to step a little outside my comfort zone: as an introvert, it’s a challenge for me to open up and share. Also, thinking of 11 interesting things about me is hard, because I’m kind of boring. But here it goes!

Today, I Solemnly Swear to Actually Cook All of the Recipes I’ve Pinned

Pinterest is evil.

Okay, that’s kind of a lie. Like many people, I’m more than a little obsessed with it.

Of course I love it, but then I get sucked in on a lazy Sunday afternoon like today, and the next thing I know, I realize I’ve pinned recipes for 44 main courses, 25 snacks and sides, 34 desserts, 11 breakfasts and brunches, and 18 pitcher drinks and cocktails. And I haven’t tried most of them and so far don’t have any concrete plans to do so.

I like organized things that have a purpose, not random chaos, so you can imagine that having 132 recipes floating out there (on Pinterest alone!) that I want to try but have no plans to do so kind of makes my skin crawl. I know my collection of pins isn’t nearly as extensive as many, and I’m not judging anyone who has more and is fine with that. But for me, it’s anxiety-provoking. I guess there’s no more hiding my OCD tendencies now.

Recipe Trend: My Attempt at These Cookies Would Never Result in World Peace

For something theoretically so good so as to supposedly result in world peace, frankly I expected these cookies to be better. I’ve come to the final entry on Saveur’s recipe trends list, world peace cookies, hoping the list would end on a high note, but it left me a little disappointed.