I forgot to attach the recipe for the Maple Granola:

7 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup almonds, sliced or broken up
1 cup sunflower seeds, raw or roasted
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 250. Combine the oats, coconut, wheat germ, nuts, seeds, and salt in a very large bowl. Mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil and vanilla. Pour the syrup mixture over the dry mixture, stirring and tossing till everything is very well combined; it's probably easiest to do this with your hands.

Spread the granola over 2 large baking sheet with a rim. Bake for 2 hours, stirring the mixture after 1 hour or so. Remove the pans from the oven and let cool completely. Transfer the granola to a large bowl and mix in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

This week's "healthy snack" that Caroline and I made on Baking Day (Monday) was a huge success, thanks to the awesome book Bobby got for my birthday, Whole Grain Baking. So it is Maple Granola--everyone loved it, especially Amy and Meredith (who were visiting from NYC), who struggle finding dairy/soy free treats. Try it out. It is great because the only sweetener is pure maple syrup. Be prepared, it has so much whole grain that 1/2 cup of it has 19 grams of whole grain which is 1/3 of your daily whole grain needs.

Do you remember those Target commercials a couple months ago that went to the tune, "A Little Bit More?" Well, that's Bobby's theme song in the kitchen. A little bit more salt to the steamed cabbage (which becomes inedible), a little (rather a LOT) more poultry seasoning on the grilled chicken--and that's just yesterday's meal. Bobby and I are opposites. I tend to go easy on the butter, salt, sugar, which is probably why Bobby feels the need to make up for it. I get the biggest kick out of it. Whenever he CHOOSES to veer from a recipe--all the time, that is--I can always catch him in the kitchen putting a little more of this or that in the dish while he thinks I'm looking away. It has become a fun game between us, but not so fun when we can't eat the food!

Ahhhh... the joys of a Mac. We've been greatly enjoying our new iMac, especially Photo Booth. We can now sit on the couch and use the remote to scroll through music or photos on the computer. Talk about lazy! I'm excited for Caroline and I to play with her favorite website: Poisson Rouge. She'll actually be able to maneuver around the website with a mouse, unlike using our laptop.
Let's just say Bobby is in Apple heaven.

So my dad loves his pool. He is constantly tinkering with it, talking about pool-related subjects, buying stuff for the pool, getting pool-related tattoos. Ok, so that last one's not true. So this year, i thought i'd get him a father's day present that would show others how serious he is about his pool.

So, I made him a t-shirt. Remember those Terminator movies? Good. Because if you don't, you'll have no idea what this shirt's all about. So there's my dad, the Chlorinator. Gone is the Terminator's shotgun, replaced by what else but a chlorine tablet. You gotta love Photoshop. Happy Father's Day, Dad.





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Here's a video of Johanna and her same-aged cousin, Genevieve. Who will win?