favorite recent recipes.

i wanted to share a few recipes that i've been loving (and so have the wonderful people in my life - in san diego AND on the ship!), so that maybe you could love them, too!

first is a cake recipe that i turned into cupcakes (with green dye) for our small group's st. patrick's day potluck!  here's the link.  the only notes i'd add would be: • i halved the recipe, and had much more than enough batter for 12 cupcakes!  i only made 12, so they overflowed and looked like green muffins, which is something i'd definitely change. •if you're curious, i used this frosting recipe, also halved, which was just right for lots of frosting on my 12 huge cupcakes. so, it would probably be okay for a normal amount of frosting on regularly sized cupcakes. ha!

so pretty! they'd be less brown and more green if i hadn't overfilled them!

second, i tried making my own granola bars for the first time, modifying a recipe by ina garten. the lady is a genius in the kitchen. i love how she makes gourmet cooking feel accessible! these were loved by myself (i ate the crumbs that resulted from using a rectangular pan with vey rounded edges) and by all the men in david's division on the ship, apparently! i made two batches. one with pecans, craisins and chocolate chips. the other with craisins, dried apricots (chopped up to the same size as the craisins), and almond slices. for both recipes, i left out the dates and crushed the nuts inside a baggie with a rolling pin so they wouldn't hinder the granola bar slicing process at the end, as per one of the recipe reviews! worked like a charm! (note: i found the wheat germ in a local health-food store, but you might be able to find it in a bigger supermarket!)

here are my ingredients:
2 c. rolled oats (old fashioned... not "quick")
1 c. pecan bits
1 c. shredded coconut (i used unsweetened, and the bars were still plenty sweet!)
1/2 c. toasted wheat germ
3 T. unsalted butter
2/3 c. honey
1/4 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. kosher salt
+
batch 1:
3/4 c. craisins
3/4 c. chocolate chips (i pressed a few more into the tops of the bars at the end, since the others melted in the hot mixture!)
batch 2:
3/4 c. craisins
3/4 c. dried apricots, chopped

and that's all for now, folks! go! shoo! try the recipes! i really think you'll like them!