A second shot

After a year of giving up on trying my hand at blogging, I'm going to give it a second shot. I finally finished my masters degree and am enjoying having more free time in the evening and on weekends. During this free time I have found myself exploring other foodie blogs as well as my friend's very crafty blog and the craft blogs that lead from there. These folks, their words, and their projects have inspired me to share more with my friends and family about my activities and attempts at various projects, mostly cooking, but who's to say I won't try my hand at sewing a bit more...with others' assistance of course. Most of all what I hope to gain from this is a fostering of more project ideas and better development of what it is I actually want to do with my free time and why...this is where comments/feedback and continued exploring of other folks' blogs comes in.

It's Sunday and here are the projects I have taken on today... I recently discovered the Wednesday Chef blog and I am making the Molly Wizenberg's French Chocolate Granola recipe I found on her blog.

This granola is sooo delicious. I don't think I will buy cereal ever again. I plan to make this on a biweekly basis switching up the nuts and sweet bits...I will definitely add in dried cranberries in the next batch.

Next, I have started on some cold brew tea from a recipe I heard on The Splendid Table on NPR last Sunday. They promise that this tea will be less bitter and more refreshing...I can't wait to try. I've thrown in an ensemble of teas, which I'm hoping blend well together. It's black cherry and mint.
Lastly, for dinner, I am going to fix an old-school favorite that I was reminded of on the blog, Homesick Texan....King Ranch Casserole. My fellow Texans will definitely remember this staple from growing up in Texas. She offers up a fancy-pants (her words not mine) version and an old-school version. Typically, I am one to go the fancy-pants route, making everything from scratch, but this time I opted the simpler route, largely because I know how much my husband enjoys casseroles with cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup and I'll be packing up the leftovers for him to live off of the rest of the week (this is a whole other topic that may be covered in another post). Now don't get the idea that I am the casserole queen...I rarely fix casseroles or use canned soup for anything for that matter, but I think this is an excellent excuse for an exception.The casserole turned out pretty much how I remembered it, but maybe a little runnier. My husband suggested I turn it into a dip...yes, I am definitely not the casserole queen.