A Tiramisu Bar, Love Grown Granola, Harry Potter + more

Happy Friday friends! It's felt like a long week. But a good one. I'm so ready for the weekend though!

A few fun things this week...

...I stumbled upon this Tiramisu Bar right near the Christopher St. Path station. I fell in love with the rice pudding bar in Soho, and now I am soooo excited to get my tiramisu on! Dolce Vizio Tiramisu is first on my list of places to try. What will they come up with next?

...I saw Harry Potter {finally}. I thought it was truly fantastic. The effects were wild, the story perfection. Ralph Fiennes = awesomeness. I cried an irrational amount. I can't wait to see it again :)

...I came home from vacation to a big box of granola from Love Grown Foods. Talk about a welcome home! I was so excited to dig in and it did not disappoint! My favorite part about this granola is that it tastes like I made it in my own kitchen - not store-bought like many other granolas or granola bars. Shaun and I will likely devour all of these bags in the coming days. The flavors include Sweet Cranberry Pecan (decidedly my favorite), Apple Walnut Delight, Raisin Almond Crunch, Simply Oats & Cocoa Goodness.

 

...I concocted a new scrambled egg sandwich that I can't wait to tell you about. Next week, I promise!

...Shaun and I continued watching The Walking Dead. I am officially obsessed. It's about a sheriff who is shot and in a coma for and undecided amount of time. When he awakes, most of the human population is gone...and they've been replaced by zombies! I know, it sounds so ridiculous...and it is. But it is SO good! Like Breaking Bad (another AMC show), The Walking Dead gives me anxiety at every turn. And to me, that's the sign of a good show.

...It's also the return of Jersey Shore! I know, it's terrible...but it's just good TV. I can't look away and I love it.

...I fell in love with OPI Austin-tacious Turquoise after rocking it in Aruba. It's pretty.

So there you have it. All the things I love this week. Now I am psyched to get through the work day and go get my license renewed (just kidding...not too excited about that one!). I am psyched to hang out at home tonight and just have a nice weekend!

Questions of the Day:

What are you loving this week?

What are your plans for this weekend?

**Love Grown Foods did send me free samples, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own!

Oat Bars: Peanut Butter Chocolate + Almond Cherry Coconut

Happy Friday! Thanks to everyone who entered this week's giveaway! Your outpouring of support for our blogoversary had me perma-smiling all week long :) I wish I could give a cookbook away to all of you, but stay tuned for more giveaways coming up! For the Rocco Now Eat This! giveaway, the winner is: Stephanie! Stephanie, please email me at theavidappetite@gmail.com with your address so I can get your goodies out to you!

This week completely flew by, but I'm not complaining! Meatless week is still going strong. Last night, I made a mushroom pizza and a peanut butter banana mousse that I can't wait to share with you - it's a chilled, pudding-like dessert that's actually healthy and delish. Sound good?

Meanwhile, in our quest to keep eating healthy and use up this ginormous canister of oats that Shaun brought home from the store for me (I love me some morning oats),

I decided to whip up some homemade granola bars.

Those Quaker ones just don't cut it in my book. They aren't nearly hearty enough and are so tiny that immediately after I inhale one, I'm still hungry. Not my favorite. So on Sunday, I whipped up two separate batches of oat bars, chocolate peanut butter and cherry almond coconut. And because they are so similar and super easy, I'm sharing 2 recipes with you today? Are you cool with that?

Almond Cherry Coconut Oat Bars
2 C oats
2 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1/2 C dried cherries, chopped
1/4 C slivered almonds, chopped up
1/2C sweetened coconut
1/4 C honey
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350 and line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper, with the sides hanging over so that you can pull the bars out after baking. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, splenda, cherries, almonds and coconut.

Pour in the honey and egg white and mix until entire mixture is thoroughly coated. Press into parchment-lined baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges start to brown. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. This is where the excess parchment comes in handy - simply (and v. carefully) lift bars out of pan and onto wire rack to cool. Once completely cool, cut into bars.

Though these are a bit crumbly and the edges may fall apart, they are so delicious! A perfect breakfast on the go or mid-afternoon snack to get the juices flowing.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars
2 C oats
1/3 C creamy peanut butter (I like Smart Balance)
1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C honey

Preheat oven to 350 and line pan as above. Melt the pb in the microwave. Mix ingredients altogether until completely combined...

Press into pan...

bake for 20 minutes, let cool and cut into bars.

So there you have it. 2 super simple recipes that Shaun and I both love. The best thing about these is that you can get totally creative and add any chocolate chips, nuts or dried fruit you want! What do you think? Have you ever tried making your own unprocessed snacks? What's your favorite on-the-go snack?

*Note, our giveaway winner was chosen at random by random.org. I also wasn't perked for the Rocco book, I just really, truly love it and want to share the wealth with my fantastic readers and friends!